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to mark the opening of our eagerly anticipated Barbie exhibition. The female empowerment motif of the display acted as our inspiration for this month’s ensemble, which champions equal, diverse, inclusive and intersectional sisterhood. 

These ceiling-shattering titles analyse the focal points of fourth-wave feminism - race, gender, sexuality and social justice. Cruise through queer London locale with Frank Gallaugher, navigate transgender history through the edifying picks of Chris E. Vargas, contextualise a century of trailblazing Black design with Charlene Prempeh and detect data biases through a pertinent study by Caroline Criado-Perez. As always, you can find a bundle offer here with 10% off, free delivery and a complimentary gift. Read on below.

Last year, Frank Gallaugher published this invaluable guide to LGBTQIA+ London. Queer venues continue to close throughout the city (roughly. 58% in the last 15 years), and this document intends to record and disseminate information about these treasured spaces. Gallaugher's choices extend from the capital’s oldest queer bookshop, Gay's the Word to its newest bar, The Divine (formerly The Glory). Accompany this book with our Brutal London Map and Underground Architecture and Design Map. They will encourage you to get imaginative, go on exhilarating escapades and decipher who you are in the context of this whirling metropolis. 

This debut title by Chris E. Vargas is fresh off the press. Influenced by his namesake exhibition series (2015 - 2019), he showcases 99 objects by pioneering LGBT+ creators who have sculpted the community. These include artefacts from the Stonewall Riots (1969) and Monica Helm's Transgender Pride Flag (1999). This empowering title exemplifies how defiant this group has been in resisting social erasure and how they have positively shaped society, contributing to essential, constructive representation in the media for trans, non-binary and gender-nonconforming people. Are you fascinated by social history and wish to learn more about documentary photography? Our Konstruktor F Camera would make an ideal outlet for this. You can also book tickets for our Cyanotype Workshop with Niki Sianni on October 6th. 

- Paul Precaido

Prempeh produced this noteworthy hardcover in 2023. Through profiles, interviews and photographs, she reconfigures the historically displaced work of Black designers in architecture, graphics and fashion over the last hundred years. It features the groundbreaking oeuvre of Norma Sklarek, Jackie Ormes and Zelda Wynn Valdes. Prempeh repositions them in the limelight and allows them to get the commendation they rightly deserve.  If you would like to continue educating yourself on the art of Black practitioners, do so with our Dream in Colour Poster Book.

Feminist activist and author Caroline Criado-Perez released this critically acclaimed dossier in 2019 - receiving year-end accolades from the Royal Society and the Financial Times. Over 432 pages, she delivers in-depth research, interviews and case studies that screen gendered data biases throughout social, political and economic systems. Her discussion of this systemic discrimination allows us to reevaluate our behaviour and consider how to cultivate a more accommodating civilisation for everyone. We are holding an interior talk with Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer on September 24th. Their informed insights are sure to encourage many inventive ideas.