Research - Pentagram Partner Marina Willer

https://www.itsnicethat.com/news/pentagram-marina-willer-london-drain-covers-overlooked-150316

Pentagram partner Marina Willer has created a new book of rubbings of London drain covers, entitled Overlooked.The publication forms the agency’s 45th Pentagram Paper, and comprises 22 rubbings taken of London’s street covers “from Islington to Kensington” alongside an essay by Willer.

According to Pentagram, the tome “tells the history of London through street covers, outlining the vital roles that each piece of street furniture had in serving Londoners” and “serves as a reminder that a city’s beauty isn’t limited to art galleries or grand architecture, and that intricate design is everywhere.” 

Miller serves as inspiration for our project theme as she uses an interesting process to document and represent London. She takes rubbings of London's street covers to convey the importance of each of these in serving people trying to explore London. She titled this project 'Overlooked' as people tend to not realise the importance and the help they gain from these street covers. It's also an exploration into things that aren't considered directly beautiful as instead of registering recognised objects such as art galleries or architecture, she registers an object that is ignored but has just as much design intricacy. 

This process is particularly interesting as it's taking the actual form of the object and registering its textures. This would be interesting to explore as different utensils (marker vs a pen) would register the textures differently and therefore producing different outcomes that can be analysed to select which is more representative - could this be the overall personality of the outcome or its intricacy?