Talk about a dream brief. To compose a poetic stream-of-consciousness about the urge to write. That’s what Alan Aboud asked Jim to produce for the launch of Story, a new men’s fragrance in a book-shaped bottle by Paul Smith

The words, painstakingly retyped on one of Paul’s ancient Olivetti machines, were overlayered on to photographs of a bespectacled young man, representing ‘the writer’ and his thoughts. Jim drew on his own personal experiences and referenced the George Orwell essay ‘Why I Write’, adopting an expressionistic, free-flowing style. 

The words appear on advertising, POS packaging and carrier bags. You’ll only be able to read snatches of Jim’s work on these items because the words have been artfully laid over each other – unless, that is, you visit www.paulsmithstory.com, where they have been reproduced in full.