EQ BUILDING
111 vICTORIA sTREET, bRISTOL
Commissioned by CEG, Molly Hawkins created a landmark 22m x 15m mural on the EQ building, celebrating Bristol’s printing heritage and its former Mardon, Son & Hall printworks. The design echoes the building’s typesetter-tray-inspired architecture, bridging historic and contemporary.
Installed July 2024 opposite Temple Meads, it serves as a new visual anchor for Redcliffe. Research drew on Bristol’s typographic archives, The Letterpress Collective, and The Women Who Built Bristol, spotlighting figures like Paule Vézelay. Molly developed concepts through collage and print-making, and collaborated with Bristol writer Malaika Kegode to weave poetic texts and visual motifs from local stories.
Molly also created interior artworks for EQ, extending the mural’s themes to form a cohesive narrative throughout the building.
“This project marks my largest mural to date at 22m x 15m, and the excitement of sharing my work on such a grand scale is absolutely exhilarating!”
– Molly Hawkins
research & INSPIRATION
“I found myself captivated by the tools used in traditional letterpress and printmaking. I wanted to incorporate the shapes of these elements into the mural artwork, particularly the reversed letters prepared for printing and the format of the frames that hold the type and tools in place for the press.”
– Molly Hawkins
“I visited 'Forms 1936' by Paule Vézelay at Tate Modern. Paule explored creating space on a flat surface and had a particular interest in spheres and circles. I love her insight: 'They can be used to indicate directions or movements, in order to balance or counter-act the movements of other elements in the composition.”
– Molly Hawkins
DESIGN process
“Collaborating with Malaika to create the text within the artwork has been an incredible experience. Gaining insight into her creative process was truly inspiring and added a whole new dimension to the project.”
– Molly Hawkins
