To create the mural, they teamed up with renowned artist David Shillinglaw, who has his own lively history with the area. In his trademark bright, playful style, David has transformed the market into colourful symbols and forms, each representing a moment, place or person that forms part of the fabric of Camden. The mural also features works by local emerging artists Aaran Sian, Phoebe Swan and Robert Sae-Heng, depicting Camden through their perspectives while honouring the history, music, landmarks and legacy of Camden Market.

David has spent a lot of time in Camden Market, but it’s his artistic background that made him especially suited to this project. He studied fine art, but some of his favourite artists made art in the street, like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Growing up, David was into skateboarding, and some of his friends were graffiti writers. He got involved in the graffiti subculture, painting streets all over the world while developing his practice on canvas and old mattresses. “My work is a mixture of a degree in fine art, an interest and an involvement with graffiti, and my style lends itself well to that,” says David. He’s inspired by board games, maps, hieroglyphs and road signs.

This mural builds on David’s 2014 map-style series “You Are Here”. “I’m very interested in maps and locating yourself and being lost, in your mind and in the street,” says David. For this piece, David sees each section as a bird’s eye view of different parts of Camden. The market has changed since David first visited as a child and spent nights there as a young adult, but he still sees the Camden he knows and loves: “There are little pockets that feel like the Camden I knew growing up. The juggling shop is still there, Cyberdog, and certain shops and bars. There are other bits that have changed a lot,” he says.

Today, Camden Market has gone through some huge upheavals and modernisations, but it still retains the edge that brings visitors flocking to buy unique clothes, shoes, records and other memorabilia. We chatted to David to learn more about the mural, his work and the unique history of Camden.

What’s your relationship with Camden?

I used to hang out in Camden a lot as a teenager. I lived in Barnet, and going to Camden felt like I wasn’t too far from home but was still in Central London. I would walk around the market and I didn’t have any money to buy anything but me and my friends would just hang out. There are different phases of my relationship to Camden because in my mid-20s I was in a band called The Moby Dicks, and we did a bunch of gigs there.

Did you spend much time at the market itself?

Yeah, I loved it. All I could afford at the time was a Transformers t-shirt or a second-hand Levi’s jacket. That was my thing, buying second hand clothes. I’ve still got an old Adidas t-shirt I bought in Camden when I was 15. I was a complete movie buff as a teenager, so my bedroom was full of movie posters that I bought at Camden Market. I remember buying an A1 Pulp Fiction poster, it only cost me £6. I thought A Clockwork Orange was the coolest movie I’d ever seen, so I bought the Italian poster for it too. Both of those movies were banned or out of reach for me, but that made it even more desirable.

What do you like about painting murals on the street?

The thing I really love about it is being outside, because sometimes I do a mural inside and it’s actually really boring and hot. My introduction to painting outside was street art, and even though this is paid and legal, there is something about the energy of using spray paint and brushes and rollers outside on a ladder with people passing by. There’s adrenaline. It’s almost like a sport. The weather gets in the way, it can rain or be really hot or cold. I’ve had all weather this week, but luckily because it’s in an archway we didn’t have to stop. It has this pressure, like a ticking clock. By the end of the day you’re really tired. You’ve been standing up for 12 hours climbing up and down a ladder. You’re so tired doing something that you love, like when you’re tired from playing football or dancing. Painting a mural is like a sport.

Do you get to meet a lot of people when you’re working outside?

Whenever I do a mural there’s always distractions, I always meet people. I chat to everyone, especially kids. If kids stop and they’re looking, if I’m on the cherry picker I’ll wave at them, but if I’m down I’ll give them a postcard or a zine or a sticker. Also, when I do a mural, it’s often the case that someone sees it, follows me on Instagram and gives me some work. It is an advert for me. I just love it. I’m very hyperactive, I’m never able to focus on anything except for making paintings. When I’m in the street and I’ve got people supporting it, that’s like my natural state. It’s like I’m a singer in a band and I’m performing, but it’s not as crazy or chaotic. It’s quite technical. It never gets boring, no matter how many murals I do. That’s saying something, because I get bored of everything else.

How did you come to work on this project with BUILDHOLLYWOOD?

The client came to them with a moodboard, and my work was on it. I have known someone who works there for 15 years, and she asked me if I’d be up for it. I had to come up with a few ideas. They had a list of things they wanted to be illustrated, and I didn’t study illustration, I’m a fine artist. But everyone so often someone asks me to draw something, and I can do it. I really wanted the job because I love Camden and I love getting paid to paint murals. I studied in Central London so I’d get the train via Charing Cross, the Northern Line is my line. I’ve got four decades of history with Camden.

What was your approach to representing Camden with this mural?

There are so many symbols to represent Camden, like a flower for hippie culture. I drew a bottle of wine and a house to represent Amy Winehouse. There are subtle codes in there. There’s a horseshoe, because she had a tattoo of a horseshoe. There’s also microphones and saxophones. There are references to jazz. The whole way through I was throwing these things in, but there were some things I wasn’t allowed to use. There are nods to my mythology with Camden in there too, like snakes because I used to buy pet food for my snake at a really big pet shop there. I feel like I’ve ticked every box and more.