Behind the Design of the Camden Giving Limited Edition

 

THE IDEA:

Sometimes life as a way of presenting you with opportunities that you just can’t say no to, and our Camden Giving limited edition is one such example.

From the very beginning of The Camden Watch Company, it was important to us that we give back to the community that we love so much. We had been searching for a charity project to work on for quite some time, one that fit the brand and that we ourselves felt passionate about, when Natasha, the director of Camden Giving, got in touch.

Bingo.

Initially - she was just gauging our interest to see if there was anything we could do to help them with their Camden Giving week, but I knew that this was our opportunity to do so much more.

And that is how the Camden Giving limited edition was born.

 

THE DESIGN:

Almost immediately, the Camden Giving team and I got to work, researching Camdenite philanthropists old and new and searching for the spark of inspiration that would serve as a base for the watch.

I brushed up on historical figures such as Dickens and his charity work, and Natasha and Co. introduced me to some amazing local figures, from Thomas Coram, who founded the world's first incorporated charity just next door in Coram’s Fields, to the groundbreaking Mary Wollstonecraft, regarded as one of the founders of the feminist movement. 


But the deeper we dug, the more basing the watch solely on one person seemed wrong. We weren’t trying to celebrate a famous figure, or mark someone out as a representative of Camden philanthropy, we wanted to represent everyone, because Camden is nothing if not inclusive.

So instead, we focused our research on symbolism, particularly from the Victorian era. During our research, we kept coming across the same three symbols time and time again; an anchor, a cross and a heart, designed to represent the three pillars of Victorian morality; hope, faith, and charity.

This was to be the basis of our design - we took the symbolism for charity, the heart, and made it our own. Inspired by the tattoo culture of Camden Town, we went back to our roots and took to our sketchpads. The result is an anatomical, hand-drawn heart with a punch of tattoo styling that proudly sits at the centre of the dial.

We then emblazoned the dial with the motto of Camden, a motto that not only decribes us as a company, but one that also perfectly sums up this collaboration; Non Sibi Sed Toti, Not For One But For All.

As a crowning glory, we used a colour taken from the Camden Giving logo for the seconds hand and strap, a light green that also symbolises renewal, safety and most importantly, life. 

 

 

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