Paving slabs, cat food and beer

Withernay Projects logos

It's three years since Withernay Projects was formed, which seems a good time to tell you about the company's identity, designed by the talented Gattaldo. Much coffee was drunk while Aldo asked all sorts of questions about what Withernay Projects is all about, which is not at all obvious from the name.

Anyone who has tried to name a company, band or child will know how agonizing this is. My surname is very well known as a brand of audio equipment and manufacturer of paving slabs so that wasn't an option. Anything that directly related to access or photography was out because the company does both. The answer arrived through the front door on a letter from a friend: Withernay is an old nickname that some friends still use to distinguish me from other Rachels. Technically it should be Rachael 'With-an-extra-a' I suppose. Projects was added because there's already a company called Withernay Limited... which makes cat food.

Handily, the extra 'a' in my name also stands for access and the capital letter is almost an arrow, hence the A in both of the logos. Aldo presented me with a variety of ideas, of which the polygon was a favourite. The access consultancy logo represents the plan of a building, a labyrinth, and a puzzle that needs a solution, which heritage projects often resemble at first.

Seeing the polygon reworked as a circle immediately made sense as the logo for the photography side of the company, being a simple symbol for a lens or the iris of an eye.

Crate Best was drunk three years ago. Yes, I Instagram beer bottles.

Interior photography for an architectural practice.

Three years on Withernay Projects continues to advise on access and inclusion for some brilliant design teams and photographs all sorts of places and spaces, from bathrooms to beautiful historic interiors, and the company name still causes confusion on the phone.

100 Buildings 100 Years

100 Years 100 Buildings exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts to celebrate the centenary of The Twentieth Century Society.

When I'm not talking about lifts, levels and loos I'm usually taking photographs. A photograph of mine of the entrance to Block D at Bletchley Park is included in the 100 Buildings 100 Years exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. The exhibition and accompanying book of the same name celebrate the hundred years of design and architectural heritage that The Twentieth Century Society has worked to safeguard since 1979.

Block D was selected as the building for 1943 by Roland Jeffery, Director of the Historic Chapels Trust. Here's an extract from the text in the book:

“The brilliance of the Bletchley mathematicians, their cracking of Enigma, the creation of the world’s first electronic programmable computer on the site - all have captured the world’s imagination. But for me, D Block and its routine and dutiful drudgery is as worthy of remembering. ”

— Roland Jeffery, 100 Years 100 Buildings, published by Batsford, 2014.

Entrance to Block D, Bletchley Park in the Royal Academy exhibition 100 Buildings 100 Years.