THE ongoing Great Exhibition of the North may be centred on Newcastle and Gateshead, but the influence of the Tyne Valley can certainly be found in some of the exhibits.

Nowhere is this more the case than a year-long exhibition at Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books in the Ouseburn, that focuses on the work of award- winning North-East writer David Almond, entitled Where your wings were... Journeys with David Almond.

Aside from Almond’s connections with Tynedale – he lived in Humshaugh for many years and his daughter attended Hexham’s Queen Elizabeth High School – the exhibition was designed and installed by Wall-based studio Jardine Couture.

The exhibition, which is the first to be based on Almond’s work, gives visitors the chance to see the North-East through Almond’s eyes, enabling them to understand where the author found his inspiration for stories such as Skellig and My Dad’s a Birdman.

Jardine Couture’s Ben Couture, who is also an interior architecture lecturer at Northumbria University, explained that the project was one he and his team were proud of.

Ben said: “I’m very proud of it, it’s one that we were keen to get straight up on the website, always talk about and talk about proudly in interviews for other projects.

“It was quite a big project to work on; this was one that got us excited because we were quite surprised to get it. We’ve tried to work with Seven Stories in the past and never quite got the projects, because we don’t really have the experience of working with young children.

“Seven Stories normally has a target audience of very young children, but the target audience for David Almond is more seven to 15 year olds, so we were in a good place to get it.”

The exhibition contains items from David Almond’s personal collection on display for the first time, including notes and initial concepts for his breakthrough novel Skellig.

Annontated manuscripts and final drafts are also featured, as well as notebooks featuring plot lines and ideas for some of Almond’s other novels.

Describing the exhibition, Ben added: “The start of the process was trying to familiarise myself with David’s work and the themes he uses.

“There are a lot of dark, heavy themes in there, so we wanted something that allowed the themes to come across, without being too dark.

“Material exhibition design can be a bit literal – just sticking it all up on a wall, which doesn’t make for a particularly interesting exhibit.

“But our design uses intrigue and engagement as devices to encourage learning, taking heavy influence from the themes within Almond’s work.

“We’ll be taking a multi-sensory approach, introducing light, sound, touch, smell and animated imagery based around fear, joy, freedom and wilderness.

“We’ll be showcasing original artifacts and writings from the author in a beautifully-lit ‘hidden’ gallery and there will also be the opportunity to encounter the spirit of Skellig, as well as holograms and a wild river experience.

“It’s a really immersive experience for Great Exhibition of the North visitors to enjoy.”

The project team was made up of Ben and six others, including Hexham-based junior designer James Battye, who graduated from Northumbria University’s interior architecture course last year.

A visit from David Almond to the Sele School when James was a pupil there meant he had a good understanding of the author’s work, which proved valuable as the exhibition progressed.

Ben continued: “I had heard of books like Skellig and My Name is Mina, and I got reacquainted with David’s work. But James had an experience with David when he was in school, and that was a big advantage for us; it was very helpful.

“I think for James to work on something like that all through the process, and on site as well, is unusual for someone of his experience, and it will hold him in good stead.”

The exhibition opened in June, as part of the Great Exhibition of the North, and will run throughout the year.

It is accompanied by the Winged Tales of the North trail in the Ouseburn Valley, which showcases street art inspired by David’s work.