GCDA Greenwich Hub: Supporting Communities to Thrive
Murals for a not-for-profit organisation and local handmade shop in Greenwich, London
After over 40 years of supporting communities in Greenwich and further afield, GCDA (Greenwich Cooperative Development Agency) have recently moved their Head Office, Training Kitchen, Made in Greenwich shop, Cafe and Community Space under one roof in their new Greenwich Hub. The challenge was to design a mural that could help to orient people visiting the space to make it easy to understand the range of facilities on site, the important work of GCDA, and the range of products by local makers to be found in Made in Greenwich shop.
Nitty Gritty:
Two painted internal mural walls. Dimensions approximately 3.4m x 3.5m and 1.7m x 3.5m
The Brief:
Create two mural walls on either side of the entrance to the Greenwich Hub and Made in Greenwich shop. On the left is a large wall and on the right is a wall half of the length of the first, with a window cutout providing a view from the shop counter to the door.
Incorporate GCDA and Made in Greenwich branding including the logos and GCDA’s teal brand colour.
The murals should welcome people entering through the door. Include chalkboard style lettering that will compliment Made in Greenwich’s existing chalkboard previously commissioned from me.
Include the lettering ‘GCDA: Supporting Communities to thrive since 1982’.
^ GCDA’s Greenwich Hub before the mural installation.
My Creative Solution:
For the large mural wall, I created a placement mural of a ‘thriving’ gold and teal tree with oak leaves and pomegranate style fruits containing lettering outlining GCDA’s four main areas of work: training, enterprise, healthy lifestyle, and community hubs. This was complimented by ‘welcome’ hand-lettering and a list of facilities beside the door. The light and airy space allowed me to choose a deep teal shade for this wall which could then be combined with the white chalkboard style lettering that GCDA loved.
For the smaller wall, Made in Greenwich asked me to illustrate the type of products that would be on sale in the shop, including ceramics by various makers, clothing, jewellery, books and tea. I chose a limited colour palette of pastel shades of teal combined with warm gold details to harmonise with the brand colour and the large mural wall.
^Top Left: The mural and welcome lettering at the entrance to GCDA’s Greenwich Hub with the counter of the new Made in Greenwich shop and the products of local makers in view. Top Right: Made in Greenwich mural at the entrance to the shop the illustrations represent the produce of local makers. Centre left: welcome lettering by the door of Greenwich Hub. Lower left: creating the lettering on the GCDA mural. Lower Right: GCDA mural in gold paint with lettering.
The Result:
The limited colour palette looks classy and the shade of yellow-gold balances the cool teals bringing warmth. Many of the elements such as the hand-lettering, scrolls, oak leaves and pomegranates look very traditional, but the bold design and colour palette give these murals a modern slant.
Client Review:
“Ellen painted the most incredbly beautiful mural. She was so professional, starting with a detailed plan based on our ideas, and followed up with completely hassle free implementation...It’s unique and so well drawn and painted. We could’t be happier with the result”