We are incredibly saddened by the news of the death of our friend, designer John Morgan. He was hugely talented, and we had the privilege of working with John on so many of our books, most notably the Familiars series of classic novels.

We first met John nearly 20 years ago, when we were starting the series of novels where artists create new images to go alongside the text. His design for the first of these –Gareth Jones’ edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray – was typical of his work: thoughtful but playful, informed by a huge knowledge of design history, but challenging conventions as well.

One of the strengths of the series came from John’s ability to work in different ways with each artist, and his flexible approach to collaboration was key to the books’ success: sometimes an artist would want to hand over their work to John so that he would have free rein over the book, at others, the design of the book came together slowly out of long conversations and many meetings. John’s sensitivity to his collaborators (including us) made working with him a great pleasure. It is no surprise that he formed long standing relationships with many clients who he worked with over many years, including David Chipperfield Architects, 6a architects, AA Files, Raven Row, and Art Review.

Over the years, our work with John grew into friendship, and we will miss him enormously: he was a brilliant designer, and a wonderful person. Our thoughts are with his colleagues and especially his family.

Elinor & Richard

Instagram: John Morgan Studio