Preserving the moment

Travel is my greatest source of inspiration, so I particularly love looking at the travel journals and sketchbooks of designers and architects. Their drawings are a quick capture of what spoke to them in that moment, and offer an intimate glimpse into their interests. Perhaps even more importantly, it seems that sometimes a single pencil study can inspire an entirely new direction or experimentation with a particular style. While doing some research on my alma mater, the University of Glasgow, I discovered that the university's museum, The Hunterian, has digitized the sketchbooks of local hero Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I couldn't resist posting a few of the drawings I found particularly charming.

Buckland Manor, Gloucestershire, 1894

Iron gate, Abbey House, Merstow Green, Evesham, Worcestershire, 1894

Swan Hotel sign, The Green, Broadway, Worcestershire, and an unidentified doorway architrave, 1894

East end, St. James, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, 1894

Pollies Hall, Groombridge, Kent, 1909

Chiddingstone Cobham Manor House, High Street, Chiddingstone, Kent, May 1910

To see more of the university's collection, click here.