The original poster Keep Calm and Carry On was issued upon the outbreak of World War 2 as a means of allaying public fear. The poster was held in reserve for use only in times of extreme crisis. Although thousands were produced, only a handful ever saw the light of day. Even today ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ is a phrase which perfectly encapsulates the traditional British ‘stiff upper lip! And the guys at Keep Calm Gallery surely knew its potential success. Keep Calm Gallery was established in January 2007 by Lucas Lepola and Hayley Thwaites. We founded the online gallery as a result of our passion for typography in poster design, British heritage and the medium of screen printing.
In the early days KCG was run from our university halls and after graduating we each worked from our parent’s homes a few hundred miles apart. KCG is now run from our home office in South London where we eat, sleep and live amongst bubble wrap, postal tubes, boxes and lots of lovely art.
Hayley is 22 and has a degree in the History of Art. She comes up with a few ideas. Lucas is 23 and has a degree in Business and Management. He turns ideas into reality.
We like to think we make a pretty good team.What started with a few designs from the two of us soon grew into a site featuring an array of work from some fantastic artists. We work directly with our artists and printers to be able to offer high quality art for the home.We are chuffed to be running the site more than a year since the virtual doors swung open. We pride ourselves on excellent customer service, attention to detail and being passionate about everything we do.