Rob Ryan

2012-01-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

Every year I do a special Valentine's Day print for all you helpless romantics out there !

Here's this years one ! It measures 28.5 x 35cm and you can get one for £120 from my shop Ryantown in London or on the internet from my etsy shop by clicking this link

The print comes in 3 slightly different versions, man & woman, woman & woman and man & man.

And the words on the prints read.

‘All of the thoughts that I have held inside me ever since I was very small, silly fancies, grandiose ideas and embarrassing and happy and silly dreams that were always just mine and mine alone.
Could I share with you, and you alone, everything that lives inside my heart and my head that I have never shared with anyone but myself all of the years I have lived so far until now.’

2012-01-18T05:43:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, we tested out colours for my new 2012 mug and they came out brilliantly!!! They are two-colour mugs in 3 different colours which you can see above. The mugs are all hand-made here at the studio and they should be in the Ryantown shop this weekend!!!

2012-01-16T09:26:00.000-08:00

Starting from tomorrow TAG Fine Arts will be representing me (amongst other artists) at the London Art Fair at The Business Design Centre in Islington, London. The dates are:
Tues 17 January | 6pm – 9pm (Invited guests / Preview & Six Day Ticket Holders)
Wed 18 January | 11am – 9pm
Thurs 19 January | 11am – 9pm
Fri 20 January | 11am – 7pm
Sat 21 January | 10am – 7pm
Sun 22 January | 10am – 5pm

2012-01-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

My good friend Jeb Loy Nichols has used my artwork on his new album. Jeb is a writer, musician AND an artist. Three things he does incredibly well! Click here read all about him and check out some of his music on youtube!
This really good new LP doesn't come out until March but its getting a few spins on the radio so I thought it might be worth a mention.
The water color on the inside of the sleeve 'I walked and I thought...' is a picture I did many years ago and Jeb owns.
I speak to jeb on the phone pretty much every day and we play soul records we've discovered down the phone to each other and talk about lots of good stuff, Werner Klempererer, Frank Gorshin's incredible impressions of burt lancaster and Rod steiger, my love of Howard Stern, his hatred of Howard Stern and loads more other good stuff !!!
This year we are bringing out a special edition of the album with stories on one side and Jeb's songs on the other !

2012-01-06T08:04:00.001-08:00

I was asked by the publishers, Sceptre, to write a bit about 25 year-old self to celebrate their 25th birthday. They have published various writers' stories of being 25 in this little book. If its too small to read, here is what it says:

'I turned 25 in November 1987, when I was in my final year at the Royal College of Art. I got married to my wife Lorna who I had been going out with since I was 18 and we had been living together since we were 19. Since then our two daughters have been born, gone to school, university and left home and now it is 25 years later, and once more its just me and Lorna at home together - as the great Gilbert O'Sullivan sang, 'alone again naturally'

2012-01-05T06:12:00.000-08:00

To welcome in 2012, we're doing a lucky dip at Ryantown shop, 126 Columbia Road!! If you spend £10 or more, you get a free lucky dip of one of the presents wrapped up here.
Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2011-12-21T03:44:00.000-08:00

In the new year, these mugs that I have designed for McLaggan Smith mugs will be available to buy from various shops. I am donating all of my royalties from the design to Maggies Cancer charity.

This is the last blog post of 2011. Thank you to everyone who reads about what I've been up to, its been a brilliant year and I'm looking forward to sharing some of my projects of 2012 on here. We hope you have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!!!!

Luv Rob, Lorna, Hazel, Libby, Jackie and Michelle

2011-12-20T02:05:00.000-08:00

This year I was asked by St Judes gallery to feature in a new publication called Random Spectacular. The book includes work by artists such as Angie Lewin, The Gentle Author and me along with many other brilliant artists. The first issue is an edition of 750 and the profits from the sales of the first issue are being donated to Maggie's cancer charity. You can get a copy here!!!

2011-12-15T08:04:00.001-08:00

If you're coming into Charing Cross train station in London this winter, look out for (although you can't miss it!!!) the Coutts bank window on the other side of the road. I have created a Christmas window for them to raise money for Kids Company. Incorporated into the windows there is a stuffed Elephant, a Dolls House and a Rocking Horse which are being auctioned off with the proceeds going to Kids Company. You can also make a £5 donation to Kid's Company by texting KIDS HELP to 70700.
Thank you to Ltd Limited who did a beautiful job installing the display and Coley Porter Bell who made the whole thing happen!!!

2011-12-13T00:51:00.000-08:00

Untitled from THE POPULAR SOCIETY on Vimeo.

For the last four years I have designed a Christmas card for the fantastic Modus. The very talented John Brown makes my design come to life and each year I look forward to seeing how John will animate it.

2011-12-06T01:57:00.000-08:00

I will be doing my second Christmas fair this year at the annual Mangle Christmas sale. The Mangle is where I share a print studio with Dan Holliday and RAD skating company Lovenskate!!! I will be selling my Christmas wrapping paper, as well as slight seconds of ceramics and possibly some other bits too!!
A few of my other good friends will be selling bits and bobs, including Hazel Nicholls, Suzie Winsor, Lorna Ryan of Barbara Bearo, French, Kim Jenkins and Lilli Cowley-Wood & Jazmine Miles-Long and that's not even everyone!!!
The sale will be taking place at DreamBagsJaguarShoes this Saturday 10th December, 11am - 6pm.

2011-11-30T06:48:00.000-08:00

Today is the first Christmas Wednesday on Columbia Road of 2011. Every year, the shops on Columbia road open their doors on Wednesday evenings (usually only open on weekends) throughout December.
For those of you who are close-by, its a lovely way to spend a cold winters evening. Shops open around 5pm and close at 9pm, including Ryantown.

If you are unable to get to any of the evenings, I have put some of my screenprinted Christmas cards on etsy today, which you can see here, along with lots of other handmade products from Ryantown.

2011-11-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I am off to JAPAN for ELEVEN days !!!! I'm pretty excited about it and I am going to blog about my trip as it unfolds on my personal blog.

youcanstilldoalotwithasmallbrain.blogspot.com/

2011-11-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

We're still a little way off from 2012 yet, but not long to go now!!! The new design for our desk calendars have just arrived and will be in Ryantown this weekend!

2011-11-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

This year, I'm taking part in Bust magazine's Craftacular sale and have produced this (cheap!!!) Christmas wrapping paper for the sale!!! Its printed on newsprint and will be available in blue, red and green.
I'm going to be selling these, alongside brilliant artists and designers such as Hazel Nicholls, Lilli Cowley-Wood and Jasmine Miles Long, Kim Jenkins and Tatty Devine

2011-11-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

I was asked by Graham and Green along with 15 other artists and designers to customise a plain white resin stags head.

The heads will be auctioned off with all of the proceeds going to the homeless charity, Centrepoint. You can bid by going to the website here
They will also be selling the plain white stags heads from their website, with 16% of the sale also going to Centrepoint.

2011-11-09T08:16:00.000-08:00

My good friend and brilliant handbag designer, Mimi Berry is celebrating the 10 year birthday of her company by having a wall of her handbags in the Tatty Devine shop on Brick Lane throughout November and December. She asked me to design a birthday card on which a Tatty designed leather brooch (based on a silhouette of Mimi and her beautiful dog Dora) sits.

Happy Birthday Mimi!!!!

2011-11-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

We're currently in the process of printing a version of the papercut I did for the Mapping show (see below). It is called 'The Map of My Entire Life' and is a three colour print.
Unfortunately it won't be available to buy on Etsy as it is too big for us to post out but it will be available at Ryantown or from TAG Fine Arts.

The print reads:

'I used to live in one of those little houses down there and I still remember every road and every field and every brick and stone. Everything you can see was the map of my entire life. The raging battleground of all my victories and defeats, from up here just looks like a pretty pattern. Every single minute was a struggle but not a second goes by when I don't wish I was back down there... mixing it up again on good old planet earth.'

2011-11-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

TAG Fine Arts (who sell my work for me) are having a map related art exhibition quite soon, it looks pretty interesting and I have made a small piece that will be in the show too !

The exhibition runs from 14th - 26th November at The Air Gallery, Dover Street, London W1S 4NE.

2011-10-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I went up to Yorkshire Sculpture Park for a book signing. It was such a brilliant day and so good to meet so many people who want to read my book!!!

As an exclusive to my shop and YSP, I've done a limited edition screenprint of one of my favourite pages from the A Sky Full of Kindness.

Available from Ryantown, YSP and online at etsy

2011-10-19T02:26:00.000-07:00

You may know that I have an online shop on the handmade marketplace Etsy. Every so often, etsy make a brilliant film about one particular seller, there have been some amazing insights into the work that goes into each sellers' products and this time they came to film me!!!

You can see more videos on etsy's blog here

2011-10-11T01:41:00.000-07:00

My new book 'A Sky Full Of Kindness' has its official release date this Thursday, 13th October and to celebrate, we've produced this limited edition lasercut which is an adaption of one of the pages in the book.

The lasercut measures approx 59cm wide x 39cm high so is our biggest one to date!! It is in edition of 250, signed and reads:

"We promise by the spirits of all the birds that have ever been, that are and ever will be, that we will care for this child. Every feather, every bone and beak is precious to us and every bird in our small community and to the greater family of all the birds. We promise to keep the egg safe. We promise to keep the child safe. We promise to help this small, small bird in this big, big world."

Available from TAG Fine Arts

2011-10-06T03:45:00.000-07:00

Those of you who read the brilliant 'Stylist' magazine may already have read the lovely article they have written about my new book 'A Sky Full Of Kindness'. For the unlucky people who didn't manage to get a copy, you can read the article here.
Also a MASSIVE thank you to everyone at Stylist for the cake they sent us along with a copy of the magazine!!! It truly was incredible - have a look!!!

2011-09-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Over the summer we have been working with SCP, the East London design and furniture shop (I call it the cool Shoreditch department store !) to produce this Ruler for the measuring of Human beings. We have been making these 7ft high rulers to sell exclusively in our shop for a few years now but it was good fun working with Sheridan and his team at SCP on this new design. The ruler was printed by our good pal Stuart Smith of Error Solutions screenprinting services (for all your screenprinting requiremnts !!) ably assisted by Lilli and Dave.

The words on the poem are quite hard to read on the photos, so this is what they say....

The village grew into a town and the town grew into a whole city. The tree grew up to the sky and the river grew as it flowed down towards the sea and the flowers they grew until they covered the whole field and from inside the depths of our hearts you grew as well. Every single day a tiny unnoticeable bit more and more of you, and all of the long days and all of the short days will add up to yet more of you until there is no more growing to be grown and the last mark on this ruler will have been made.

But yet still inside you there will never be a shortage to the amount of love your heart can grow and day by day and year by yet you can grow in your heart still more care and more sympathy and more trust and more kindness until it finally blossoms and its flowers cover the entire world.

2011-09-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the launch of our wallpaper collaboration with Mini-moderns we decided to have a little drinks party at my shop, Ryantown.

What better way to show off our new product than by wrapping every item of stock in it !!!

I'm sure that people must think we have lots of spare time on our hands here at the studio, but honestly it's the opposite - it's just that we can't help acting on ridiculous impulses !!

2011-09-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

This is the result of a collaboration between French stationers Rhodia, Japanese department store Plaza and me!!

2011-09-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

These are our new cushion designs, hand printed here at the studio!! They are printed on both sides ,with beautiful open bird cages and birds flying free carrying the words 'Our Adventure is about to begin' .

There are four new colours in stock and you can buy them at our shop Ryantown on Columbia Road or at our online Etsy shop.

2011-09-08T07:15:00.000-07:00

The countdown to my new book launch has begun as the official release date 13th October!!
For anybody who would like to get a signed copy, I will be signing 'A Sky Full of Kindness' on Saturday 29th October in my shop, Ryantown 126 Columbia Road London E2 7RG from 1pm - 4pm.

Hope to see you there!!

2011-09-02T09:33:00.001-07:00

I've started a new blog, it's a bit different to this one which is principally about what I do work wise, this new one is more just a kind of diary sort of thinking about stuff and all that other kind of thing. I think that's possibly the worst description of anything ever !!!

Anyway, if anyone is interested it can be found here .

2011-08-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

Last week my wife sent me a text telling me that Nick Ashford had died.

Him and his wife were, are and always will be my total and absolute heroes. Although they were most well known in their own right for the 80s hit 'Solid', Nick and his wife Valerie Simpson wrote countless songs of such beauty and tenderness and joy that I couldn't even begin to call myself any type of an artist in comparison.

'Ain't no mountain high enough' as sung by Marvin and Tammi is the best known of their compositions but there were so many others that I know I will listen to and sing along to in my awful voice and continue to love until the day I die.

Nick, I made this simple picture for my shop window last week and so many people came into the shop and told Cynthia my shop manager how much they loved your music and how much it meant to them.

Thank you so much for sharing your incredible gift with us Nick, you were such a beautiful man.

2011-08-24T03:44:00.001-07:00

The wallpaper is now available to buy on etsy in Afternoon Green, Sky Blue and Chalky Violet!!!!!

2011-08-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

I've just been told that my latest collaboration, with wallpaper designers Mini Moderns has just been printed!!

The lovely guys from Mini Moderns and I decided that we should come together to produce a wallpaper based on the end papers for my new book 'A Sky Full Of Kindness'. The original birdcages and birds were all cut from paper and arranged into a repeat pattern. If you look closely, you can read 'Our adventure is about to begin', each word held in the beak of an escapee bird!!

The wallpaper comes in three different colours and will be available from 10th September from my shop and at Mini Moderns.

2011-08-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

Last year I did a collaboration with Two Birds Bridesmaid, a company who have designed a bridesmaid dress that is pretty ingenious, one dress you can transform by tying it in about 1000 different ways!!
I designed a handkerchief for them with the idea that the bride could give it to her bridesmaids as a gift on her wedding day or vice versa.
We were running really low on the hankies we made last year so decided to do another run!!

The hankie is cotton and is hand printed in blue (something blue!) and comes in a little hand-printed box. It reads 'Forever my dearest friend, you shall always be...'

We spent yesterday assembling the boxes and wrapping them all up in tissue ready to go on etsy so you can now get them if you click here

They are also available from the Two Birds Bridesmaid shop in Notting Hill.

To have a look at THE dress from Two Birds, visit their website here

2011-08-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

We've had a rocky few days here in London but luckily we have still been able to get to the studio and have just started packaging up the latest lasercut which is a new colour-way of 'Our Adventure'. Every lasercut is signed and editioned by me and comes in its own yellow folder with a pink ribbon!! You can now buy them on etsy.
Hoping everybody is safe and well today.

2011-08-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

This year I have designed the t-shirt for Vogue's fashion's night out, you can find it in the September issue of Vogue.

2011-08-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

This summer my youngest daughter has been organising an exhibition of fanzines by girls that opens at the Tatty Devine shop in Brick Lane, London tonight. For the last few months, lots of lovely handmade and decorated and intriguing and interesting looking envelopes have been dropping through our letter box all addressed to Barbara Ryan. I've been very jealous of getting such wonderous post...... but very very proud. GO BARBARA!!!!!!!!!!

Barbara Frankie Ryan’s GIRLS + ZINES: August 3 – September 4, 2011, Tatty Devine, 236 Brick Lane, London

See an interview by Dazed & Confused with Barbara about the exhibition here

More info on the exhibition here

Join the facebook group here

And read more from Barbara's incredible blog here

2011-07-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since we had some new acrylic keys in the shop but its been worth the wait..... look at all the colours!!

2011-07-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

A very dear friend of mine got married this weekend and she asked me if she could use the border that appears in a lot of my papercuts as bunting. What a stroke of genius!!! You can see how well it worked here.

2011-07-15T01:54:00.000-07:00

I made this bunting to celebrate the third birthday of my shop Ryantown, I can't believe how quickly the last three years have gone. OMG We're 3!!!

2011-06-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

About a year ago 'Coast' magazine asked me if I'd like to design a modern day take on the classic Railway Poster of yesteryear. I did a design celebrating Rye. I've just done a rework on that design and have produced it as a screenprint. Funilly enough I'm in Rye right now as I write this. I've been reading Edward Burra's Biography who lived just up the hill from Rye all his life - but he always called it 'Tinkerbell Town'!
My new friend in Rye, Sarah, is opening a shop here in September, Lion Street Store, and she will be selling this print of Rye in Tinkerbell Town itself !!!

2011-06-28T02:50:00.001-07:00

We've just finished printing a brand new tile!!!

now available on etsy

2011-06-27T02:19:00.001-07:00

Every year since my shop Ryantown opened, we've celebrated the anniversary with a limited edition screen print and this year is no different.
'Believe In Goodness' is the Ryantown 3rd anniversary print and has a special price to match. The print is just slightly smaller than a3, its in an edition of 200 and is £160. You can find it in Ryantown or on etsy
Happy Birthday Ryantown!!!

2011-06-15T09:56:00.001-07:00

As well as the money boxes, we've just done a new mug!!!

2011-06-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

Now that the massive book project is out of the way, its nice to spend some time working on some smaller, more self contained jobs. I've been meaning to make a money box for ages. When I was very small, I used to love hoarding change. Hopefully this little ceramic piggy bank might rekindle that saving instinct in a young boy or girl.

Click here to buy on Etsy!

2011-06-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

Ryantown Tour Bus Summer 2011 T-shirts have just been printed by Stu and Lilli at Error Solutions and are now in Ryantown!!

2011-06-03T06:34:00.000-07:00

In the latest edition of Elle, you can find the BEAUTIFUL Lorna Ryan in the 'Love + Fashion' feature!!!

2011-06-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

If anyone is going to the Royal Academy Summer Show, look out for two prints of mine!!

2011-05-31T04:13:00.000-07:00

make animated gifs like this at MakeAGif

At the moment we are working on an edition of 30 cats. Its a lot of work. I'm taking inspiration from all these here cats I made for the show last year at the Shire Hall Gallery in Stafford.

2011-05-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

You may know that every so often, I make a new edition of height rulers to sell in Ryantown.

This is the newest edition and is slightly different to any I've done before.
The rulers are made from ply wood, this particular one has a hand-painted yellow strip down the left side and a flash of orange down the left edge. Over the bare wood are hand-painted light blue clouds, the rest of the wood is left bare to show the grain. They are then hand-printed with red ink for the illustration and indigo inks to show the measurements. The rulers measure up to 7 foot and are signed in an edition of 20.

Available in the shop this weekend for £315 each!!!

2011-05-16T01:49:00.000-07:00

Studio Music is a brilliant website listing artists/designers/photographers top 10 tracks to listen to in their studios whilst they're working. A new artists' top ten is added at the beginning of each week and this week, its me!!!

Every artist writes a little about why they love to listen to each track and you can listen along whilst reading, its really quite brilliant!

You can read and listen by visiting the website here

2011-05-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

Stylist magazine in the UK ran a competition for their readers to vote for their favourite cover out of all 75 issues of the magazine. A little while I designed a cover for their 'Perfect Picnic' issue. I meant to blog about it but I forgot! But this week it was announced that my cover won anyway so thank you to anyone who voted!!!

They also featured Ryantown as one of the '100 addresses Stylist wants you to know'

2011-05-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry my blog has been a bit neglected for a while, as you may already know, I've been working on a new book which I have written and illustrated myself. At 60 pages long, it's been a bit of a mammoth task to cut them all in 4 months but we've almost finished!!!
The book is called 'A Sky Full Of Kindness' and will be available to buy in October of this year.
After each cut is finished, they are coloured using spray paint. Right now, we're at spraying and sticking stage - hopefully these photos will give you an idea of how these final steps are done and why I've been so quiet recently!!!

2011-04-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is your last chance to bid on the Royal wedding plate I designed for the magazine Living Etc to raise money for homeless charity, Shelter. You can bid by going here. This plate is a complete one-off, made here at the studio in Royal blue with hand-painted gold lustre rings. All the proceeds go to Shelter, so you are investing in a worthy cause by bidding.

If you miss out on the auction, you can also get a version of the plate in black and yellow at Ryantown or Etsy.

If you're reading this in the UK, have a great day off tomorrow!!!

2011-04-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

I have just done a little interview with 'Heal's Reveals' the blog of interior design shop, Heal's. You can find it on the Heal's website here!!

2011-04-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the new teatowel which is now on sale on Etsy and will be available in Ryantown this weekend.

2011-04-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

After some sampling, we've got a design and colourway for the new teatowels!! Jackie has been testing out loads of colours this morning - here you can see the whole process.
The first colour is printed with water-based ink and then cured before the keyline is printed over the top. These will be in the shop this weekend and maybe even a few on etsy, look back for a post tomorrow with the chosen colourway.....

2011-04-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

All of this work year has so far been dominated by working on a new book. I should be finished in about a months time and the book itself will come out in the Autumn. It's been a bit of a mammoth task to tell the truth but hopefully it will be worth all the effort. Here is the first page and it will be called 'A Sky Full of Kindness'.

2011-04-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

A while ago, the magazine Living Etc asked me and 8 other artists and designers to design a plate to celebrate the Royal wedding in April. Here is the article in the May issue.

I designed and printed my plate in Royal blue and finished with hand painted gold lustre rings, this is the only blue and gold one in existence.

The plates are now up for auction with all proceeds going to the housing and homeless charity, Shelter.
You can bid for the plates by emailing your closed bid to livingetcplates@ipcmedia.com. Put your chosen designer in the subject line. Bidding ends at midnight on 29th April 2011. Winning bidders will be notified shortly afterwards and will need to pay via a PayPal account.

2011-03-29T06:09:00.001-07:00

Egg cups are live on etsy!!!

2011-03-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

During the winter months fumbling around for keys in the dark to lock/unlock the studio is now a thing of the past! Not just because the clocks have gone forward but because we have had our beautiful blue and frosted glass installed in our lantern by the door. BIG BIG thanks to stained glass wizard SASHA WARD for making it all possible.

2011-03-24T04:17:00.000-07:00

In my new role as art critic I get tough on the prime ministers wife in todays Guardian newspaper.

2011-03-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

The fifth issue of Its Nice That has just been published and there's an article all about me!!! Check those guys out here

2011-03-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

We needed to put our mugs for the shop in boxes, and since I couldn't be bothered to make a new design, we just used an old print but I think it still looks pretty cool.

2011-03-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

Every year I make a St Patrick's day card.

2011-03-08T08:30:00.001-08:00

Canvas versions of the 'My other bag is made of solid gold!' bags are now in the shop, here you can see me using the bag in my everyday life.... both sides are printed, one in blue and one in pink!!!

2011-03-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

We're currently sampling a new tea towel design and have tried a few different colour-ways. I'll eventually choose one of these colour-ways to print for the shop but they looked so jolly all together that I thought we'd take some photos for the blog!!!

2011-03-02T01:37:00.000-08:00

Honestly, it is... and it's really heavy and impractical. So you're better off with one of these!!!

2011-02-23T03:58:00.000-08:00

Chronicle books have just released a new book entitled 'Paper cutting' and I was honored to be asked to write a preface. The book is filled with beautiful photographs of paper cutting artist's work such as Su Blackwell, Nikki McClure and Peter Callesen (there's a bit of mine in there too!) You can read my preface below as it might be too small to read in the pictures!!

Preface:

Were you the kind of child that ate your way all around the edge of the hole in the middle of a biscuit bit by bit with tiny teeth in little nibbles?
Were you the kind of child who spent much more time drawing margins and making multi-colored borders and underlining the titles and subtitles of your homework than ever actually doing it?
I was always busy jumping over and around the cracks in the sidewalk, and I looked up at the spaces in the sky that lay between the shapes made by crisscrossing telephone lines and power cables waiting for a jet plane or a bird to pass perfectly into the centre of the frame that I had created in my head. At that instant, I shut my eyes as if they were a camera shutter and captured that moment and made it mine.

The world joins up with itself over and over again. Roads cross rivers on bridges; and one day you learn that rivers cross roads in aqueducts. Pavements turn sideways into pedestrian crossings, and then back into pavements again. Tall buildings become one with the clouds, and airplanes draw lines in the sky with vapor trails that I used to look up at in wonder but now with dread or even guilt.

I do like this whole paper-cutting thing.
I like the fact that I don’t need paint or brushes or water or oil or palettes or canvas, just a piece of paper, a knife, and a pencil [and a rubber (eraser)!]. So much less—less mess, less waste, less stuff. More time—more time to say the things I have to say without detail getting in the way. No adding on of paint, layer after layer—no more never quite knowing when to stop. Only taking away and taking away, first of all, all of the holes from the middle of all of the doughnuts in the world, and then the tiny slivery gaps that exist in the spaces in some lovers’ entwined fingers, or maybe that tiny little island of nothingness that lives between two pairs of kissing lips. And then a bigger hole that really is the entire sky, and so on and on until all the gaps fill up and slowly become the solidness that is the world we live in that somehow lies between.

Originally I turned to paper cutting as a means to stop myself from putting writing into my work. I had always used small sentences here and there in my work. ( I guess I just had things that I wanted to say.) However these phrases had started to grow and extend to such an extent that my pictures were composed entirely of lettering. I had a small book of Tyrolean paper cuts, of very pastoral images, rolling hills and gates and trees, wooden chalets, and cows with huge bells around their necks being led down from the mountains. These charming pictures had been cut through vertically folded paper and as such had perfect symmetry; I thought that if I worked that way, I wouldn’t be able to put words in the pictures because they would be mirrored back to front on the facing side when unfolded—so I must admit I was originally drawn to paper cutting by a form of self-censorship. However, I soon became transfixed by this world of perfect symmetry. It was a place where I could give the world my own imposed order, making it the neat and tidy place it so isn’t.

So I started to make my own paper cuts from single folded sheets of thin paper with the sharpest scalpel blades.
In this new two-dimensional world, it was always good for people to be doing things, keeping themselves busy. This suited me because I like to be kept busy myself. People seemed to be constantly climbing up ladders or hanging upside down from the branches of trees.

I began to love living in the new world. It was a place where things always joined together and supported one another—in short, they helped each other out.

Clouds hung from tiny, finely cut chains as if they were a part of a stage set in a Victorian puppet theater. A forest of trees rose up to become a vast city of buildings, here a blade of grass, a daisy, a tree joined together in a solid shape to form a hill on which two lovers ran hand in hand against a skyline made up of shadows of trees that reach up to become part of a black sky as solid as a curtain out of which countless star shapes have been cut, through which the starlight of the heavens shines . . . all connected, all one, all parts of each other on equal footing within the same plane. After all, we are all a part of each other. When parts separate from the whole in nature, they wither and die, alone. These blackened shapes, their arms and hands reach out, always wanting to touch, their gestures are frozen in time as if the light had been thrown on and then hastily thrown off to their own startlement. But then, delicate as these flimsy pieces of paper are, they can still seem sometimes as solid as granite statues.

I think that the current artistic revival and interest in working with cut paper stems from a certain type of artist. One who loves to draw and also loves shape and solidity, but who does not want to be tied down by the weight of sculpting or the complexity of painting. An artist who wants to freely explore a material so light and fragile and easy to work with, with which she or he can create small worlds for us as light as our lives are themselves. The artist creates silhouettes in which we are mirrored, for after all in the larger scheme of things, our brief lives really leave so little behind after all the living has been cut out of them, that we are but shadows ourselves.

2011-02-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

Please click here to be directed

2011-02-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

As you all know, just over a year ago on 12th January 2010 Haiti was hit by a catastrophic earthquake and 13 months later, the country is still in need of so much help. To try and do my bit to raise some money, I’ve designed and printed a brand new limited edition screenprint which will be sold on Etsy and in my shop, Ryantown on Columbia Road. The price will be £200 and with Paypal and Etsy fees from the online sales subtracted, this leaves at least £186 going straight to the Haiti cause per print sold. If we can sell the whole edition of 200 of these, we could raise over £37,000.
The print reads: ‘We are all part of each other and this is my promise, I won’t pass you by and I won’t ignore you and look the other way but I’ll help you build your nest again. This is my promise’

Prints will be available to buy from Etsy on Friday and Ryantown on Saturday.

If you would like to re-post this blog entry to your own blog or website, please feel free, I want to make as many people aware to raise as much as we can.

2011-02-14T09:59:00.000-08:00

I have just designed and made this Royal blue and gold one-off plate for English magazine, Living Etc to celebrate the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in April. The gold is painted on by hand and the text reads 'The Crown and the Throne and the lions and the unicorns & the bowing & scraping and all the Palaces and the privileges are worth nothing if you will not spend every day of your life with me until I die.'

2011-02-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

Two new colour-ways of 'I Can't Forget' and 'You Are My Universe' have just been printed and are available on etsy now and will be in Ryantown this weekend!!!

2011-01-26T03:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of me talking to the lovely guys at Crane TV. They came to the studio and filmed me working while they asked me questions about my life as an artist. You can get a good idea of what my studio is like from this ace video... so take a look!!!

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2011-01-20T06:29:00.000-08:00

The first installment of Valentines lasercuts has just gone up on etsy!
For now, there are only 20 but more will be up soon...
This year, due to popular demand, I've done a new edition in beautiful blue of 'Can We? Shall We?'
Text reads: ”Can We? Shall We? One day very soon, let us go away together just you and me. Can We? Shall We? Call in sick one day and travel to the sea and hold hands all day. Can We? Shall We? Eat our sandwiches on the train, get drunk on fresh air and come home tired and never tell anyone.... Ever.”
Every lasercut is initialled and numbered and comes in it's own red ribbon-tied envelope. Click here to have your very own

2011-01-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

The gentle author at Spitalfields life has written a lovely piece on the bell mugs that have recently been exhibited at the Stafford show. Each mug has a different message and are now for sale in Ryantown. You can read all about them and the ideas behind them in the piece on Spitalfields life blog here.

2011-01-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

This weekend is going to be a ceramic extravaganza in Ryantown!! We've taken the Stafford show down and a lot of the ceramics from the show are going into the shop. There will be brand-new mugs, plates and these set of 6 platters. There won't be any Staffordshire cats or dogs just yet, but keep an eye out on the blog because they'll be available soon!

2011-01-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

Happy new year everyone!! If you have ever been to Japan, you may be familiar with leading department store Diamaru. Over the past few years, I have been asked to design their Christmas packaging. This year, they have put up an exhibition of my work along with the original papercuts for the packaging for xmas 2010. If you're in the area, check it out!!

2010-12-20T02:59:00.001-08:00

Seasons Greetings from Rob Ryan from MR. ROBERT RYAN

2010-12-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

Now we are in the dark of winter when we leave the studio we are constantly struggling in the dark searching for the right keys with which to lock the door - but not for much
longer !!! Our new lantern is going to be installed and glass designer supremo Sasha Ward has made the glass up for us, its slowly coming together and I'm pretty excited!

2010-12-15T03:18:00.000-08:00

The Guardian G2 magazine asked me and 5 other artists to design a Christmas card.... and my one got the cover!!!
The other brilliant artists who designed cards are David Shrigley, Michael Craig-Martin, Polly Morgan, Matthew Darbyshire and Sarah Lucas. They are available to email or tweet or print out and post on The Guardian website

2010-12-09T06:50:00.000-08:00

Here is the newest lasercut!!!

Measures 26cm wide by 38.5cm high and comes in it's own ribbon-wrapped folder. Every lasercut is signed by me (initialled) in an edition of 300.

They are now available on etsy and will be in Ryantown this weekend at £80 each.

2010-12-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

We're in the process of making these beautiful plates at Ryantown HQ. Each design is hand-printed with ceramic ink and then applied the plate by hand. They are then fired here at the studio. There are several designs, taken from the papercuts in the recent 'The Stars Shine All Day Too'exhibition. They will only be available in the shop in the new year as they take such a long time to make!

2010-12-06T03:34:00.000-08:00

If you're in London in the run-up to Christmas, head down Charing Cross Road to Foyles bookshop to see this lovely window display for the book 'Another Night Before Christmas'.
It's a lovely little book with a poem all about the night before Christmas, written by Carol Ann Duffy and illustrated by me!!!

2010-12-02T06:01:00.000-08:00

Every year we do a new calendar at Ryantown and here's the latest!!
They are available in the shop and on ebay for £5 each.

2010-12-01T01:57:00.000-08:00

I was asked by The Willow Foundation to create a canvas to be auctioned for the Stars On Canvas auction.
Well known faces from the worlds of sport, art, design, fashion, music and entertainment have drawn on their artistic skills in aid of the charity.
More than 300 canvases are being sold online through an eBay auction, which is open now, with bidding closing on 6 December 2010.
There is also a public exhibition which runs from 2 - 5 December at Catto Gallery, 100 Heath Street, Hampstead, London NW3 1DP
www.catto.co.uk
Exhibition opening times:
Thu 2 Dec: 3pm - 6pm • Fri 3 & Sat 4 Dec: 10am - 6pm • Sun 5 Dec: 12.30pm - 6pm
The money from the auction will be going to a great cause - The Willow Foundation is the only charity of its kind providing special days for seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds throughout the UK.
You can find my canvas here... get bidding!

2010-11-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

Good news!

The silk scarf is up on Etsy!

2010-11-23T06:31:00.000-08:00

For those of you who won't get a chance to see the exhibition in Stafford... here are a few of the little Staffordshire cats in the show!

2010-11-17T04:24:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, the show in Stafford was officially opened by the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. We spent a few days in Stafford, at the Shire Hall Gallery hanging the show, so here are some photos of the work in progress. If you get a chance to drop in, the show is on until January and is full of brand new papercuts and ceramics as well as all the original cuts from 'The Gift'. Thanks to everyone who helped!

2010-11-11T09:29:00.000-08:00

Last night Lulu Guinness had a night at my London Show at the the Air Gallery to launch the fan bag she has made with my design on it. It was a fun night but the best thing ever was there was a really cool photobooth machine there !!! As you can see fun was had by all the Ryantown Massive !!!, featuring above....Hazel and Cynthia - Camille, Hazel and Hobby - Me and Hazel - Me and Lorna - Adam, Amaia, Jackie and Me - Jackie, Libby and Amaia - Jackie and Libby - Me, Hazel, Jackie and Libby....etc!
You can now bid on the bag on ebay. It is the only one available worldwide and is signed by both me and Lulu. All proceeds go to the charity ASAP... so bid!!!!

2010-11-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

'THE STARS SHINE ALL DAY TOO' My Show of new Papercuts is up at
The Air Gallery, which is located at 32 Dover Street, close to Green Park underground station. The nearest underground stations are Green Park (on the Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria Lines), Piccadilly Circus (on the Piccadilly and Bakerloo Lines) and Bond Street (on the Jubilee and Central lines). The nearest rail station is Charing Cross.

The exhibition will be open 1st - 20th November 2010.
Opening Times: Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm. Saturday, 11am-4pm. Sunday, 12-4pm. Admission Free.

I'm really happy with a lot of the work in the show and I hope that some of you who live in or near LDN get to see it, it's the culmination of a fairly busy year but no letting up - tomorrow we travel up to Stafford to start installing the show at The Shire Hall Gallery that opens on Friday night (12th).

2010-10-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

I was honored to be asked by the brilliant Lulu Guinness to design a fan bag along with Paloma Faith and Sophie Dahl. The design comes from a papercut that many of you may have seen in the Pick Me Up exhibition at Somerset House and was re-worked to fit the bag. Every star on the bag is hand embroidered with silver thread and dotted with Swarovski crystals. IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!! There has only been one made which will be auctioned from 8th-20th November so keep an eye out on Lulu's website!

2010-10-27T06:54:00.000-07:00

This month, we've been busy making lots of Staffordshire dogs and cats for the Stafford show and the dogs made the cover of the latest issue of Crafts magazine!!
The magazine have done an article about my work written by the lovely Teleri Lloyd-Jones and you can see a sneak preview of some of the work for Stafford in the piece.

2010-10-22T09:54:00.000-07:00

We've just had a delivery of the new Roger La Borde cards to the studio. They're foil blocked onto recycled card and come in packs of 10 with sweet little foiled envelopes. Three designs will be available from Ryantown this weekend.

2010-10-22T03:52:00.001-07:00

I'm in the middle of preparing for 2 solo shows of my work in November, one in London and one in Stafford. The London show will be mainly brand new papercuts and prints and a couple of little suprises too! Stafford is going to be a big ceramic show, along with the original papercut illustrations from Carol Ann Duffy's new book 'The Gift' and new papercuts and prints. All info is on the picture above. Come!!!

2010-10-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

NEW TAPE!!!!! It's always an exiting day at Ryantown HQ when a new tape arrives and here's the newest! I designed this in conjunction with an exhibition that I am going to be putting on at the Shire Hall Gallery in Stafford from 13th November. The title of the show is 'Your Job Is To Take This World Apart And Then Put It Back Together Again... But Even Better!!!' and will be a mixture of ceramics and papercuts. The tape reads the same as the show title and is available from my etsy and Ryantown this weekend!

2010-10-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

British Airways Highlife magazine asked me to create a postcard sized papercut for their charity auction. All proceeds go to Flying Start, the global charity partnership between British Airways and Comic Relief. The auction ends at one minute to midnight on 1st November.

2010-10-01T04:07:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Emily Peacock brought around the tapestry kits and this amazing cushion she had made from the first ever 'Give Me Work' tapestry!
The kits have gone onto both mine and Emily's Etsy this morning and will be available from Ryantown and Emily's website as well as Liberty's in London.

2010-09-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

To celebrate their 25th anniversary, the design and publishing company, Roger La Borde have collaborated with Liberty of London to create a pop-up shop in the Carnaby Room of the department store. I have worked with Roger La Borde for a few years now and was invited to create a limited edition print for the pop-up shop shown here. Also on show is one of my bigger papercuts and original artworks from other brilliant artists such as Su Blackwell, Aya Kakeda and Elise Hurst.

2010-09-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

The amazing Emily Peacock and her daughter Ruby came to visit me yesterday. They brought with them the finished sample of our Tapestry which will be available to buy at the start of October.

2010-09-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a full-length photo of the scarf as promised! Hopefully you can get a better idea of the size from this picture taken in the yard outside the studio.