Simone (Manchester, UK) studied architecture at Canterbury School of Art where the value of pen, pencil and watercolour in the communication of space and buildings became embedded in her work. She then worked as an architect in Manchester, specialising in interior architecture for 15+ years. Moving on from architectural practice, in 2011 Simone was appointed Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Art on BA (Hons.) Interior Design.
Whilst on a teaching exchange in Singapore in 2012, Simone discovered the global Urban Sketching community and set up Urban Sketchers Manchester on her return. Since then she has become an internationally recognised proponent of the urban sketchers movement. Her research work is concentrated around reportage and on location drawing and her first book Archisketcher was published in summer 2015 by North Light books in the US and Quarto books in the UK. Her collaboration with Phil Griffin was shortlisted for the inaugural UWE / Moleskin Reportager Awards summer 2015 for ‘You May Look at a Building’ about Argent PLC’s One St. Peter’s Square.
Simone is a member of the Society of Architectural Illustration (MSAI) and Manchester Academy of Fine Arts (MAFA) and she continues to develop her painting portfolio as well as painting architectural visualisations to commission. Recent clients include Virgin Atlantic Airways, Manchester International Festival and Marketing Manchester. Simone also runs drawing workshops across Europe and in recent months she has taught at Tate Liverpool, The Herbert Reade Gallery Coventry and on location in Amsterdam.
Simone successfully bid to bring the 7th Urban Sketchers annual symposium to Manchester in July 2016. Manchester’s bid to host the 2016 symposium beat New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Mexico City.
PYSB - Pushing Your Sketching Boundaries 