Tucked away in his North Yorkshire studio, Charles Stewart works in this vibrant area with inspiration on the doorstep, from moors to supermarkets… Born in Yorkshire, he studied graphic design at Leeds having already fallen in love with lettering and typographics, undertaking a number of freelance commissions with various design groups whilst still at college. Following graduation he immediately moved to London to pursue his career and develop his specialism, eventually establishing his first studio in Soho and later moving to Shoreditch. His calligraphic ability and natural feel for letterforms enables him to tackle a diverse range of work from expressive brush script through to font design - he is passionate about all aspects of lettering.
More recently, after many years down south, Charles has returned to his spiritual home, where he continues to create his prodigious output of typographic variety with brush, pen, stick or whatever comes to hand in order to achieve the appropriate mark or fluidity of line. Constantly experimenting with alternative potential tools, making and modifying nibs and brushes resulting in an extensive collection which continues to grow. Letterforms and their interpretation provide for an endless source of inspiration and the surprise of the explorative mark or the happy accident is a constant source of joy. Indeed, the early stages of a job provide the spark and the creative process is ignited.
During his career he has developed a global client list of companies and individuals whose briefs vary from the subtle refinement of an existing design route through to the exploration and origination of experimental concepts and alternative typographic approaches.
The variety and quality of the work has provided an international reputation for creativity and innovation, having contributed to the winning of many awards, including D&AD Pencils, New York Type Directors Club selections, Clio’s and numerous Design Effectiveness, Benchmarks and Design Week Awards… in addition to contributing to many articles, interviews and talks.
Charles is a member of the Type Directors Club (New York), the International Society of Typographic Designers and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Sometimes the post brings an envelope that stands out - it’s a bloody work of art!… a name and address seemingly carefully lettered, but composed on the hoof, dismissed as a quick scribble - yet considered and beautifully elegant in its execution. I keep them, like love letters… from the man who loves letters.
It’s always a pleasure to work with Charles. His enthusiasm and talent inject a new dimension to projects enabling us to maximise our creative offering... an invaluable addition to our team on many occasions.
I have worked with Charles throughout my career and he continues to produce lettering of the highest quality in a seemingly endless number of styles - an alphabetic chameleon!
Clients include:
Aeron BBC Black Sun Bloom Design Blue Marlin Boutique Creative Brand Me Carlton Circle IMC Clarks Corporate Edge Cossette Design Bridge Elmwood Enterprise Future Brand Gather Glazer Harlequin Gallery Hart + Jones Hat-trick Honey Creative Hudson Fuggle Illumination Interbrand JDO UK Jones Knowles Ritchie Kellogg’s Lambie-Nairn Let’s Imagine Lloyd Northover Mad Hen Nevis Design One Twenty Three West Penguin Books P I Global Royal Mail Salter Baxter SAS Smith & Milton Springetts Storm Studio H Taxi Studio Turnbull Ripley Turner Duckworth Uffindell Wolff Olins WPA Pinfold
