Some of my work has been inspired by old love letters. I make collections of tiny, individually handmade envelopes, each lined with gold paper. I’ve also created installations of paper poppies with reproductions of old letters printed onto them.
Two sets of letters have particularly inspired my work. The handwriting is beautiful, and the contents of the letters tell the stories of the people who wrote and received them.
Eric wrote to his love two or three times a week for five years before and during World War II. His letters were full of messages of love interspersed with news of everyday life at the time.
I feel very privileged to own the letters.
Joe‘s letters to Pegs started towards the end of the War when they were separated. He continued to write to her when he returned to America. Unlike Eric, Joe was rather more extravagant with his paper and only wrote on one side.
Eric and Josie spent the rest of their lives together but for Joe and Pegs, being in different countries was just too difficult to make things work.
Gillian Taylor 
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