Home Sweet Homie

Located in Tottenham, London, Bruce Grove Youth Space is a centre for young people aged 11–19, and up to 25 for those with special educational needs.

It’s a vibrant place that’s been around since the 1970s — full of history, culture, and love.

That said, their I.T. Suite was in need of some love on its walls…

Book cover titled 'Youth Space' by Bruce Grove in blue and white design.
Harrods London logo in red and black text.
Office wall with shelves holding books, decorative items, and artwork, and a computer workspace separated by a glass partition.
Indoor space with a white wall decorated with two shelves holding books, a Rubik's Cube, and Adidas sneakers. There is a teddy bear hanging on the wall and a yellow note reminding to follow your dreams. An open door leads to another room with natural light and a blue railing visible.
Decorative wall shelf with a potted plant, gray 3D letters spelling 'FAMILY,' and a blue container holding crayons, a ruler, and writing tools.
Books on a wooden shelf, including titles like 'RICH DAD POOR DAD,' 'ATLAS WIRLD,' 'GROW RICH,' 'Think and Grow Rich,' 'The Habits of Effective People,' 'The China Acheb,' 'The Alchemist,' 'Othello,' 'The Alchemist,' and a box of Ribena blackcurrant drink.
Wall art featuring a framed portrait of a woman with a bandana, a life-sized cardboard cutout of an Adidas sneaker, a Rubik's Cube, and a partially visible stuffed animal.
Drawing of a wooden shelf with three stacked books labeled "Dictionary" and "Thesaurus," and a paper airplane.
A yellow paper with handwritten text taped to a wall, with a red stripe next to it. The paper says 'Note to self: Follow your dreams!', with the word 'to' crossed out and replaced with a star and a smiley face doodle.
Upside-down yellow vehicle license plate with the word 'HELLO' in black letters, and a blue and red GB sticker on the left side.

BEFORE…

Designing the mural came with its challenges — the room lacked natural light, so I had to carefully balance bold colours with how they’d appear in dim conditions.

Interior of a school or office building with high ceilings, a black bulletin board with photos and notes, a yellow door with an IT Suite sign, and a staircase area with glass walls and people walking.

The grey-green wall didn’t help the low light in the room, but that was simple enough to change.

The bold red beams, though, were off-limits. So I embraced them — bringing that same red into the mural as a wallpaper-style stripe to tie the space together.

DESIGN BRIEF

There wasn’t a formal design brief. Instead, I held focus group discussions with some of the young people and staff. What came through clearly was that Bruce Grove Youth Space feels like a second home — like one big family.

From that, I chose a democratic concept: shelves. The mural became about what sits on those shelves, representing everyone in the space. In the end, I selected the items myself, and it was an easy choice.

No matter our age, there are simple things that unite us. You’re never too old to make a paper plane, or forget the sweet taste of Ribena, even if you don’t drink it anymore.

Office space with a wall decorated with illustrated shelves holding various items, including a plant, wood letters spelling 'FAMILY', headphones, books, a Rubik's cube, framed photo, sneakers, and a pop socket, with a glass window showing an indoor playground area with a blue dome and black chairs.

The final mock up design

A hand-drawn sketch of a shoe with numbered parts and arrows indicating directions or features.
Hand-drawn sketches of various objects with measurements, including a cardboard box, a cylindrical container, a rectangular piece of paper, and a notebook, on graph paper background. The notes indicate dimensions and a pattern called wallpaper stripes.

My sketches and ‘workings out’ were necessary for scaling up on a large wall.