Design Grad Illustrates Highs and Lows of Flatting

Talented Design Grad Graphically Illustrates the Highs and Lows of Flatting

Seven men and two women in a seven-bedroom flat; two women in a two-bedroom flat; five women in a one-bedroom flat (truly) - Lauren Earl has survived it all. 

Now she's putting her experiences out there in a very funny book, Flatter's Survival Guide, which has already been nominated for two top design awards.  

Twenty-three-year-old Earl wrote and designed Flatter's Survival Guide as her major project as a student at Massey University School of Design. It was quickly snatched up by publisher Awa Press, and will be released as a Whitcoulls' exclusive in November.

Massey University loved the book so much it entered it in the NZ Best Design Awards and the international Red Dot Design Award. 

Flatter's Survival Guide combines practical information on things such as rental agreements and flat finances with illustrations of situations all flatters will recognise: in Earl's words, "People not doing their dishes, passive-aggressive notes, sky-rocketing power bills, late rent payments, chronic stoners, rubbish never taken out, parties during exams, holes in walls, mouldy clothes, missing shampoo."

On one occasion Earl moved to Melbourne for four months, where she and four other women crammed into a one-bedroom apartment. "Our rent was very high so we figured the more people we could squeeze into the place, the cheaper it would be. We placed mattresses around the floor - including the hallway and kitchen. Over the Christmas period some of my flatmates thought it would be nice to have seven of their Kiwi guy mates stay for a couple of weeks..."

ENDS

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