London’s Ours!
Four Corners Books
Book design
2026
Softback, 270mm x 200 mm x 230pp
London’s Ours! Images From The Greater London Council 1981–1986 by Hazel Atashroo. Pulished by Four Corners Books
The GLC from 1981–86 was an experiment in local government never to be repeated. The campaign material from this period is diverse in both subject matter and art direction, but united by a belief that local government could create real change through social equality, community involvement and culture. This book illustrates that visual communication could be a tool for public engagement and activism, not simply promotion.
I think the book sits somewhere between archive and activism. Although the moment in which this material was created has passed, its energy remains. It was important that the design retained something of that optimism: direct and unpretentious, meaningful but joyous.
The sequencing of the book is primarily thematic. But presenting visual material 40 years after it was created requires particular handling, as its context has shifted from something active, street-level and public-facing to something archival and curated. On the page, the material becomes both political artefact and design object. Finding the balance between those two states, between something that was once active and something now viewed historically, was always a sensitive balancing act.
Through its visual history, London’s Ours! offers a way into the political life of London at the time. For me, as a designer, the book is also a celebration of the role design once played in shaping public life.
