L-R: Owen Philips,Victoria Walmsley, Joe Lee, and Luke Jamesare Bread, new creative collective, who have painted a 100-meter long typographic mural to improve White Post Lane,which leads into the Olympic pak from Hackney Wick.

A run-down area next to the Olympic Park has been given a makeover with a 100m long mural celebrating Hackney Wick’s industrial past.

L-R: Owen Philips, Victoria Walmsley, Jo Lee, and Luke James are Bread, new creative collective, who have painted a 100-meter long typographic mural to improve White Post Lane,which leads into the Olympic pak from Hackney Wick.

Creative art collective Bread, made up of Owen Philips, Victoria Walmsley, Jo Lee and Luke James, were inspired to create the typographic design in White Post Lane because it was such an unwelcoming street to greet visitors disembarking from Hackney Wick train station.

“It was constantly being vandalised and then white-washed over and over again,” said Victoria.

“It’s also an area full of creativity with an interesting past, and we feel that the murals make this more visible, rather than it feeling like a no-man’s land.”

The murals make reference to local landmarks like “The Cut” canal and the “Fridge Mountain” rubbish tip, along with “Parkesine”, a man-made plastic, reportedly invented there, and former Clarnico confectionery company’s “Mint Creams”.

The writing style was inspired by the large-scale, traditional typography on old factory buildings nearby, as well as canal-boat lettering.

The six-month project which received funding from the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) involved various workshops engaging the local community.

“We are really pleased with the response from the public and residents, we’ve had literally hundreds of messages, emails and encouraging comments, we’re really glad that so many others care about Hackney Wick as much as we do,” said Victoria.

“We love areas like in Berlin and Barcelona where graffiti is legal in many places, meaning that street artists create amazing pieces which people come to see, and we would love to see this happen in Hackney Wick.”

For more information see www.the-walls-have-ears.tumblr.com