I’ve a real soft spot for the red phone boxes designed by Gilbert Scott, they’re just so brittish, so I was intrigued when I stumbled upon my first BT ArtBox in Kingly Court.
The project celebrates the 25th anniversary of Childline, a charity that gives children someone to turn to in times of need. It’s also a showcase of British design as they have been created by some of our very best talent.
Here’s a selection of my favorites, spotted on my travels around London.
Mr S snapped this one for me whilst visiting BT for a meeting. I would love to have a red version of this somewhere in my house.
Sadly, the boxes have now been shipped off to a secret location, before being delivered to the homes of the successful bidders in todays auction.
I went to the site to see how the auctions were going and spotted the ‘Design your own BT ArtBox’ link. My nephew and niece love making things (and it was a great excuse for me to have a go) so I printed some off, and went over with a bag full of crayons and art supplies.
They both cut out their own, and my nephew even cut out the door on his, ‘so the people can get in to use the phone’.
My niece insisted on colouring hers red as ‘phoneboxes ARE red’, silly Auntie Kelly.
I thought it was very inventive of my nephew to use glitter to represent the reflections of the glass in the doors.
Here are the finished boxes, how sweet are they?
My effort, made with some Liberty London map wrapping paper I had left over.
I will miss the BT Artboxes when I’m out and about in London, but we had loads of fun making our own. You can download the template here, please tweet me a photo if you make one :)
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
What a fab idea to make your own, although your niece’s box looks pink and not red on the screen ;-) And of course your wonderful KLC scalpelling skills have come to the fore with your own efforts love, I’d give you top marks. ha!
haha, thanks ;)
I won’t tell my niece about the pink comment, she will be most upset x
What a fantastic project to do with kids. i LOVE this. Just saw it on your Instagram!!
Can you believe that I never even saw one? Not sure how I missed it all:)
I love the end results and yours is gorgeous. Now listen here, young lady!
Unfortunately my nephew and nieces live in Germany so they wouldn’t get this BUT
I’m determined to do one myself for MYSELF and show you!!
Great stuff on a Monday morning. Your blog is looking ‘très chic’ these days. xx
Brilliant Tina, I can’t wait to see what you come up with, I’m sure it will be fabulously colourful :)
It’s quite a shame that many of the children living in the UK wouldn’t get it either as there are so few of the traditional ones about these days. One of my other nephews got my sister to stop the car when he saw one from the road so he could go in and have a look!
Look forward to seeing your BT Artbox xx
Ooh I missed them all too. How did that happen? Well at least you have shown us a good collection!
Having written my blog post about St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and now read yours about our red phone boxes, I had to do some further digging about the name Gilbert Scott. Unless I’m muddling things up, Giles Gilbert Scott of the phone boxes is the grandson of George Gilbert Scott of St Pancras Station! Wow, I hope this comes up in a pub quiz one day!!
I bet your niece and nephew loved their time making the phone boxes with you. Reminds me of happy times as a child making paper dolls houses. (I should have known where my destiny lay back then!) Yours is very cool! xx
I did wonder when I read your post! Thanks for looking it up and educating me :)
They did have fun I think, I’m so lucky to live so close and get to spend so much time with them. Funny you should mention paper dolls houses, I had a sweet shop, wish I’d kept it. I used to love paper dolls too, with all the different outfits. I’ve just ordered a collection of vintage scans so I can print them off for my niece :) xxx
It will appear that not only do you have an excellent eye for quirky design you are also a top auntie – they must adore you :)
Aw thanks Toni, I think they like it when I come around as they get my undivided attention :) x
they weren’t around very long were they which is a real shame as I was enjoying them. my best coup was the one in the foyer at Barclays in Canary Wharf. I thought no one else is going to see this one!
That’s great that you made them with the kids. What fun! I wish I’d known i’d have done them with E&A. their’s would have been far more gory though I suspect.
Oooo which one was in Barclays? Did you instagram it? I had planned to follow the map and try and see them all but they were gone before I had chance!
You can still make them with the boys! Would love to see what they come up with :)
x
What a great idea! I love what you did with yours. The map is such a cute twist! Since we don’t have these in the states, I don’t think my nieces would know what they are but it could still be a fun project!
Thanks for visiting Sarah :)
It’s a great little project, I’m sure they would enjoy it, you could relate it to the Olympics as the Phone Boxes are so British!
Aww what a lovely post and what a fab Aunty you are. Do I spy them using your posh pencils?.
I will bookmark that template, it looks like a great rainy day project to do with my little one!
Alex x
Fab post Kelly, we’re totally in love with the Phonebox Sofa. How cool is that!!!
And what a lovely way to entertain the kiddies for a few hours.