LABOUR AND WAIT was founded in 2000
by Simon Watkins and Rachel Wythe-Moran as
a homeware store in Shoreditch in London.
The store concentrates on simple functional and
timeless products for everyday use. For the past
nineteen years they have searched out specialist
makers from around the world, many of whom
manufacture their goods in a traditional manner
to the original designs.
Andrew Moran has been a photographer for
many years, working in still life studio-based
practise. He is also a lecturer and tutor in
photography. Latterly, his work has become
increasingly theoretical in approach following an
M.A at Brighton, completed in 2009, and further
teaching. However, the compulsions inherent in
the still-life set remains his first calling.
'The idea for a LABOUR AND WAIT calendar
came in 2011, with the first calendar coming into
being a year later.
The criteria for selecting objects for the
calendars has included a peculiar fusion of
quality of material, colour and form. The choices
made are often based on personal interests and
influences as much as design. An appreciation of
tactile surfaces and qualities inherent in different
materials indicate that certain objects provide a
constant fascination; some forms feature more
than once throughout the set. With an eye for
the traditional, stylish and satisfyingly idiosyncratic
that surpasses that of the norm, LABOUR AND
WAIT has always had a regard for a range
of aesthetic concerns that veers toward a
connoisseurship. With an attitude and sensibility
toward objects, materials and colour, they ask
one to contemplate the acceptance of this object
or that, and to take them into one’s personal
sphere in a quiet, pragmatic manner; either for
their usefulness or beauty, preferably for both.'
54 pages of photographs and texts