Explore Ed's work: edfairburn.com | IG: edfairburn
[Watch the full interview below]
Before developing the distinctive practice he is known for today, Ed considered becoming a pilot, studied illustration at university, and found himself unsure of what his career would look like after graduation. His now recognizable approach to working with maps began almost incidentally, after he picked up an old map in a charity shop simply because he liked its patterns and colors. That exploration eventually went viral on Tumblr, leading to print requests, commissions, and, ultimately, building a professional creative practice.
In this conversation, Ed talks openly about taking the risk of pursuing art, finding opportunity in unexpected places, building a sustainable creative career, and why the work itself has to remain at the center of everything.
When did your creative journey begin?
Ed Fairburn:
What I currently do now, my sort of professional practice, I would say is quite easy to pinpoint, and that's the end of 2012.
My creative journey as a whole probably started earlier, back when I was a teenager and I was considering what I wanted to do for work for the rest of my life. I was going to do something that had nothing to do with art.
But then I went to university and studied illustration at university. So, just lots of drawing basically.
My professional practice began shortly after I graduated at the end of 2012. My fairly niche style, if you like, of what I do, that started in that year, in 2012, and that kind of allowed me to transition into doing this full time really.
So I would say 2012 is probably what I consider to be the start of my practice.
You told me that “Art Is Not A Hobby” resonated with you. What does that mean to you personally?
Ed Fairburn:
Well, I mean, first of all, I think art can be a hobby, but I understand the sentiment of the statement, “Art Is Not A Hobby.” I get that from a professional point of view, that it can be a lot more than a hobby.
I think when I started out, I had a lot of support from a lot of people. And when I say started out, I really mean making my first choices when I was younger going into art as a career, which was basically choosing to go to art school.
I wanted to do something very different. I was going to be a pilot. That was my interest. That was where my interest lied. That involved doing more academic things, but I used to love flying. I did learn to fly light aircraft and I was going into all of that world. That was kind of what I wanted to do with my life.
But I always had this thing of wanting to be creative, and it was kind of what I was naturally good at. It was my natural strength. I've never been a particularly academic person, so it was almost like deciding, okay, this is what I feel like I should probably do.
When I was looking at my education options, further education, higher education, I realized that it was something creative that I wanted to do.
I had support from people, but I also had people that genuinely had my best interests in mind who were saying, “Do you really want to do this? This is really risky, going through this line of work.”
I remember, I think it was my mom that said, “If you don't go down this path, if you don't try and pursue your creative goals, you will never know. You'll spend the rest of your life kind of just thinking, what if?”
That was really helpful because I thought, well, okay, I can give it a go, give it a try. And yeah, it kind of went from there really.
What did the transition phase look like, how did you figure out to go into this path?
Ed Fairburn:
Even right through university, I still didn't really know what my career would look like. As a graduate, as somebody who studied an art related subject at university and then being in the real world, I didn't really know what my work would look like or what my prospects would look like.
I remember asking my course leader at the time when I was doing the interview for the illustration course if there was assistance in getting graduates jobs, jobs in illustration, once we all graduated.
And he, not rudely laughed, but he chuckled, let's say, and he basically said, “There are no jobs in illustration. It is a freelance culture. It's not about getting jobs.” So even back then I had no idea what my kind of work would look like.
And he was right. There aren't really jobs. I mean, there are jobs. You get in house jobs and things like that doing design work or illustration, that kind of thing. I don't really know a whole lot about that because, as I say, I've not positioned myself as an illustrator. Everything I do is largely self initiated.
It's funny because I don't have a job. I'm self employed. I run a business, right? People can say, well, that can all go tits up. It can all go wrong. But you could have a job, you could have a job, and that is your one job. That is your one stream of income. So actually, full time employment can go tits up. You could lose your job, you could be made redundant.
I think as a creative person, running your own business, you make the opportunities and you diversify what you do. I think running a business can be as creative as the creative thing itself. I think the business benefits from that kind of approach.
So I feel pretty secure. I feel like I'm in control. I'm not relying on one stream of income. I'm doing what I do, and there are different facets to that because that's the way I've set it up.
How long does it take you to do a piece and when you start with a map, do you see an image or does it come as you go?
Ed Fairburn:
So I don't see faces in maps. I see kind of like opportunities for things. I see kind of starting points in the composition that then kind of are frameworks for me to work within. I see things that are almost like gestures in the landscape. It's almost like, I sometimes describe my process as the landscape's asking a question, and my process is about answering that question.
So there's kind of a predetermined structure, predetermined composition, and what I'm doing is I'm trying to complement that composition. So yeah, I don't see faces in maps as such. I don't actually look for perfect synchronicities. I look for things that complement other things. I look for patterns that complement other patterns, that sort of thing.
The completion time for what I do really varies depending on the kind of size and complexity of what I'm working on. And also, obviously, if there's a deadline, if it is a commission or if there's an exhibition deadline or something like that, that tends to make me work quite a lot faster.
Otherwise, I like to juggle things. I have multiple things on the go at any one time. I have a washing line in my studio. This is kind of where I have works in progress, things that I've yet to start, things that are underway, and also just things that I can't really be bothered to put away properly because I have my plan chest.
Maps are an absolute nightmare to fold back up sometimes. They're very easy to unfold, but folding them back up is a real problem. So I tend to just kind of keep things out. But some of those pieces, the reason I show those, this large one here just above where I'm pointing, I've had that on the go for years now, and it's become kind of a warm up piece for me.
I will finish it one day, but it's sort of become this thing that I'm like, okay, I've not drawn for a while, or I'm a bit out of sorts, or I've been doing something different. I just need to get my hand going again. And I sort of get that down because there are large areas, large swathes of parts of it that I can just work on. But it will be finished one day.
So it takes anything from a few days, to answer your question, for smaller things that I do, to months or even years for the larger things. But they tend to be the pieces that I rotate and I work on different things at different times.
The longest thing I've ever worked on, in terms of the time, is the album artwork I did for John Lennon and Universal Music.
That was a really big undertaking, and that took solidly, in terms of that, months of work. I did have to rotate it because I did have other commitments as well, but if I added up all that time, it was months and months of work. So that was a pretty big undertaking
Do you think that the process of your art and the time that it takes has taught you something as a person?
Ed Fairburn:
Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's taught me a lot about investment and long payoff in things that are very time consuming and things that you don't necessarily see the immediate solution to. You're kind of blind to, you know, it's kind of like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel a lot of the time.
Some of the larger pieces especially that I work on, I have to put so much time into them before I even reach the ugly stage of the drawing, and then it's even longer until I can actually kind of picture something that is complete. And sometimes I'm not happy with things. You know, a lot of the time I'm not happy with things. I abandon lots of pieces. I've got a whole drawer in my plan chest of just pieces that I'm like, for whatever reason, I've just put them to one side and I may come back to one day.
But realistically, I think it's not finishing things and also failing things, like creating things that you're not happy with. That's just part of being an artist. It's just part of being creative. So I think, yeah, you have to have faith in that process, even though realistically what you're working on might not live up to your standards. It might not be what you want it to be and it might not get finished.
Chances are, in my case, most of what I work on, because I plan my pieces and I kind of know, intuitively, what I think is going to work well. But I'm still experimenting creatively. I'm still trying things and I'm still trying to just push myself out of my comfort zone.
But of course, with that comes risk. So you have to take that risk on board if that's the way you want to work, if you want to continually develop. And you have to accept that failure is possibly going to be part of that process. And that can be difficult when you're working on something that, as I say, takes a very long time before it even reaches its sort of mid stage.
I just have to put on a podcast or some music or something and just kind of go into my world and just work on this thing and just be at one with this thing and not think about really sort of anything. It's got to be, I've got to feel like I'm spending the time well, and I have faith.
Do you find it easier to do commissions than original work or harder because of the guidelines?
Ed Fairburn:
Yeah, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I always think in theory I find it easier to do my own self initiated work, but it's funny because the actual work that I create is almost a metaphor for this thing, right? So, working with maps, I don't have the kind of stress, if you like, of a blank sheet of paper, and I call it stress because I'm not used to working with blank sheets of paper or blank canvases. I have a starting point with everything I do. I have this framework that already exists and it inspires me. You know, it's like, this is the thing on the paper and I'm working within those constraints.
And I think that's kind of exactly the same for the sort of bigger picture of what I do. When I can choose to draw anything over any location, I'm sometimes paralyzed by that sense of openness. There are just so many options. My map collection is huge as well.
That's another reason why I have things hanging on this line, because when I put things away I forget that I have them. And, you know, on a very regular basis I receive maps. I have maps coming all the time and it's like, I look at them, I'm like, hey, this is cool. This is great. And I fold it up and I put it away and I just forget that I have it.
So, yeah, I think the openness with self initiated work, it can be really difficult. It can be very appealing as well. So I think there's definitely a balance there. But one thing I do like about commissions is, yeah, that sense of constraint and that, you know, this is the location I have to work with. It narrows it immediately. It starts to narrow things down. And I find that actually quite helpful.
It can be a hindrance sometimes, especially working with an external material like maps, like I do, where very often I'll have commission inquiries that just will not be possible because I just cannot source the right sorts of maps that I would like to work with for the commission.
Commercial commissions, that's even more so the case because, working with maps, I have to be aware of copyright issues and sort of things like that. So working with commercial commissions where there's reproduction involved, there's even more of a constraint there.
But that, again, it can be helpful. It can be really helpful. So it can kind of narrow down your focus and narrow down what you're doing. But it's a bit of a balance, really. I think sometimes when I'm doing lots of commissions, I kind of crave my own freedoms a bit. But equally, when I'm really fully in the depths of my own work, I just think, oh, you know, it'd be really nice to be working on a commission right now. You know, gives you a bit more focus.
But I don't generally do commissions these days. I do commercial commissions and that's pretty much it. I don't really do a lot of private commissions. I do make the odd exception, but generally I don't. At least at the moment.
What’s one habit or mindset that has essentially led to a sustainable creative career for you?
Ed Fairburn:
I think consistency, and actually that's something that I also struggle with. But I think being consistent is key, and that can mean lots of different things.
Whether it's just consistency in terms of showing up, either on social media or with an email newsletter, or having a target number of shows that you might want to participate in every year, I think that really helps.
I mean, I'm a person of momentum. So when I drop the ball with things, even if I go on holiday for a week, it's kind of hard. Sometimes it's hard for me to pick that ball up again and get it rolling again. So for me personally, yeah, consistency as a habit, I suppose you can call it. I mean, it is a habit, but it's one that I'm still trying to master.
You know, I'm 37 this year and I'm still like, next year is going to be the year that I get a better creative routine. I'm gonna, you know, and I'm just hodgepodging my way through life. But it's kind of been working. So, but I want to try and improve on that. I want to try and be a more consistent person.
Now that you're living as a full time artist, what's something you weren't prepared for?
Ed Fairburn:
For me, I mean, this is something that's changed for me over time, but I think for quite a long time, and it's kind of more of a personal thing, I guess, but I was quite lonely for quite a long time.
I started when I left uni, obviously that was 2012, had lots of peers around me. I was in a lively place, and one of the reasons I wanted to go into art when I was younger is I perceived it to be a very sociable, well connected sort of lifestyle, like going to lots of exhibitions and meeting lots of people and always being around people.
But actually, the reality of it when I started renting my own studio is I was working on my own for a lot of the time, for many years actually. And the thing that probably possibly annoys a lot of people about certain types of employment is working with other people, public facing jobs, working in hospitality, that kind of thing, service industries. That was kind of the thing that actually I started to miss, was just being connected with other people, even just on a day to day level.
Because the reality is, you know, you're not going to go to exhibitions all the time. You're not going to, you know, even just going to work, going to the office and seeing your coworkers every day.
I lived on my own for a long time as well, so I would go for quite long periods of time without talking to anybody, which is kind of sad really. But that was just one of those things that, as I say, it's more of a kind of personal life thing because it doesn't have to be like that. But I lived in the middle of nowhere as well for quite a long time. I lived in quite a remote place. But then I met my partner and now we run the business together. She does so much of the work, and we're lucky to be together basically all the time. We live in a more active place now. We go out more, we do more things.
So that's something that's changed for me over time, but it was something that I wasn't really prepared for. Because I was always thinking like, oh, you know, it's going to be fairly active and social, this line of work. Because, you know, even using things like social media as an artist, social media is not actually really that social. It can be. It can be, but not all the time.
Has the way that you define success changed now versus then? What does success look like for you today?
Ed Fairburn:
Yeah, I think it definitely has. Success for me when I was younger was more about big ambition and sort of making a big name for myself, and just kind of, I don't know, I was a different person when I was younger. I think I felt like I could sort of do anything in the world and go anywhere and be anybody that I wanted to be.
And it sounds really sad to say that that's kind of tempered down a little bit as I've gotten older, but I actually don't think it's sad at all. And I think it's, for me at least, it's just been a part of maturing and growing up and just being more at peace with who I am and what I want from my life. And that's not necessarily really big things. It's a lot of small things.
It's just being able to be at home every day with my partner, which is the case. And, you know, I feel fortunate that that's the case. It's about just simple pursuits for me. Cooking, gardening, just spending my time doing slow things. Yeah, maybe it's just I'm just getting old. I don't know. But I just, I just, that's what I want from my life now. That is my life, you know.
It's, yeah, so that's success to me now. It's a lot more humble. I think it's a lot simpler now. Just being able to support myself and my partner and have that kind of life instead of feeling the need to travel around the world and have my name in lights and all of that. And I think there's still an element of some of that. I mean, as an artist, you want to do kind of big shows and things like that, and obviously you want to make a name for yourself.
But I feel like, in a way, I checked some of those boxes. As my career developed, I've won awards, I've done big client work, I've done, you know, there's sort of achievements that I've ticked boxes of.
The reality is that you don't really feel like you've made it at any point. In fact, the more boxes you tick, the more boxes that reveal themselves. It's kind of like a false summit, right? It's like you're climbing a hill and you think you're at the top, but then you notice there's even more hill when you get to the next bit. And it kind of feels like that. And it's quite exhausting.
I think it's not a case of, like, oh, I don't want to achieve things anymore. I don't want to tick those career boxes anymore. It's more just a case of, like, I have to take the enjoyment in other things because that's not what I want my life to be about. I don't want to just be constantly chasing any kind of professional validation or anything like that. I don't want that to be the focus of my life.
So yeah, I've slowed down a lot, and I think it's just maturing, basically. I think it's just becoming an older person, a more mature person maybe, but just with slightly different goals perhaps.
What advice would you give to emerging artists?
Ed Fairburn:
It's got to be about you have to put the work at the core. And it sounds really obvious to say that, but if you're not passionate and fired up about what it is you're creating, if you don't find purpose in the process itself and the real burning desire to create and to pursue this thing, you can't just fall into this line of work.
You can't just kind of slip into it and coast along and be like, you know, oh well, you know, what I'm making is all right. You have to really put yourself into that. And yeah, as I say, I think I feel like that's stating the obvious a little bit, but I think some people kind of forget about that.
I've seen people that are kind of more interested maybe in the business side of it than the actual work itself. And it's difficult because there is a balance to be had. I sometimes think if I wasn't doing what I do full time, I would probably have more time to make art, which is kind of funny, but there is a lot of distractions. There's a lot of other stuff around.
But ultimately, at the end of the day, the bottom line is it's got to be about the work that you create, and you've got to build everything else around that. Otherwise, you can't kind of start thinking like, you know, I'm going to make money this month to pay for whatever, what can I do for that? You do have to have a degree of that, but it's still got to be from the point of view of the work.
So everything I make now, I make sure I'm doing it with intent, with purpose, and that I'm enjoying what I'm creating. And I'm also then thinking, but what am I going to do with this? Am I going to make prints of this? Is this going to go into such and such an exhibition? And if I don't know the answers to those questions, I might still want to make the work anyway, because that's the thing that counts, right? So there's that.
I would also say I'm kind of stealing this advice a little bit from a friend of mine, but it is kind of another simple one, and that is that advice often contradicts other advice. So in other words, don't take all advice and expect that different things apply to different people in different situations. You could get advice from one place and it might completely contradict something else. So it just confuses everything even more. But you've just got to find what works for you, and it's a long, arduous process. But it's very rewarding if you can make it work.
And don't dwell on the worst possible things that can happen because the best possible things that can happen often get overlooked.
You know, like at the beginning of our conversation, we were talking about stability and art as a career, and having the idea of having one job versus forming a business that can, if you obviously, if you're self employed, if you run a business, you could make nothing from month to month, but you could also make a lot of money.
It really, there's no ceiling to that. So it's kind of like everybody focuses on the bottom part, but nobody really tends to look at the top because realistically, if you're employed, there probably are certain ceilings and certain expectations. But when you run a business, it's entirely open. So think about the best things that can happen sometimes and be optimistic.
Can you tell me two artists that you're excited about right now, that we should keep an eye on?
Ed Fairburn:
So, I mean, I follow lots of artists whose work I love, and there are a lot of names, but there's one artist that I think of, James Cook, typewriter artist.
I think his work is phenomenal. I think his technique, his way of drawing with typewritten letters, is just really out there. And what he's doing, you know, the way he's working and the kind of market he's positioned himself in, and all the opportunities he's pursuing and the things he's achieving, it's a model for any aspiring artist. So yeah, James Cook, typewriter artist, definitely.
And I also, for similar reasons, really like the work of Roberta Buffo. She is somebody who is very much about the process and very much about her work. Her work, I think, looking at it from an outsider's perspective, is like a meditation for her, and I think I take a lot of inspiration from that way of working because it's all about the process. And she, again, she's positioned in the kind of fine art market. She's doing some really amazing kind of print releases and selling originals and doing really great professional practice.
So, those are two artists whose work I absolutely love, but also everything around the work they create is really top notch. And yeah, definitely check them out
Key Takeaways
1. You don't have to know where you're going to begin
Ed didn't leave university knowing exactly what his career would look like. His practice developed through experimentation, including the almost accidental discovery of working with maps. That is an important reminder for emerging artists: you don't need to have your entire career figured out before you begin. Sometimes the direction becomes clear simply because you keep making things and stay open to where they lead.
2. Let the work lead you
Ed doesn't look at a map and immediately see a finished face. Instead, he sees opportunities and starting points. He describes the landscape as “asking a question” and his process as answering it. There is something valuable in that approach. Not every creative idea needs to be completely figured out before you begin. Sometimes the work itself tells you where to go next. The map provides the framework. Ed responds to it.
3. Accept failure as part of the process
Ed has abandoned pieces. He has put drawings aside that he may never return to. Some works take years, while others take only days. That willingness to accept failure is an important part of his practice. Creativity requires risk, and risk means that not everything will work. If you're continually trying to push yourself outside your comfort zone, there will inevitably be pieces that don't meet your expectations. That doesn't mean the process failed. It means you experimented. As Ed puts it, “It's just part of being an artist. It's just part of being creative.”
4. Consistency matters, even when it's imperfect
When asked about the habit that has helped him build a sustainable career, Ed pointed to consistency. But he also admits that consistency is something he is still trying to master. That honesty is important. A creative practice doesn't need to look perfectly organized to be productive. For Ed, consistency can mean showing up on social media, sending an email newsletter, participating in exhibitions, or simply maintaining momentum in his work. You don't have to have the perfect routine. You just have to keep picking the ball back up.
5. Success doesn't have to look the same forever
Earlier in his career, success meant ambition, recognition, big opportunities, and making a name for himself. Now, his definition is much simpler: being at home with his partner, cooking, gardening, spending time doing slow things, and being able to support the life they've built together. That doesn't mean his ambition disappeared. He still wants to create and achieve professionally. But those achievements no longer have to define his entire life. There is something powerful in realizing that success can change as you grow.
6. Put the work at the core
Perhaps the strongest piece of advice Ed gave to emerging artists was simple: put the work at the core. There is a lot that comes with building a creative career. Marketing, social media, clients, exhibitions, emails, and finances all matter. But none of those things can replace the work itself. If you're not passionate about what you're creating, it becomes difficult to sustain everything else. The business should support the creative practice, not replace it. And ultimately, Ed's story is a reminder that building a creative career isn't about having everything figured out from the beginning. It's about staying curious, continuing to make the work, accepting that some things won't work, and giving yourself enough time to discover where the work can take you.
📢 Check Out the Full Interview
Watch the full interview with Ed Fairburn below or youtube @ainahcommunity
Explore Ed's work: edfairburn.com | IG: edfairburn
