A few random facts about the team behind AVA books.
I have been trying to organise this for a while but we appear to have a lot of bashful editors. However, this post is testament to what can be achieved through perseverance. And the occasional threat.
We are only a small company so this aims to give a snapshot of the publishing team. We create the range of books you can see at www.avabooks.com out of a small office by the sea.
Leafy, Senior Editor
Leafy likes yoga, swimming in the sea, baking and recycling old furniture. She is from a small village near Stroud in the Cotswolds and she studied Linguistics at university. Her favourite food is peaches, yogurt and honey. She likes the idea of working in a tiger sanctuary and in her spare time reads Francoise Sagan. She has worked at AVA for 5 years.
Her most recently published AVA title is The Fundamentals of Printed Textile Design, and she has also just finished working on Basics Interior Architecture 05: Texture + Materials.
Georgia, Senior Editor
Georgia is about to go to the Benicassim festival in Spain, and is looking forward to it all but particularly Arcade Fire, Brandon Flowers and Mumford & Sons. Her first pet was a beautiful tortoiseshell cat called Daisy, who was very sweet and patient and only occasionally threw up on her bed. She’s currently reading the Dune books by Frank Herbert, which are as strange and gripping as she’d hoped.
Her most recently published titles are Basics Marketing 03: Marketing Management and Basics Creative Photography 02: Context and Narrative.
Renee, Senior Editor
Renee loves craft shops that have lots of beautiful, colourful things, and she likes to fill her days with yoga, reading, writing, doing and making crafty things and constantly learning new skills. She has hopped around, being born in Manila, migrated to Canada and now lives in the UK.
We just received her most recently published title, The Fundamentals of Creative Design, 2nd edition, and before that it was Basics Landscape Architecture 02: Ecological Design.
Colette, Editor
Colette has a PhD in Humanities and Cultural Studies and has been at AVA for three years. She has previously worked as the editor of an art magazine, as an Arts and Events Project Assistant for Frieze Art Fair, Tate galleries, Somerset House, Artangel and the RSC amongst others in London, and as a lecturer in Cultural Studies, in London and overseas.
Colette has just sent to press Basics Advertising 03: Ideation and Basics Typography 02: Using Type.
Rachel, Editor
Rachel loves to buy shoes and has a minor obsession with TV series Mad Men. She studied English at Liverpool University and her first job was at a fishing publishers where she learned a lot about JR Hartley and burbot. Her first pet was a black and white cat called Dotty and if she didn’t work in publishing she would like to be an interior designer or own a vintage frock shop.
Rachel’s most recently published title was Basics Fashion Design 08: Styling and she has just sent The Fundamentals of Fashion Management to press.
Jacqui, Editor
Jacqui is a big fan of the outdoors and likes to kayak, cycle and surf. She really likes the work of Brighton-based illustrator Graham Carter and has previously worked in illustrated non-fiction and for a children’s publishing company. She loves pizza and if she wasn’t working in publishing, she would most like to be a marine biologist or research zoologist.
Helen, Production Manager
Helen studied English and Creative Writing and she likes to make lists, practise yoga, paint pictures on stones and visit new places. Her favourite foods are marmite, flapjacks and olives (but not together) and her favourite film is The Sound of Music. She is most proud of her ability to still do the perfect cartwheel.
Lynsey, Production Assistant
Lynsey studied Interior Architecture at university and her favourite architect is Luis Barragan for his use of colour. She likes to travel and to cook and her proudest achievement is completing the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Her first pet was a rabbit – but it transpired that she was allergic to it. She enjoys afternoon tea and impressive scenery.
Kat, Content Editor
Kat is from Brighton and studied English Literature at university. In her spare time she likes to read, travel to exotic places and knit squares for the patchwork blanket she has been working on for two years. She is about to move and is getting a bit obsessed with decorating ideas and mood boards. Her first pet was a guinea pig called Marbles.
Angela, Administrator
Angela is from Wimbledon. She likes to read Charles Dickens and Virginia Woolf and her favourite film is Sliding Doors. When she is not relaxing or travelling she spends some of her spare time at her writing desk composing short poems for the entertainment of the office. Her ideal job would be taking over as the boss of IMF.
Lorraine, Accounts
In her spare time Lorraine helps out at a local animal sanctuary. She also enjoys running, yoga, reading and knitting, and her proudest achievement is running a half-marathon last year. If she wasn’t working at AVA, she would most like to be a chocolatier or pastry chef and her favourite designer is Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Her first pets were two goldfish called Hinge and Bracket (as have been all subsequent goldfish since).
Caroline, Managing Director
When not immersed in all things AVA, Caroline can usually be found in a pilates studio or planning her next project. She’s more than a tiny bit obsessed with information design, and as such thinks the work of Stephen Walter is very clever indeed. She kayaked around and camped out in the Arctic Circle a couple of years ago – and her proudest achievement is managing to cope without a hairdryer for the duration.
NB: She does not enjoy being photographed.
