Writing for 26 Treasures

26 Treasures continues to grow. And grow. And attract attention from lots of very important people. Here's our latest blog post. I wrote it this morning. Thought I'd share here because I like Randy's and Jin Li's creation so much.


Two's a pair

On 24th September, 26 Treasures will spend an evening at the V&A. Some of the 26 writers will invite visitors to take a stroll around our exhibition. The V&A calls these little treats ‘Lates’. Every Friday, they encourage people to come along after work and spend some time in history. They’ve called the Late we’re getting involved in ‘Two’s a Pair’. Which got me thinking.

26 Treasures is made of pairs. John Simmons and I worked together to flesh out the idea. I worked with Dan Oparison to create the proposal. Soon we’d given 26 writers an object to write about. 26 objects, 62 words. We then gave each writer an editor.

Everything came paired.

Then, earlier this month, something very special turned up in the 26 Treasures inbox. It came from two people. Randy Yeo and Lim Jin Li. A creative partnership, designer and writer. It was this. About a very important pairing of people.

click on the image to zoom - if that takes you to another page, click again

Randy is a Typography student at the London College of Communication. Jin Li studies History at the London School of Economics. Randy’s tutor challenged him to respond to the 26 Treasures brief. He paired his design skills with Jin Li’s writing to produce something unique.

Their poster is a beautiful example of words and design. And it shows something very important. That although words can move a reader and design can touch a viewer, words and design together can often provoke a deeper response.

If you’d like to read Randy’s and Jin Li’s thoughts behind their piece, click here


www.26treasures.com

Words.

I've been cheating. Posting videos and pictures on my website instead of writing words.

I have been writing words. Just not for myself. I've been writing them for these fine people.

26 Treasures. You know the project. The one that started as an idea in January when I read the article that sparked something that led to the chat with the 26 man who liked the idea and pitched it to the London festival, who pitched it to the big museum in the city. Since that day, little 26 Treasures has become very big 26 Treasures. This week we're designing the pamphlet that will be available the week of the London Design Festival.

That's 18-26 September.

We're also organising a special evening at the V&A, where we hope some of our writers will read their 62-word reflections while standing by their treasures. That should be Friday 24 September.

The website looks great www.26treasures.com

This will grow over the summer as every Wednesday we publish stories about our writers and their treasures, and every day from tomorrow we publish a reflection by other writers who showed an interest in the project.

Tomorrow there's a nice piece about a statue of Eve. Then Thursday it's the Mansion of Bliss.

This is my first week in about six months where I won't be able to dedicate a whole day to this project. Why? Because I'm working with The Writer in London.

John Simmons - a man I hope I can now call my friend, as well as my unofficial mentor - is the director of brand language at The Writer. His many books about writing for business decorate the shelves. John recommended me to Anelia. Anelia told Adam about me. Adam sent me a challenge. The rest, as they say, is quite interesting but rather detailed.

This week I'm working on a juicy project with lots of words.

So I've been writing a lot but not much for myself. Does that matter? Yes. To me. To keep my writing creative, I need to write personal things. Like blog posts. Like the occasional tweet. Like the script I owe my agent, the short stories, the comedy sketch.

I will write these other bits. And they'll charge me for my next business writing challenge. Which will get me ready for more scriptwriting.

And the cycle will continue.

I like this writing life.

This should say it all

Hope you can make it.

www.26treasures.com