SHAPESLewisham is a creative network which was conceived as part of the Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) initiative established across London in 2019 by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Lewisham was one of 25 boroughs to apply for CEZ funding and was chosen as one of the six winning zones.

SHAPESLewisham aims to provide a platform to promote, celebrate and connect the vibrant and diverse creative projects, practitioners and businesses in the area. I worked with Studio Raw to develop both the concept and design for the SHAPESLewisham brand and lead on the community engagement and digital communication strategies.

Existing both online and offline, SHAPESLewisham is the central resource for all things creative in Lewisham, useful for both creatives and those wishing to find creative services. The website invites projects, practitioners and businesses from the area to showcase their work, forming a directory of Lewisham based creatives - from pattern cutters to tattoo artists, from florists to flood stylists, from graphic designers to illustrators. The website is also home to a calendar of events, a board of upcoming opportunities and a directory of workspaces.

The concept behind SHAPESLewisham was developed alongside local creatives in a participatory workshop, aimed at understanding the specific nature of Lewisham’s creative community. Organised in partnership with Goldsmiths University, the workshop exposed an exciting landscape of diverse and diverging creative practices, many working across, amongst and through multiple disciplines, forms and fields. 

SHAPESLewisham was conceived with this diversity at its heart, seeking to celebrate the individuality of creatives whilst visually connecting them as part of a larger network, movement and community of Lewisham. Central to the platform is the ‘SHAPESLewisham visual language’, made up of colourful shapes and symbols, each with unique meanings, which can be used and adapted by the community to join the network and communicate their practice. The visual language explores alternate forms of categorisation, seeking to progress beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. Instead, creatives can be distinguished by their beliefs, values and principals, or by their practices, skills and techniques. This unique approach allows for spontaneous discoveries and unexpected collaborations as those traditionally separated by discipline are aligned in other ways, through alternate shapes and forms.

Alongside the online platform, SHAPESLewisham have organised a number of events to bring the community together. The ‘creative crawl’ of Deptford saw unique collaborations between artists and local bar owners to host exhibitions which formed the basis of a sociable arts trail around the local area.

Following the development of the brand I worked with SHAPESLewisham for a year as the ‘engagement coordinator’ aiming to raise visibility of the CEZ initiative, grow a the creative network (both online and offline) and facilitate essential communication to foster collaborations and increase employment opportunities. The SHAPESLewisham network is still going strong!