Illustrator Roderick Mills has transformed the London headquarters of a charity for the homeless with his doodle drawings.
19 Feb 2014
A University of Brighton Faculty of Arts illustrator has transformed the London headquarters of a charity for the homeless with his drawings.
Lecturer Roderick Mills, used black pen and paint to decorate rooms, including loos, at the new East End home of Cardboard Citizens the UK’s only homeless people’s professional theatre company which puts on plays by the homeless and displaced actors, and runs programmes to help homeless people find jobs and housing.
Mills worked with design agency Interabang and painted everyday objects including a floor lamp, books, a vacuum cleaner and a telephone to customise rooms. Some illustrations referred to the theatre company’s previous productions and a doodled sign above a bike rack pointed to London, Paris and Amsterdam – represent the company's annual fundraising cycle ride.
Interabang’s co-founder Ian McLean said: "I've admired Roderick's work for years and his style felt really appropriate for the project - we wanted it to feel like someone had come along and customised the building in their own slightly subversive way.
“Roderick was really enthusiastic about it, producing lots of his own brainstorms and doodles.”
Mills, who is Deputy Chairman of the Association of Illustrators, said: “The project was a great opportunity to effect people's working environment through drawings - Interabang were very keen on the idea of blowing up these simple drawings, extenuating their immediacy and naivety.”
