IP Unit: Positionality Statement

Posted on 21st July 2023 by Peter Chadwick

Peter Chadwick is an Art Director, Graphic Designer and Design Educator. He was born and raised in a working-class family in Middlesbrough in the Northeast of England. His family descended from Norway and Wales. Moving to London in the late 1980s to study Graphic Design, he has now lived and worked in London for thirty-five years. He is married, and lives with his wife and daughter who is bi-racial. 

In the 1990s, his parents moved to West Africa, where they lived and worked for five years.  During this time, Chadwick made many visits to Nigeria which proved to be formative learning experiences that have shaped his principled outlook on life and in turn within teaching, learning, and working with diverse student cohorts. 

Chadwick is a Senior Lecturer at UAL Chelsea College of Arts and an Associate Lecturer at UAL London College of Communication and London Metropolitan University. His teaching practice encompasses his many years of experience working within the design industry which he regularly shares within the teaching space, connecting the student experience to industry and developing their awareness of skills required within the design studio, inclusivity with the studio environment and empowering the student on a human scale to help them develop their own autonomous working practices. Underpinning these areas of interest is an empathic approach to teaching to a diverse student cohort across multiple universities and courses. 

Chadwick has authored two published books that explore his interest in postwar architecture, communities, and the built environment. Self-generating work and developing projects into meaningful outcomes is a constant within Chadwick’s design practice.  

Knowledge exchange, sharing insights and the understanding of soft skills are fundamental to his teaching practice. 

  • Depending on who I am taking to, and where I am (North or South) some would describe me as being middle class. This is not something I am comfortable with or identify with. I prefer to be seen as having accomplished things and achieved goals whilst framed within the working class.  

About Peter Chadwick

Peter Chadwick is an Art Director, Graphic Designer, author and educator. Since graduating from Chelsea School of Art in 1991 with a first class honours degree in graphic design, he has gained over 28 years experience working as an art director and graphic design practitioner. Chadwick has worked with major recording artists including Primal Scream, Beth Orton, Groove Armada, Girls Aloud, Nitin Sawhney, The Rolling Stones. Other clients have included Universal Music, Phaidon, Harvey Nichols, Sony Music, The Washington Post, Barbican and Peabody Housing. Since 2005 he has been involved with academic teaching across all year groups on the BA Graphic Design Communication course at Chelsea College of Arts where he is currently a senior lecturer. He has previously taught at London College of Fashion, London College of Communication and Camberwell College of Arts and was a second year leader at Chelsea College of Arts from 2015 - 2020. His teaching practice encompasses all areas of his design practices and utilises my industry experience. I am particularly interested in themes such as exploring and developing personal practices, importance of rudimentary graphic design skills, art direction, connecting with industry, mentoring, supporting graduates, internships, collaborative and live projects and the culture of the design studio. Chadwick has also curated and organised the BA Graphic Design Communication professional talk series since 2015. He has invited practitioners, studios and writers such as Michael Bierut, Alice Rawsthorn, Stefan Sagmeister, Shona Heath, A Practice for Everyday Life, Anthony Burrill, OKRM, Nelly Ben Hayoun, Patrick Thomas, Astrid Stavro, DIA, Yuri Suzuki and Build to speak and share insights with the students. He regularly speaks about his work at universities and arts organisations. Past talks have been given at the V&A, RIBA, Design Museum, Hay Literary Festival, Brighton University, S1 Art Space Sheffield, Falmouth University, Grafik Letterform Live, IDN Festival Singapore. He has also been interviewed on BBC Radio London and BBC World Service. His work has been published in over 40 books and has been featured in The Guardian, New York Times, Dezeen, Creative Review, It’s Nice That, Design Week, Wired, Blueprint, The Washington Post, El Pais, Icon, Cool Hunting, Monocle, The Observer, The Guardian and been exhibited in the UK, Europe and Asia. Chadwick’s self generated­­­­ project ‘This Brutal House’ was launched on Twitter in 2014 as a platform to share my passion, interests, photography and work about Brutalism, all things concrete and modern. His Twitter and Instagram feeds have amassed over 90,000 followers since being launched in support of this ongoing project. His first book ‘This Brutal World’ was published by Phaidon in 2016 and was voted one of the best architecture books in 2016 by Rowan Moore, architecture critic of The Guardian. Chadwick’s latest book ‘The Town of Tomorrow’ documenting 50 years of Thamesmead, which he conceived, edited and organised funding for was published by Here Press in January 20­­­19.
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