Andrew’s interest in photography has until recently been part of his graphic design practice. He studied BA Graphic Design at the University of Brighton where he won a national photography award. The judging process required submitting a portfolio of work; fortunately the chair of the awards committee was Alan Fletcher, founder of Pentagram, a leading international design agency. Andrews’s portfolio of design projects resulted in him also being offered his first job as a graphic designer.
He went on to become creative director at a number of London agencies before moving to Paris as creative director of Carre Noir, with responsibility for the agency’s design for print division. He has won numerous design awards and judged at D&AD. In 2000 he started his own agency, A2 Design.
He has recently rekindled his interest in photography by doing an MA Photography at the University of Brighton, returning to pick up photography he left off 30 years ago. His interest has developed around observations of place, light, vision and imagination while observing the effects of the break up of the digital file. His work and projects have a close tie to 19th century painters, Turner, Whistler, and Goethe’s observations on the effect of light. His work also references the camera obscura and Daguerreotypes.
His interest in graphic design has been fundamental to presenting his work in book form, believing in some instances the book form can strengthen the presentation of a photographic project.
While producing his own book projects he noticed the absence of a quality service for artists wanting to produce books in limited editions. To fill this gap he applied his extensive experience and knowledge of design, print and binding to offer a quality bespoke self-publishing service under the name of Format Editions.