Food and Social Space in 17&Central: Feed Mind, Body, Heart and Soul

A ‘welcome’ mural for a shopping centre food hall with independent street food units in Walthamstow, London

When Walthamstow’s 17&Central Shopping Centre opened its new Food and Social Space in Summer 2023, they worked with Art Clubbers CIC to commission artwork for the space. I was delighted to be chosen to design and create a mural to welcome everyone to the new venue. With street food vendors, a bar, and two events spaces, the challenge was on to design a mural as hip as this new social space and cultural hub.

Nitty Gritty:

Painted internal mural. Dimensions approximately 6.5m x 2.4 m. With LED neon lettering sign.

The Brief:

·         Create a mural to sign-post and welcome visitors to the space.

·         Implement the brand colour palettes of greys, yellow and purple into the design.

·         Themes to consider for artwork: Light, nature, neon, colour, local community and celebration.

·         A blend of imagery and words to draw visitors into the space may be desirable.

My Creative Solution:

For the central panel of the mural, I chose the phrase ‘Feed Mind, Body, Heart and Soul’ to sum up not only the value of the tasty and nourishing food on offer, but the contribution to wellbeing brought about by social interaction and the cultural activities taking place in the space. The hand-lettering design for the main text used a continuous line that was reminiscent of a light tube, and the word ‘feed’ was outlined with a neon lighting feature. A welcome message and the venue name were also painted in a continuous line design on the side panels.  The surround was decorated with painted branches bearing blossom and fruits, drawing on the nature theme and in a style influenced by William Morris, the 19th Century designer who has a local connection. The light grey and yellow background colours, the dark grey of the branches and the purple of the plums were selected from the brand palette. Other bright colours were also added to the fruits to give a balanced colour palette.

The Result:

The effect is an elegant mural mixing Arts and Crafts influences and the traditional craft of hand lettering with neon and a bold colour palette to give it a contemporary twist.

^ The mural was to be painted on a food unit at the entrance.

Top: ‘Feed Mind, Body, Heart and Soul’ mural in the Food and Social Space at 17&Central shopping centre. Centre Left: LED neon ‘FEED’ lettering. Right: Video showing the painting of ‘The Social Space in 17&Central’. Bottom Left: Painting botanical elements on the mural. Left: Ellen Strachan painting the mural.