Planes, trains and map design

About our speakers

Christian Nolle is a half Danish / half German London-based artist and map collector. He completed his BA in Photography from the Surrey Institute of Art & Design, followed by a Masters in Communication Design from Central St. Martins University of the Arts, London in 2008. Christian has spent decades creating work, often in photographic form, that explores the interplay between aviation, politics and the cities we live in. His work includes a project called London Polygon in which he mapped the London airspace by bike. For another project he photographed every aircraft landing in Heathrow in one day, juxtaposing this with the ‘raw’ data obtained about the flight photographed, this project was called Point of Approach. Christian is also founder and head of Good Caesar, a design and technology studio. He has exhibited his work in Denmark, Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom.

Design historian Mark Ovenden specialises in the subjects of graphic design, cartography and architecture in public transport, with an emphasis on underground rapid transit. Mark’s background was in broadcast and print media before returning to his love of cartography in the early “Noughties”. Mark is also a lecturer, broadcaster and presenter, recently fronting a one-hour documentary for BBC4 on typefaces. He has been described as bringing “joyful insight, warmth, humour and accessibility to what might on the surface appear somewhat dry, geeky or technical subjects.” He is also an internationally respected author of 20 best-selling books including: ‘Johnston & Gill: Very British Types’ (London, 2016);  ‘Airline Maps: A Century of Art and Design’ co-authored with Maxwell Robert (New York, 2019); and ‘Underground Cities: Mapping the Tunnels, Transits and Networks Underneath Our Feet’ (London, 2020). The New York Times has described his books as “pure catnip”.

Recording