Plaques Scheme

Hackney Society’s plaque scheme is now live! You can support our first plaque for the amazing Edith Watson here.

We set up this scheme as our  applications for women featured in our publication Women from Hackney History were turned down by English Heritage as not being famous enough. We will start with plaques for under represented groups, initially women from our publications.  

We are currently crowdfunding for Edith here  and will have a public unveiling soon.  

For our plaque scheme we are working with designers Alice Sherwin and Harry Bennett, from Studio Ground Floor. They say:

“It’s been an absolute privilege to work with Hackney Society on the new plaque scheme. Hackney is our home and we feel so grateful that it has communities like Hackney Society looking after it. This sense of community and history is at the heart of the plaque’s design, not only drawing on the natural hues found throughout Hackney, but taking directly from the rich typographic history of the borough. Timeless in its tone, the design embraces the spirit of Hackney whilst prioritising legibility – optimised to be street appropriate, as if they were always meant to be there (or perhaps always were). The plaque is led by a bespoke typeface ‘Hackney Daily’, courtesy of Dinamo Typefaces, inspired by Hackney’s community notice boards of the mid-to-late 20th century. Its warm, characterful letterforms balance a sense of tradition and heritage through the inclusion of a serif, but the uniqueness and progressive nature of Hackney is reflected through its unusual forms and bolder weight. Ultimately, in its own lane, like Hackney.”