Jamie Hewlett

Quentin Blake

Design from the library’s Olga Hirsch Collection of Decorative Papers

Think The British Library is just for dusty academics and clever clogs? The Spring Festival, from 1-5 March, should change your mind. Aimed at creative types but available to everyone, there are various workshops, including the Art of Illustration with the likes of Quentin Blake and Jamie Hewlett, but we’re heading to the Spring Market in the library’s Piazza on Thursday 1 March. Twelve designer-makers have been chosen from 80 entries into a competition of people who had used the library in some way to develop their work.

Or if you’re just looking for design inspiration, trawl the library’s fabulous archive and collections, including Japanese woodcuts, textile designs, fashion magazines, vintage knitting patterns, photographs, maps, stamps – and curators more than happy to guide you in the right direction.

Click through for a taste of the Spring Market designers.

Holly Barton, who uses science as a basis for her jewellery designs

Xiang Zeng’s magnetic fairy tale wallpaper

Xiang Zeng’s bears

Recycled furniture by Yinka Ilori

Source: A Little Bird