“I am interested in the language of stone itself, of inscribed stone and its place in the landscape.  The permanence of standing stones, the possibility of their silent communication with us across thousands of years, suggests a context for my work.” 

Pip Hall has a degree in Typography and Graphic Communication and has produced a wide variety of designs for printing, and some lettering and illustration for educational children’s books.  After teaching herself letter carving in stone Pip became an apprentice-assistant in Alec Peever’s lettering and sculpture studio, mainly carving in stone and slate.  She has carved in her own workshop since 1997 and commissions include memorials, house signs, poetry carved on water features, sundials, stepping stones and plaques.  Much of her memorial work comes through Memorials by Artists in Suffolk.  She was a member of the team of carvers cutting letters on the Reading Room wall at the British Museum.  Other clients include Hereford Cathedral and Magdalen College, Oxford.   

Pip’s lettering is hand-drawn and explores historic influences, including drawn, carved and printed.  Her aim is to create a texture or ‘flavour’ for the piece and she is interested in the relationship between the letter and the texture, colour and shape of the stone.  Particular inspiration comes from the formal cursive handwriting of the Italian Renaissance, French and English 19th century copperplate, and contemporary German and Scandinavian calligraphy.