NAT CHESHIRE

Where was this drawing made?

This was drawn from my sofa at the conservatory breakfast table, while a guest at ‘Ett Hem’ (‘A Home’) in Stockholm, Sweden. This is a century-old rambling brick home and walled courtyard, recently converted into the most extraordinary twelve-suite hotel. It’s like staying at a friend’s place – but in a world where your friends have great art collections and a twenty-four hour chef who isn’t interested in menus. It’s an exquisite collision of Scandinavian tactility and contemporary nuance. And it smells incredible.

Why did you choose this site to explore?

We were in Stockholm to visit my brilliant young cousin Sarah Otley, who designs stores across the globe for the global fashion brand Monki. I had spent some time with Ilse Crawford in Lisbon this year; Ilse had conceived and executed this hotel down to the tiniest detail and it looked like her best work, it definitely seemed worth the investment!

Is this your typical medium? And what kind of paper or sketch book do you use?

I’m not really fussed. Drawing is a bit like handwriting for me – nothing ever stuck. I just draw with whatever is around, and the urgency and nature of the drawing just emerges from the collision of subject and medium. This was the first time I had used an ink pen I stole from Pip – it slowed me down quite a lot but I loved its full, liquid line.

Why do you enjoy drawing while traveling? 

I very rarely have time to draw, but was determined to slow down a little this time. I remember a little text of Proust’s, about the impossible but nonetheless simultaneous sense of being both lost and hyper-aware whilst reading. It’s something like that, drawing.

For other sketches by Nat Cheshire, see the slideshow above.

JOHN BAKER

Where was this drawing made?

The building is called the ‘Grimmenturm’, completed ca. 1280 in Zurich, Switzerland. It was built as a residential tower for one of Zurich’s families, and formed a part of the old town’s original fortifications.

Why did you choose this site to explore?

Zurich’s medieval Old Town or ‘Altstadt’ is full of tiny, charming and very well-maintained alleyways, with the Neumarkt area (where Grimmentum is located) being one of my favourite areas to explore for its surprising twists and turns, and for the bucket-listable design store at Neumarkt 17 that is reminiscent of Sir John Soane’s Museum but full of beautiful and totally unaffordable design pieces.

How long do your sketches normally take to produce?

Most of the sketch is done in-situ over about an hour, then if need be I spend another hour back at my desk putting any finishing touches in.

Is this your typical medium? What kind of sketch book do you use?

I almost always draw with a Rotring 0.5mm mechanical pencil, and normally in a Moleskine (although I’m about to switch to a Leuchturm 1917).

Why do you enjoy drawing while traveling? And what have you learnt though your investigations over time?

Sketching to me has a meditative quality about it. Travelling – especially to other cities – invariably involves an overly packed schedule of things to do and see, so making the time to do a drawing of a place is a way of making a discovered place all the more special. Sketching sometimes (but not always) helps me to work out why that place caught my attention in the first place.

Any interesting feedback from passers-by?

Swiss people are typically quite private and reluctant to intrude, so I could easily stand in the middle of a busy square drawing away and not have anyone comment!