Inks created from raw materials found on the city streets of Southend & the rugged landscape of the Thames Estuary.

This methodology involves creating custom products that serve the individual requirements, rather than making use of what is commercially available.

This is an artisanal pursuit.

Resurrecting ancient ink recipes from fragments of text, unearthed in old archives or out-of-print books, feels like going on an adventure of discovery.

Foraging missions begin to feel like a treasure hunt, with pigments taking on the role of black gold!

Back at the Labs, the quest continues.

A lot of experimentation is often needed before you are able to uncover a process for stabilising each ink individually.

Pigments can be discovered in the most unlikely of locations. It’s not always necessary to get your feet wet. But you may be required to crawl on your hands and knees.

The end result is a product. 

Each ink comes with a booklet explaining its origins and why it was created.

Certain inks come as special editions, as with the above ‘Pollution Ink’.

 

Because all the inks are hand made in small batches, each will retain its own individual characteristic, dependent on environmental factors beyond the realms of human control.

For example; the batch of Pollution Ink from 2022 (above) will contain trace elements of volcanic ash due to an eruption which occurred shortly before it was harvested. That is what makes our inks unique.