British luxury automotive engineering reached new heights with Sunbeam’s flagship model, which could achieve 77 mph while delivering exceptional refinement at a fraction of competitors’ prices. The Twenty-Five, produced from 1934 to 1935, was built on two wheelbase lengths (130 and 136 inches) and featured a 3,318cc overhead-valve straight-six engine rated at 23.8 horsepower for taxation purposes, transmitting power through a four-speed gearbox with synchromesh on second, third, and top gears.
At £875 for the four-door saloon, it offered outstanding value compared to the contemporary Daimler Straight-Eight and 3½-Litre Bentley, while featuring Lockheed hydraulic brakes and superb coachwork. Only 309 examples were manufactured before Sunbeam’s financial difficulties led to acquisition by the Rootes Group in 1935.
This particular example was converted from a saloon to the ‘Woody’ estate car you see here.
In the Jordanian desert, Syrian families displaced by war huddle atop stacks of boxes like stalwart islands in a dry and unforgiving landscape. Photographer Nick Brandt captures children, siblings, and entire families who stand together and climb skyward like monuments or promontories—what the artist describes as “pedestals for those that in our society are typically unseen and unheard.”
The series marks the fourth chapter in an ongoing series called The Day May Break, which has taken Brandt around the world in search of visual stories illuminating the effects of the climate crisis.
Brandt began the series in 2020, reflecting on myriad experiences of “limbo,” both in the midst of the pandemic and relating to the tenuous ecological balance of our planet. In an essay accompanying Chapter One of The Day May Break, Brandt writes:
Nearly twenty years ago, I started photographing the wild animals of Africa as an elegy to a disappearing world. After some (too many) years seeing the escalating environmental destruction, I felt an urgent need to move away from that kind of work and address the destruction in a much more direct way.
Brandt began the series in Zimbabwe and Kenya, focusing the first chapter on portrayals of both people and animals that have been impacted by environmental degradation and destruction. Every person he documented was deeply affected by the changing climate. “Some were displaced by cyclones that destroyed their homes,” Brandt says. “For some, like Kuda in Zimbabwe, or Robert and Nyaguthii in Kenya, it was more tragic: both of them lost two young children, swept away by the floods.”
For Chapter Two, Brandt traveled to the Senda Verde Animal Sanctuary in Bolivia, where wildlife affected by trafficking and habitat destruction are cared for. And for Chapter Three, subtitled SINK/RISE, he took his camera into the ocean off the coast of Fiji, focusing on individuals whose livelihoods have been impacted by rising sea levels. Plunging decrepit furniture onto the sea floor, individuals and families interact with one another entirely underwater.
For the series’ newest addition, Chapter Four, subtitled The Echo of Our Voices, Brandt traveled to arid Jordan, one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. The dramatic black-and-white photos feature refugee families who fled the war in Syria. Perched on stacks of cubes, they transform into living monoliths, symbolic of resilience, surrounded by the rugged, sandy expanse.
The photographer says, “Living lives of continuous displacement largely due to climate change, they are forced to move their homes up to several times a year, moving to where there is available agricultural work—to wherever there has been sufficient rainfall to enable crops to grow.” Parents stand alongside their children; siblings embrace; and families are shown alternately gazing into the distance, turning to one another for comfort, or taking time to rest.
“This chapter is different from the first three chapters, both visually and emotionally: a show of connection and strength in the face of adversity; that when all else is lost, you still have each other,” Brandt says. Explore much more work on his website.
Regular film shooter and analogue expert Toby Mason has teamed up with his son Felix, aged 12, for a special film swap project using some LomoChrome Purple and Turquoise 35 mm film. They talked to us about the results and shared some handy tips.
From digital painting to cut-paper stop-motion animation, this award-winning Chinese artist is passionate about creating visual narratives with energy, positivity, and a sense of life.
The pandemic was awful, let's make no bones about it, but just how many talented creatives discovered their true calling during lockdown? Count Fangfang Han among them. In 2020, she was a fashion buyer working in a busy industry where there just wasn't time to explore other creative avenues. Fast forward to 2024, and she's recently won a World Illustration Award for New Talent in Animation.
Plenty of learning, exploring new mediums and conceptualisation has gone on between then and now. "My style has been shaped through years of experimentation – printmaking, collage, hand-drawing, stop-motion, digital painting – I've tried it all. While most of my work is now digital, my style is still evolving. To me, storytelling and emotional connection matter more than just aesthetics. It's about the message I'm conveying and how it makes people feel," says Fangfang.
Originally from Hefei in eastern China, Fangfang relocated to London, studied illustration at the Kingston College of Art, and graduated this year. She has already worked on projects with various clients, covering travel and lifestyle topics for UK publications such as Teen Breathe and creating children's book illustrations for Ximalaya in China.
Perhaps her most eye-catching piece is The Tube, a wonderfully quirky animation that pulls out dozens of the little aspects of riding the London Underground in Fangfang's whimsical creative style. What began as a university project was taken on by Transport for London, which used the piece to help celebrate the 160th anniversary of the Underground in 2023.
"The idea came after a late-night London Tube ride on the Victoria Line, listening to station announcements and the hum of conversations," she explains. "That moment sparked the idea to create a project about the Underground. I spent over a month riding different lines, researching the Tube's unique atmosphere and its role in daily life."
Fangfang aimed to humanise and beautify the experience by depicting the interiors of the stations and the trains, as well as some of the people who use the service. The piece combines her drawings and digital artwork with Chinese-inspired cut-paper animation and plenty of sounds you'll hear on any Tube journey.
The London Underground logo animation set.
An illustration about creativity for Teen Breathe.
Images from The Flying Studio, a book about Eadweard Muybridge.
It led Fangfang to win a World Illustration Award in Animation this year. Part of her prize was an opportunity to choose one of the illustration agencies sponsoring the awards, and she selected IllustrationX because of the company's history and global reach.
Today, Fangfang splits her time between London and Hefei. The former inspires her creativity, with its galleries, museums, and variety on offer. The latter is where she connects with family, friends, and her pet budgies. And just like her lifestyle, her work bridges Eastern and Western cultures.
"Growing up, I was surrounded by traditional arts and crafts – calligraphy, embroidery, paper cutting, and ceramics. My family also played a big role. My mom and grandpa loved Beijing opera, and I even learned to sing and play the jinghu, a traditional Beijing opera instrument," says Fangfang. "Summers were spent learning traditional Chinese painting. At the same time, I was influenced by global culture – Disney animations, Miyazaki films, French comics, and English literature. That blend of traditional Chinese roots and international exposure has shaped how I see the world and tell stories through my work."
Next, Fangfang wants to combine her illustration and animation skills to create brand campaigns for clients in travel and culture, illustrate non-fiction books and collaborate with fashion designers to create patterns and prints.
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