In 2022 we offered six artists free studio space to create their work as part of our Designer and Maker Residency. We have continued this programme in 2023, with returning and new artists.

Our venue on Leadenhall Street includes three studios entirely dedicated as free residency space for designers and makers, and uniquely designed by artist Nicole-Rose Munhawa.

Skip to 1.29 of the video tour below to see the spaces offered as part of the residency.

Meet the artists taking residence in our Leadenhall Street venue

section of tapestry with two crudely drawn medieval knights (in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry) raising their hands in joy Tony Mathias, a black man wearing round glasses and an extravagant green hat with black braids, looks straight at the camera. Woman against a white background, she is wearing a long grey wig
Myrtle Glanville Tony Mathias ManWigs
A green field, a young woman rests her head on what looks like a giant, colourful, furry sofa cushion monster A painting of a man in a white, short sleeve shirt with an afro. He is surrounded by colours. Behind him two figures look in through a window Large wide-leg burlap trousers, they are beige and striped with brown
Mallika Joy Anastasia Hall Tobi Ajibola


Meet the Artists taking Residence in our Houndsditch Venue 

A young black woman with a bright purple wig on and sunglasses. The wig is in two bunches and she is pulling them up either side. A drag queen is standing on a blue cloth mound. They have red hair and are wearing a lavish black dress with the tulle from the dress floating up to their right. They are posed leaning forward with one leg peaking out from the dress and one black hig A close up on a butterfly on a leaf surrounded by greenery, in the background is a white woman with short brown hair and a fringe, she is making notes in a notebook.
Jasmine Kahlia Hugo Aguirre Jo Elizabeth May
A drag queen and performer, they are wearing an array of colours and material and bright orange high heels. They have a large cuddly toy rabbit attached to their front. their hair is messy and has a large bow in it A painting of what looks like a birds eye view, looking on a landscape of field met by a dark and light sea with angry waves A black and white collage. Black tape outlines lots of squares. In some of the squares are cutouts from magazines of people with their faces cut out.
Laurie Luxe El Chen Virginia Pablo Martinez
An image of a white man with short brown curly hair doing stand up. An image taken from behind a tailors mannequin. On the mannequin is a beige jacket which has lots of intricate colourful lines sewn into it. A collage of colourful, handpainted carnivalesque signs. The central one is bright yellow and has large green text which reads: Studio
Aneirin George Tessa Bentley


Myrtle Glanville

section of tapestry with two crudely drawn medieval knights (in the style of the Bayeux Tapestry) raising their hands in joy

Myrtle's work is playful, humorous and experimental. She often uses old and new techniques, submerging traditional methods with contemporary ideas. The themes that she investigates throughout her practice weighs heavily on spontaneity and intuition, allowing space for unexpected motifs to arise. Myrtle’s work displays an interest in the discourse around rituals, traditions or habitual practices that have been lost through time but are still prevalent today. She uses folk arts' long and rich history as a gateway into peoples eccentricities and foibles, creativity and inventiveness.

https://myrtleglanville10.wixsite.com/my-site

Facebook: /MyrtleGlanville  | Instagram: @myrtle.glanville 


Tony Mathias 

Tony Mathias, a black man wearing round glasses and an extravagant green hat with black braids, looks straight at the camera.

Art is part and parcel of his life. As a film maker, visual artist and a musician, he started to play music in the church when he was 9. He was the church drummer until when his knee was fractured in a football match, and from there on, he switched to playing percussion.

In Germany, he played with his first band, and in France, he formed is own band named COSMICVIBES. This group played alongside Angelique Kidjo. He did a solo act performance in Baden Baden SWR festival alongside Lyn4, a Germany top rock band. In Germany, he held many different art space in different cities: Potsdam, Lahr, Berlin and Rottweil.

His first exhibition was in Potsdam Kultur Centrum. He directed and produced a short film for promotion in Italy for Potsdam Museum, THE MOTHER OF STUDIO BABELSBERG. In Berlin, he collaborated with a Californian hip-hop group: QUESTONE, on a project, Love is the Answer, which was a hit in South America.

www.mathiasfilmproduct.wixsite.com/atman

Instagram: @attiliamusic | Twitter: @attiliamusic 


Manwigs

Woman against a white background, she is wearing a long grey wig
"I am Roman, the creative force behind Manwigs. Channeling the essence of masculine rockstars from the 50s to today, my brand exemplifies my unwavering dedication to wig craftsmanship. With a hairstylist background in fashion, arts, and music, I embarked on this journey in 2019. Handcrafting each piece from scratch, I infuse personal artistry into every facet – from hand-sewn hair to unique dyeing. My vision is to reign as the premier wig brand worldwide, serving diverse clients across media, arts, and commerce. Manwigs embodies the fusion of passion, expertise, and artistic innovation."

Instagram: @manwigs 

Twitter: @RomanTheRockst1

Facebook: /manwigs


Mallika Joy

A green field, a young woman rests her head on what looks like a giant, colourful, furry sofa cushion monster

Mallika Joy is a multimedia artist based in London, centring collaboration, play and people at the core of her practice. She works across live performance, facilitation, puppets, set design and costume. She is also the founder of Performance Collective 'Pure Imagination'.

www.mallikajoy.com

Instagram: @llllika


Anastasia Hall

A painting of a man in a white, short sleeve shirt with an afro. He is surrounded by colours. Behind him two figures look in through a window

"I am a multidisciplinary artist working with a variety of mediums, including short stories, screenplays, poetry, painting, still and moving images. Much of my work is influenced by genealogy and the oratory tradition of passing stories from older generations to younger with further interest in the areas of dreams, surrealism and deliberate travel as the journey rather than a means to the end.

This residency will be used to develop the work I have started and discover new approaches to my practice by researching my family history, finding experimental ways of exploring intergenerational similarities and differences across continents and cultures."


Tobi Ajibola

Large wide-leg burlap trousers, they are beige and striped with brown

'Hiya, I'm Tobi Ajibola. I'm a multidisplinary artist covering the spaces of the art of fashion, 2d/3d animation and digital illustration'

Website

Fashion: Tobiajibola.co.uk // Art: artbytobz.co.uk

Instagram 

Fashion: @Tobildn // Animation: @tobianimates // Illustration: @artbytobz


Houndsditch Resident Artists 

Jasmine Kahlia

Jasmine Kahlia is an acclaimed Audio-Visual Artist, with work shown regionally in the UK, and internationally in Spain, Germany and USA.

Jasmine works across 19 different artforms to bring their work to life. These include: Film-making, Music Production and Sound Design, Illustration, Creative Writing, Prose and Poetry, Textile Work and much more.

www.jasminekahlia.bigcartel.com

Click to sign up to Jasmine's Newsletter


Hugo Aguirre

A drag queen is standing on a blue cloth mound. They have red hair and are wearing a lavish black dress with the tulle from the dress floating up to their right. They are posed leaning forward with one leg peaking out from the dress and one black hig

Hugo Aguirre is an English/French set designer based in London working across fashion, theatre, opera and film.

He has designed in venues such The Arcola Theatre, Leicester Square Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith Studio, Garsington Opera, Opera North and The Northwall Theatre. His work has also featured in magazines such as Vogue Italia, Wonderland, Rollacoasta and L'Officiel Thailand.

He has also assisted designers Jan Versweyveld and Netia Jones.

Upcoming Work: Textúra - Hungarian National Gallery - (Designer)


Jo Elizabeth May 

A close up on a butterfly on a leaf surrounded by greenery, in the background is a white woman with short brown hair and a fringe, she is making notes in a notebook.

'I am an artist and wildlife conservation educator. I have always been keen to explore the combination of art and the celebration of wildlife, with a focus on underrepresented urban wildlife. My deep interest in and work with entomology and ornithology regularly sees me singing the praises of everything from pigeons to moths. 

My work explores multiple mediums, most generally printmaking, pen, ink and paint. I am incredibly interested in traditional marking making and pigments. I firmly believe that connection to nature and traditional arts doesn’t need to be an exclusive of countryside living.'

Joelizabethmay.co.uk

Instagram: @joelizabethmay


Laurie Luxe

A drag queen and performer, they are wearing an array of colours and material and bright orange high heels. They have a large cuddly toy rabbit attached to their front. their hair is messy and has a large bow in it

Laurie Luxe is an Australian-born, London-based clown, drag artist, fashion practitioner & performer, as well as an award-winning director & designer. Her is often inspired by her dual areas of training in fashion & performance.

She creates theatre and fashion work which is always stylised, comedic & surreal; blending clown with puppetry, fashion, dance & innovative design. Cartoonish, camp, divinely stupid & other-worldly - the aim is to inspire visceral laughter, shock and surprise - subverting expectations while forging special connections with each audience. 

Instagram: @laurieluxe

Twitter/X: @laurieluxe


El Chen

A painting of what looks like a birds eye view, looking on a landscape of field met by a dark and light sea with angry waves

'Hi! I am El. I am an artist and arts educator who loves heart-centering projects. I can’t seem to stop exploring what makes people come alive, lean into trust, and open to love. These questions inspire almost all of my work. I work across disciplines – from painting and photography to interactive installations and experiential workshops – and wouldn’t have it any other way. Currently, I’m leaning into painting, theatre, and dance. The healing power each of these practices has granted me is what I hope to share with you through my work.'

elchen.net

Facebook: /elchen47

Instagram: @hope.elchen


Virginia Pablo Martinez

A black and white collage. Black tape outlines lots of squares. In some of the squares are cutouts from magazines of people with their faces cut out.

Virginia is a set and costume designer and maker interested in exploring the vast field of what it means to be human through art and storytelling. Passionate about experimentation, playfulness and the unexpected discoveries of the creative process, she develops her craft across different mediums: theatre, film, events, installations, costume, collage, mixed media… Collaboration is central to her practice and she feels most inspired when working on projects that invite people to share and connect with one another.


Aneirin George

An image of a white man with short brown curly hair doing stand up.

Aneirin has been creating performance art and theatre work for the last ten years, focusing on Theatre for Social Change and exploring our relationships with societal issues, trauma and lived experience. His new project is a series of Mandala inspired works exploring trauma. Each work in the series will explore a key point of experienced trauma in life. Mandalas are made to be destroyed, each work will be "destroyed" and the materials will be re-used to begin the next. The series end point will be a single, viewable piece of visual art that has been created from the materials of the 'traumas' that led to it, accompanied by a digital documentation of the preceding works in the series. This is Aneirin's first time working purely with visual art, the process itself will be an exploration not only in to the subject matter but also an exploration and experiment in working with new materials and media.

aneiringeorge.weebly.com

Instagram: @pokethebear

Twitter: @aneiringeorge


Tigerlilian Myall

An image taken from behind a tailors mannequin. On the mannequin is a beige jacket which has lots of intricate colourful lines sewn into it.
I make wearable art for celebration and ritual. I am inspired by the pagan wheel of the year and my own personal social and spiritual experience, surrounding our connection with the natural world. I make, with patience and intention, bespoke clothing for a particular event, celebration, ritual or gathering. I use mark making and collage to record my initial visual ideas and I weave tapestry wall pieces.
Instagram: @hand.hue

Tessa Bentley

A collage of colourful, handpainted carnivalesque signs. The central one is bright yellow and has large green text which reads: Studio
Tessa is a digital and scenic artist with experience working in theatre, animation and games. She is interested in exploring digital art and folk art, in particular signwriting, and the places they can potentially intersect. In combining the traditional and the modern, she hopes to create work that feels inviting and lively. She wants her work to tell stories; to evoke the feeling of something happening in another place or time. Whether through imagery or words, her goal is to connect to her audience through narrative, with art that welcomes people in.
Instagram: @astrographic_ // @scenictess