ABOUT

This blog captures things relevant to my MFA in Graphic Design & Art Direction. It is a place 
for me to collect the things I read, see, hear and do over the next 2 years whilst at Manchester Metropolitan University, and as a freelance Graphic Artist and occasional lecturer at Liverpool 
John Moore’s University.

Kochi Kochi is Japanese slang for Kochirae and translates in English as a polite way of saying 
“This way!” or gesturing "Over here!", Gakusei is an addition to Kochi Kochi for this blog translating 
as student!

Inspired by this after many trips to Tokyo it has become a fitting moniker to sum up my work as a freelance Graphic Artist; although recently I have found myself thinking now “This way!” but “Which way?!”. After 7 years in the Graphic Design industry I have worked with various clients and artists from different backgrounds, and each time my skills have been developed in a new area. I am now at a place in my professional and personal life at which I would like to define a clearer and more innovative way in which I work for myself and clients.

Since graduating from the Graphic Arts course at Liverpool John Moore’s University, I have been employed by a multi disciplinary design studio as a Graphic Designer, and am now a freelance 
Graphic Artist. I am interested in combining computer generated visuals with more tactile mediums such as needlework, knitting, sewing and screen printing, and discovering the links between art, craft and design - to look at how each of the creatives within these areas work and how they each link themselves to one another. I have always felt passionate about work that documents a memory or is inquisitive, work that teaches and provokes thought about the unknown or the out of the ordinary, that looks at different cultures and has depth in meaning.

Over the years I have been given fantastic opportunities to work for a wide range of clients across multiple sectors; I specialise in bespoke commissions for independent creative projects and events, working both independently and collaboratively. From working with start-ups to established companies, multi disciplinary design studios, creating design for large scale, mass participation art events, illustration for BBC educational games and to teach on the course I graduated from to name but a few examples. Alongside this work I have always produced my own projects, including the organisation and curation of an inaugural group exhibition for the Liverpool Independents Biennial (with creatives from Liverpool, London & New York), personal publications or experimental typography.

To see my current portfolio please visit www.kochi-kochi.co.uk, I am also a co-founder of The Souvenir Collective.

Please feel free to email any queries or just to say hello here.