Confident Sketching

BIID members are invited on a sketching day with Past Presidents Charles Leon and Lester Bennett

Take some time out to sit and sketch the incredible interiors of London’s The Natural History Museum with drawing enthusiasts and interior designers, Charles Leon and Lester Bennett. Charles and Lester both have a wealth of experience sketching for interiors and are excited to take other designers on a journey through the museum exploring form and line to capture the essence of place and space. 

PROGRAMME

10:15 to 10:30 Registration and welcome | Museum forecourt (or vestibule weather dependent)

10:30 to 11:30 Rapid sketching / thumbnails | Museum forecourt (or vestibule weather dependent)

11:45 to 12:30 Perspective | The Gemstone Gallery (floor 1)

12:30 to 13:00 Coffee break and review | Charles Darwin Centre Café (ground floor) (refreshments not included)

13:00 to 13:45 Consolidating rapid drawing with composition and light study | Charles Darwin Centre (ground floor)

14:00 to 15:00 Long drawing | The Dodo Gallery (floor 1) and the Hintze Hall (ground floor)

15:00 End | Feel free to remain in the museum for your own continued drawing or to view the works on display

WHAT YOU SHOULD BRING

• 1 x A3 hardback spiral sketchbook
• 2 x fine liner pens (0.1 and 0.5)
• 1 x 6B pencil

WHAT YOU WILL LEAVE WITH

This class will not dwell on perspective or ‘perfection’ but more on opening the attendee’s creativity via a free sketching style. Designers will leave with a newfound confidence to commit pen to paper after an enjoyable morning of ‘guided scribbling’.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Interior designers looking for a creative and relaxing outlet to explore pen on paper sketching. No experience required and all materials will be supplied.

This event is exclusively for BIID members (Registered Interior Designers, Associates, Provisional Associates, and Employees of a BIID Registered Design Practice).

ABOUT THE TUTORS

LESTER BENNETT

Lester attended Falmouth School of Art in the late 60s and was Head of Art and Design at a large London Comprehensive for most of the 70s. He set up his first interior design practice in 1983. Hand drawing has always figured prominently in all his work and he always encouraged his various staff members to draw as much as possible, especially when engaging with clients, knowing how much they enjoyed seeing their schemes emerge before their eyes.

As well as drawing hundreds of visuals, both interior and exterior, for his professional work, Lester has always taken a sketch book with him wherever he travelled, preferring to draw rather than photograph anything that took his eye. It was during such a trip many years ago that he developed his “scribble technique”, preferring to catch the impression rather than the detail. His approach is to seek out the drama and the dynamism in his subject matter, looking for viewpoints that emphasise form and light, sometimes these inspire development into abstract paintings.

Lester is a Past President of the BIID and during his 20-21 tenure created the “President’s Drawing Board” series for the Newsletter, posting drawings to illustrate various techniques or purposes and encouraging members to submit their own hand drawings for publication. Lester is a guest lecturer at university and art college and amongst many other things is currently working on a children’s picture book with his wife.

CHARLES LEON

Charles is a designer, speaker, and author and trained initially as a theatre designer, working with the Royal National Theatre and the English National Opera. This led to designing for film and then to designing hotels. Charles established his design practice, CLA (later Leon Black), an internationally acclaimed, award-winning design consultancy specialising in hotel, residential design, and innovative thinking.

“Sketching has always been a part of my life in one way or another. Part of my work as a designer was to communicate an idea in my head to someone else. Sometimes words can't explain something as well as a sketch. Sketching is a skill, like driving a car, nothing more. However, it can open doors to seeing and connecting with things in new and fresh ways. I love the ordinary and the familiar because they have stories to tell, every bit as interesting as the grand stories that historic buildings can tell.”

Charles also lectures internationally on the interface between design-thinking, neuroscience, economics, politics, philosophy, sociology, innovation, emotion, and how creative minds work.

He is Past President of the BIID and member of the All-Party Parliamentary Design and Innovation Committee and is a guest university lecturer.

Charles has published one sketch journal and is currently working on a new volume for Kew Gardens.

www.charlesleon.uk/book

ABOUT THE VENUE

The Museum first opened its doors on 18 April 1881, but its origins stretch back to 1753 and the career of Sir Hans Sloane, a doctor and collector. Sloane travelled the world as a high society physician. He collected natural history specimens and cultural artefacts along the way.

In 1864 Francis Fowke, the architect who designed the Royal Albert Hall and parts of the Victoria and Albert Museum, won a competition to design the Natural History Museum. When he unexpectedly died a year later, the relatively unknown Alfred Waterhouse took over and came up with a new plan for the South Kensington site. Waterhouse used terracotta for the entire building as this material was more resistant to Victorian London's harsh climate. The result is one of Britain’s most striking examples of Romanesque architecture, which is considered a work of art and has become one of London's most iconic landmarks.

www.nhm.ac.uk

Additional Information

If this event is fully booked, please join the waiting list. If you are no longer able to attend, please inform the office so that we can give your spot to someone else.

Refreshments are not included

The advertised price does not include VAT.

Attendance to this event equals 5 structured CPD hours

If you have any queries, please email the office at info@biid.org.uk or call 020 7628 0255.

By booking a ticket to this event you are agreeing to the BIID event terms and conditions

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