Mapping London, from Brutalism to Birch trees

An interview with Blue Crow Media's Derek Lamberton

There are two independent publishers we consistently turn to go when we want to buy gifts for other Londoners. One is Cafe Royal Books, who publish incredible titles like Notting Hill Sound Systems and Spitalfields 1977. The other is Blue Crow Media who have been producing gorgeously designed and thoughtfully curated maps of London for the past seven years.

From the architecture of the Underground to the London of Nicholas Hawksmoor, Blue Crow has carved out a reputation as London’s trusted annotators, so we wanted to talk to founder Derek Lamberton to find out how he went from beer and coffee to Brutalism and back alleys and what it takes to run a small, independent publishing company in London in 2022.

Derek Lamberton, founder of Blue Crow Media, caught here gazing wistfully at Bloomsbury.

Let’s start off with the usual LiB opening question: What’s your personal relationship to London?

Well, my mother is from London and her parents were Londoners, but I grew up in Washington DC and came…