Kingston School of Art student gives Canary Wharf store front makeover in creative collaboration with Canary Wharf Group

Posted Thursday 21 October 2021

The storefront wrap can be seen at Canary Wharf's Jubilee Place mall - picture credit Sean Pollock and Canary Wharf Group.

Kingston School of Art's creative agency, Studio KT1, has teamed up with Canary Wharf Group to add colour, creativity and originality to a store front at Jubilee Place mall. The student artwork has been selected to wrap the window of a selected store front, giving shoppers an improved retail environment while offering a unique opportunity to an up-and-coming artist.

Students pitched their designs for the project to Canary Wharf Group at the start of the summer with the focus on bold, bright and eye-catching displays. Of the 14 applicants from a variety of courses, Louise Hung's work was chosen for its playful design and nod to sustainability and biodiversity. The artwork depicts a fantasy future landscape bursting with life, as animals and wildlife congregate in Louise's colourful illustrative style.

The Illustration Animation BA (Hons) student's winning artwork will be on display throughout autumn in Canary Wharf's Jubilee Place mall. "The illustration was inspired by Half-Earth, written by biologist E. O. Wilson," she explained. "Half-Earth is a call to protect half the land and sea to manage sufficient habitat to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity. I am very lucky to have this opportunity to be illustrating topics close to my heart such as ecology, sustainability and our planet."

Louise Hung's artwork depicts a fantasy future landscape bursting with life as animals and wildlife congregate.Studio KT1 is a creative agency within the art school giving current students the opportunity to work on paid live projects while they study. The agency, headed up by Claire Selby, has worked with a number of high-profile clients including Unilever, BBC R&D and Veolia. It is also collaborating with Kingston First on the Kingston Canvas project to wrap vacant shop frontages in Kingston upon Thames with art work.

Keith Watson, public art curator for the Canary Wharf Group, said he was glad to able to offer an opportunity to a student. "The winning project brings a beautiful fresh approach to illustration and will enhance the shopping experience for our visitors," he said.

Selby said the success of the project once again proved the value of students working on real life briefs and picking up invaluable work experience. "We are really delighted to be giving young talent from Kingston School of Art opportunities at a time when traditional exhibition spaces are experiencing difficulties and being closed down or cancelled. Thanks to our work with Keith and his team at Canary Wharf Group, we are able to showcase Louise's work to a large audience in an incredibly high footfall area."

Louise's artwork is the latest addition to the estate's public art collection, which contains more than 75 permanent works by over 50 world-renowned artists and craftsmen .