Left: Peter Erftemeijer received a CiB award for a brochure for Orbital Sound in 2001.
Right: while we work mostly remote, John Ashworth and Peter Erftemeijer do meet up, here in the Canterbury studio, in 2021.
SOME OF THE TALENT THAT MADE MOT JUSTE
Peter Erftemeijer has been and is the constant factor in Mot Juste! The company has seen many transformations with fascinating, clever and creative partners joining my journey. What you see on the left is but a sample of these people who made it happen. Thank you all!
With one large client putting its trust in the newly formed Mot Juste (thank you Firestone…), John Thrupp and Peter Erftemeijer attracted more clients who put their trust in the company to provide design and writing services. John, the linguist and writer, Peter the graphic designer with a background in publications. Firestone’s business expanded to full-blown PR services, concentrating on production saloon car racing and product promotions.
Forward 10 years and the company split into two businesses. Mot Juste continued with Peter and Corey Koch as directors. Local authorities such as Hounslow, Sutton and Westminster started noticing Mot Juste for its residents’ publications. More recently, Corey moved to France to concentrate on property sales and development.
Assisted by writers such as Emma Sterland, Mary Salmon and Manya McMahon, we worked our way through the Shires and beyond: Milton Keynes, North Norfolk, Rushmoor and Winchester. Then, town centre management became the buzzword and together with Natalie Wheeler we developed a series of guides for South London’s high streets and town centres.
Not all subjects lend themselves for photography. This is where we partnered with illustrators such as Tony Matthews for an informative or comical take on the subject.
From location photography for educational establishments and manufacturing plants to studio photography, Robert Hall was our partner for photography. For a while we even shared studios in South London.
Mot Juste created a name for itself in writing and publishing books on staff management for global recruiter, Randstad. For markets as diverse as the UK, France, Australia and Singapore we researched and wrote employment guides with the help of local experts such as Louise Birkett, John Morgan in the UK, Kati McKeon in Australia; Karina Ward in Singapore; Steve Doswell and Béatrice Laroche in France.
John Ashworth has been writing with and for Mot Juste for a very long time. Setting the standard for our writing, John is the ‘editorial’ in editorial design.
Publishing books is a more recent development. We collaborated with professor Nana Araba Apt on a number of current affairs and academic books and publications.
Continuing with the West African theme, Mot Juste published two titles with the help of Marian Horowitz and professor Richard Douglass: ‘African Dance in Ghana’ and ‘Field Spirits of the Fante’.
Work experience has always been a source of fresh ideas and interesting conversations. From Brazil we were joined by Marcio Koprowski who taught us much about digital image manipulation besides Photoshop. Sean Wijesiri quickly made himself liked by clients and introduced humour and good design before starting a career in corporate publishing. We also welcomed many US students through the CAPA study-abroad programme.