Sunday Session #5

Kew Gardens, street art, and a bit more focus

May 03, 2026

We’re properly into that in-between bit of the year now.

Not quite summer, but definitely past the worst of it. Things feel a bit lighter, it’s a good time to get some work done without it feeling like too much of a grind. London is still doing London things, so obviously there’s been grey skies with a chance of rain and many a reminder not to get too confident with the weather.

The Shard, seen from the Overground on the way back from South London the other day. Golden hour, train reflections, London doing its thing.

But still, the flowers are out, evenings are longer, and January and February feel like a long way away.

That alone feels like progress.

What Caught My Eye

Had a great Sunday at Kew Gardens recently. Henry Moore sculptures were being installed across the gardens, but The Hive was the thing that really stayed with me.

It’s 17 metres tall, with a thousand LED lights responding to the vibrations of bees living at Kew. In the background, a symphony shifts with their activity and apparently every sound is in the key of C, the same key bees buzz in.

Three views of The Hive at Kew Gardens, a large aluminium lattice structure rising from a grassy landscape, shown from a distance, from beneath, and looking up through its circular interior. — The Hive, Kew Gardens A 17-metre lattice structure that responds to real-time bee activity at Kew — lights and sound shifting with their vibrations, turning an unseen system into something you can step inside and experience.

There’s something about it, the scale, the low hum, the way it sits in the landscape that pulls you in without trying too hard. It’s super calm, but very alive at the same time.

I recorded a short bit while I was there, which you can listen to here.

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We were also sadly a day too early to see the rare Sumatran Titan Arum — the corpse flower — open. It literally opened that night.

My son was slightly disappointed, but he still got to see plenty of his favourite pitcher plants, plus a new family favourite: the jade vine.

I never knew I was this into plants until recently. A sure sign of middle age.

What’s Been On Repeat

This almost three-hour Resident Advisor mix by the legend that is Mala is incredible. The pace, the space, the way it gives old tracks new life, a proper one to sit with. It also sent me back to Bassweight, a film I made in 2008 featuring Mala and many others, just as dubstep was really taking off.

Great to see that sound having a proper resurgence in 2026, in a good way.

What I’m Reading

Been struggling the last couple of weeks to really get into anything. Had a strong start to the year. A mix of political books, spy thrillers, and the usual graphic novels but recently hit a bit of a wall - I blame work!

Three images of Sui Sui by Esow — a red hardcover book with gold lettering, an open spread featuring bold graffiti-style lettering and illustrated characters, and a drawing of a seated figure with an exaggerated face, crying while holding a drink at a table. — Sui Sui by Esow — a return to an artist we worked with years ago. Loose, character-driven drawings alongside sharp lettering and street references; it moves between humour, melancholy and everyday scenes in a way that feels very him.

That said, I picked up an art book instead: Sui Sui by Japanese (street) artist ESOW.

He did the covers for two of our graffiti books many years ago, so it’s nice to come back to his work and spend some time with his first book, which came out around 2014.

From The Studio

Moving stock around this week, which basically means more pallets of books in and out of the garage.

Time to process this and get some books moving.

Aside from moving stock around and pulling the trigger on a few new books we can’t speak about just yet, we’ve also been tidying up the Soi Books site, please do have a look.

Next month we’ll be doing the same with Stickerbomb World.

Trying a new approach at the moment: focusing properly on the task in front of us, rather than always trying to spin 20 plates at once. Maybe just spin five.