It's Nice That writers look back on their first ever posts

Quite a few of us joined It’s Nice That in the summer many moons ago and so the sunny months are awash with opportunities for reflection and reminiscence. With that in mind we’ve asked four of our writers to take us back to the first post they ever wrote for the site and find out a bit more about the article that launched their careers here. And just in case you were wondering; here’s the first ever post on the site.

I still vividly remember my first day; I cloaked my journalistic suspicion of the art and design world in the kind of jacket I’d seen people wear on Nathan Barley. It was not a good look. The first article I wrote was about French illustrator Paul Loubet. I remember using the phrase “hypercool sensibilities” and thinking that I could never get away with something like that at the newspaper I previously worked at. If I’d had a small dog to hand I’d probably have told him that we weren’t in Kansas anymore, as it was I immediately got an email from a former colleague ridiculing my new-found art world affectations…
www.itsnicethat.com/articles/paul-loubet

Here’s a horror story for you. I wrote this on the first day of being at It’s Nice That and about half an hour after it went live and I was basking in my gleeful new-found fame, someone emailed in (to my BOSS) saying that the images I had used were not in fact by Devendra Banhart. Well done Liv! Start as you mean to go on and all that. Holding down puke, I politely emailed the guy whose work I had said to the world was by the bearded, celebrity folk singer and he was cool about it. But yeah, bloody nightmare. 1,447 It’s Nice That Posts later and I still can’t listen to Devendra Banhart’s music without having to go to the toilet.
www.itsnicethat.com/articles/devendra-banhart

Since I first wrote about Charlie Whinney three years ago he’s spent 18 months travelling the globe, visiting over 18 countries in Europe and Asia, and still had time to relocate his business from Oxfordshire to Cumbria in the meantime. His new Lake District workshop is, by all accounts, much bigger and better equipped than his previous residence allowing him to run workshops for craftsmen the world over. He’s still pioneering new techniques in steam-bending and as yet we’ve not found anyone (aside from his old colleagues) capable of making such dauntingly complex constructions from wood. Proud!
www.itsnicethat.com/articles/charlie-whinney-1

My first post wasn’t actually one of my choosing – I arrived in the studio, sat at my desk and it was promptly plonked in front of me with a “Caaaaaaaan you do this?” – but fortunately it’s absolutely brilliant, so I was happy to oblige. The funny bunch over at Click Design Consultants came up with a cheeky campaign to help National Trust country houses all over the country shake off their (wholly unfair) reputation as cross, chastising and a bit fusty. They made a series of signs which look like warning notices, but which in fact encourage the kind of fun and weird behaviour that they hope visitors will get up to in their country houses.

The project has the potential to be a bit cheesy, but something about the thought of an old couple wandering happily across a daisy-strewn lawn and giggling at a notice that says “KEEP ON THE GRASS” continues to warm my cockles a year and a bit on.
www.itsnicethat.com/articles/click-design-consultants-national-treasures