Medway illustrator finds new stories in Charles Dickens
Plus council diary, Fort Darnet plans, School Street dropped, property, events and our Open Newsroom
Rainham illustrator Esther Johnson has created a new Charles Dickens-inspired collection through her Designed by Esther studio, focusing not just on the novels but on the details of Dickens’ life, interests and Medway connections. We talk to her to find out more about it, plus further down we have next week's council diary, planning, news in brief, property, events, and a reminder of our Open Newsroom for Indie News Week.
The Medway illustrator finding new stories in Charles Dickens
When Rainham illustrator Esther Johnson began work on a new Charles Dickens-inspired giftware collection, she thought she had a reasonable grasp of Medway’s most famous literary figure.
Like many people locally, she knew the broad story. Dickens’ links to the Medway towns are well documented and continue to shape the area’s identity more than 150 years after his death.
What she didn’t expect was how much she would discover once she started digging deeper.
Over months of research, Johnson found herself learning about Dickens’ campaigning work on housing and education, his childhood jobs, the impact of an 1865 rail crash in Staplehurst, and even the fact that he switched from black to blue ink in the late 1840s.
She also discovered that Dickens enjoyed performing magic tricks at parties.
Those discoveries now form part of a new collection of products created by Johnson’s Designed by Esther studio, including tea towels, magnets, postcards, playing cards and other giftware inspired by Dickens’ life and work.
For Johnson, the project was never intended to be a straightforward celebration of Dickens the author.
“For this design, I wanted to focus on his life as a person,” she says. “Looking at what he liked to drink, or knowing what his favourite flower was, felt like it shaped him as a person, and not really something I had seen before in Dickens’ souvenirs.”
That approach helped shape the collection from the outset.
The familiar Dickens imagery is still there. References to writing, books and the places associated with his life all feature in the designs. But Johnson was equally interested in the details that often sit outside the standard version of Dickens’ story.
“I learnt that he switched from black to blue ink in the late 1840s, which I thought was unusual,” she says.
“There are definitely lots of things I didn’t include, but in some of the postcard designs I have tried to expand on the elements that were big in his life, for example, the rail crash in Staplehurst of 1865.”
The project grew out of another exploration of local history.
“I suppose it was a continuation of the Medway Activity Book that I made back in 2024,” Johnson explains.
The Medway Activity Book combined illustrations, puzzles and local history for children and families. In creating it, Johnson spent considerable time researching the places, people and stories that have shaped the area.
“I really enjoyed learning more about my home town - places I had been on school trips or been taken to with my grandparents,” she says.
The success of the book later led to activity book commissions for Portsmouth Cathedral and Leicester Cathedral, but it also encouraged Johnson to continue exploring historical subjects through illustration.
At the same time, she had been working on a project focused on William Shakespeare.
“I had also been working on a client project featuring the life and work of William Shakespeare, and there are quite a few connections between them both, so it felt like the natural next step,” she says.
“However this time, I was working on it alone.”
What followed was a research process that took Johnson far beyond the handful of Dickens facts most people encounter at school.
“There have been so many surprises,” she says. “I was basically starting from scratch, to be honest. My knowledge of him was fairly basic, which made it all the more fun to work on.”
To build the collection, she attended guided tours, listened to podcasts and spoke with historians, gradually piecing together a fuller picture of Dickens’ life.
The research also took her across many of the places associated with Dickens, from Portsmouth and London to Broadstairs and Higham.
For Johnson, that process of discovery became one of the most rewarding aspects of the project. Rather than beginning as a Dickens expert, she approached the subject with the curiosity of someone trying to understand why a writer who died in 1870 still commands such attention today.
The result is a collection that aims to tell a broader story than Dickens’ novels alone.
By focusing on the details of his daily life, interests, and experiences, Johnson hopes to present a figure who feels more human and relatable than the larger-than-life literary icon many people know.
The collection also represents the latest stage in the growth of Designed by Esther.
Steven Keevil
Since launching the business in 2017 with support from The King’s Trust, Johnson has produced work for more than 60 heritage organisations across the UK. Her clients have included Canterbury Cathedral, Historic Environment Scotland, the Natural History Museum and the House of Commons.
Much of that work has involved finding visual ways to tell historical stories, whether through souvenirs, maps, activity books or illustrations.
Asked whether she has a favourite item in the new Dickens collection, Johnson initially struggles to choose.
“All of them!” If pushed, though, it's the keyring that stands out.
“It’s made from recycled leather up in Ayrshire, Scotland and is a depiction of Dickens’ bookshelf with gold foil detailing on the back.”
The Dickens collection is not quite finished yet. One further product is still to be released, while Johnson is already thinking about where the idea could go next.
“I hope to bring out a Christmas Carol version later on this year - a festive range specifically focused on the story.”
For someone who began the project thinking she knew the Dickens story, there still appears to be plenty left to explore.
The Charles Dickens Collection is available now from Designed By Esther.
Join us for our Open Newsroom
Next week is Indie News Week, a national campaign run by the Public Interest News Foundation highlighting the role independent journalism plays in communities across the country. As part of it, we’re opening up Local Authority for the day on Friday 19 June.
Drop in to meet the team, find out how Local Authority works, tell us about stories we’ve missed, or share issues affecting your area. We’ll be hosting a panel discussion at 11am on the future of independent local news and the challenges facing the sector. We’re also particularly keen to hear from people in Medway’s villages and rural communities who may be interested in helping us strengthen our coverage of those areas.
📅 Friday 19 June - drop in anytime between 10am to 5pm
📍 Sun Pier House, Chatham
🎟️ Free to attend, but please register so we have a sense of numbers
Council matters
Meetings next week:
- Tuesday: Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee will discuss the merger of Medway Community Healthcare with Kent Community Health, changes to IVF provision, and more.
- Thursday: Business Support and Digital Overview and Scrutiny Committee looks at the Climate Change Action Plan, petitions, and debt write-off.
New planning applications:
- New HMO applications for Rainham Road and Trafalgar Street in Gillingham.
In brief
🏰 The new owner of Fort Darnet in the Medway estuary wants to turn it into an events space. Mick Jennings (no relation) has suggested ghost hunts and wellbeing events could be held on the island.
🚗 Medway Council have abandoned plans to introduce a School Streets scheme around King's School in Rochester.
🥘 Homeless charity Medway Street Angels is struggling with increased demand and a drop in donations.
🏥 The team behind Medway Hospital's virtual ward system have won an award after freeing up the equivalent of 54 inpatient beds every month.
Property of the week
This characterful end-of-terrace home in Chatham’s Historic Dockyard is on the market for £350,000 and is doing the Dockyard thing properly, with old bones, high ceilings, period features and the useful sense that you live somewhere with a bit more going on than a standard estate road. It is arranged over three floors, with two bedrooms, an extra reception room that could work as a third bedroom or office, a large loft room, two bathrooms, a utility room and a spacious open-plan kitchen and family area. You also get allocated parking, communal gardens and the slightly surreal pleasure of living inside one of Medway’s main heritage attractions. It is not the cheapest way to buy in the towns, but it is a strong argument for choosing architectural drama over another polite grey box.
Events this week
🎸 Sat 13 Jun - IntraFest // Festival with music, street food, theatre, creative activities, and lots more. Various locations, Chatham. Free.
🛍️ Sat 13 Jun - Art Flea Fair // Indoor market of art, craft, and vintage finds. Sun Pier House, Chatham. Free.
🎲 Sat 13 Jun - Broadside Games Show // Exhibition, market, and wargaming activities. Medway Park, Gillingham. Tickets £4.
Local Authority is now on WhatsApp
We’ve launched a WhatsApp channel for Local Authority, where we’ll share new stories and the occasional major Medway development directly to your phone.
Footnotes
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