Toxic Studio

Even before we could stand on our hind legs we were surrounded by toxicity. Earth is a repository of things that are good and very bad for us, sometimes both at the same time. One of the key attributes of our species is our adaptability. We are literally human dustbins, we can and do, eat. drink and breath poisons over long periods of time, often with little or no effect.

I worked in design studios in the Soho and Covent Garden throughout the 80s and I regard this period as the most toxic decade in my career.

Quite apart from the triple shot espressos, cigarettes, alcohol and other substances consumed, the chemicals which we inhaled (all day and often all night) were evil. The spirit contained in Magic Marker pens, Cow Gum (rubber adhesive), Lighter fluid, 3M Spraymount (lethal), fixative (a spray that smelt like pear drops), photo development chemicals like Ammonia and Acetic Acid, combined with the daily commute deep into the heart of traffic clogged, skanky Soho (as it was then), through clouds of tobacco, diesel fumes, leaded 4 star petrol exhaust and tube train brake dust. My lungs never really stood a chance.

In 1984 it began to change in my business when Apple Macintosh launched the first of their desktop publishing computers, I believe this probably gave me back 10 years and I should be grateful to you for at least that, thanks Steve.

With the news in the last couple of days about a ban of all petrol and diesel vehicles in the UK by 2040 coupled with the fact that there are now very few chemicals involved in my kind of work, it looks like the next generation of visual communicators, (or whatever they are going to call commercial artists/graphic designers/pony tails next) will be able to breath a sigh of relief, literally.

If I could turn back time (admit it, you heard Cher then didn't you?), I would change one thing: how much care I took in some of the choices I made both personally and professionally during my 20s and 30s, but then would I have had as much fun?

 I would love to hear from anyone who worked In similar conditions during that period and their subsequent outcomes.

Photo shows a pre-computerised bad scooterist at work in a garret in New Row, Covent Garden 1983.