Ewan Clayton is a calligrapher, teacher and writer. as well as a certified Somatic coach and body-worker (Strozzi Institute). He grew up near the village of Ditchling, Sussex, home to the calligrapher Edward Johnston. His family worked as weavers in the Guild of craftsmen on Ditchling Common founded in 1920 by Eric Gill and the printer Hilary Pepler. Ewan was a member of the Guild until it closed in 1988. He trained as a calligrapher at the Roehampton Institute with Ann Camp and assisted her with the teaching there. In the mid 1980s Ewan lived as a Benedictine monk at Worth Abbey in Sussex. After leaving the monastery he was hired as a consultant to Xerox's Palo Alto Research Laboratory (PARC).
Today Ewan is Professor in Design at the University of Sunderland and a core member of staff at The Royal Drawing School. He is a visiting lecturer in calligraphy to the type courses at the University of Reading and The Cooper Union, New York City.
Ewan was awarded an MBE in the 2014 reflecting his work for various charities particularly the The Heritage Crafts Association, The Crafts Study Centre, The Pakistan Islamic Arts Institute in Lahore, The Irene Wellington Educational Trust, the prison arts charity The Koestler Trust. Also in 2014 Ewan was awarded the first Karlgeorg Hoefer Prize, by the Schreibwerkstatt Klingspor Offenbach on the 100th anniversary of Karlgeorg Hoefer's birth. Ewan is certified as a somatic coach by the Strozzi Institute in California. His most recent work was as academic advisor to The British Library's 'Writing: Making your Mark' an exhibition that explored 5000 years of writing from hieroglyphs to emojis, he also edited the exhibition catalogue.
Today Ewan is Professor in Design at the University of Sunderland and a core member of staff at The Royal Drawing School. He is a visiting lecturer in calligraphy to the type courses at the University of Reading and The Cooper Union, New York City.
Ewan was awarded an MBE in the 2014 reflecting his work for various charities particularly the The Heritage Crafts Association, The Crafts Study Centre, The Pakistan Islamic Arts Institute in Lahore, The Irene Wellington Educational Trust, the prison arts charity The Koestler Trust. Also in 2014 Ewan was awarded the first Karlgeorg Hoefer Prize, by the Schreibwerkstatt Klingspor Offenbach on the 100th anniversary of Karlgeorg Hoefer's birth. Ewan is certified as a somatic coach by the Strozzi Institute in California. His most recent work was as academic advisor to The British Library's 'Writing: Making your Mark' an exhibition that explored 5000 years of writing from hieroglyphs to emojis, he also edited the exhibition catalogue.