HBW Coffee Mural

In late 2018, my family and I moved to Stirling (our hometown) after a decade of living and working in Glasgow. I built a studio in town and adjusted to not working from home for the first time in years. Every morning, I nip in to HBW, a new independent coffee shop in the city centre.

After a while the owner, Conor, asked if I’d be interested in working on some artwork for the shop. We discussed some ideas and eventually settled on a constantly-growing mural. For the last six months, I’ve added drawings to a large wall in the shop whenever I get the chance. The resulting mural brings the shop to life and gives regular customers a chance to spot changes over time.

Artwork

The illustrations on the wall are a combination of objects and subjects personal to both myself and Conor. In-jokes, references to friends and favourite customers serve as a personal mind-map that (hopefully) acts as a conversation-starter or encourages a moment of introspection (or confusion) in HBW’s customers.

Tattoo

Conor and I joke that the wall serves the same purpose as a tattoo - a record of the shop’s life. Despite being primarily designed to work as a piece of interior design, the mural is a very personal project for myself and Conor.

Conor took this literally and decided to get a design from the wall tattooed on his forearm!

Documenting the mural

Any time I work on the mural, I record a time-lapse video of my progress. The videos are great for sharing on HBW’s social media.

Eventually, if/when the mural is finished, I will combine my recordings into a complete history of the project. This sample shows 3 different days working on the wall.