'Smith has a great eye for finding amusing or beautiful things in unexpected places ... He loves to share what he finds. It's what makes him not just a great designer but unfailingly good company.' – Deyan Sudjic

'Paul Smith demonstrates that inspiration is all around us, that humble everyday objects can often provide clues for potent visual ideas.'   Jim Davies, in True Brit

This limited-edition book of photographs by Sir Paul Smith, the most successful fashion designer in British history, and his late father, Harold Smith, is an attractive and collectible prelude to a major book by Paul Smith (with text by science fiction writer William Gibson) published by Violette Editions in 2001. Pocket-sized and bound as an unusual two-volume paperback, Father + Son reproduces personal photographs by a father and son who shared strong affinities in work and play. In its own small way, this book sums up the humour and acute observation which Paul Smith has brought uniquely to British design. No other British designer has so successfully combined commercial astuteness with wit, originality and the highest standards of craftsmanship.

Paul Smith says:
'My father, Harold Smith, by profession a credit draper in Nottingham, was a passionate amateur photographer and a co-founder of the Beeston Camera Club. When he wasn't supplying clothes and household goods direct to people's homes, he thought about composition, light, witty juxtapositions, experiment – not only taking photographs but also developing and printing all his own work in his home-made attic darkroom. In contrast, my snaps with an instant camera are about observation, humour and the "caught moment". Very different from my father's photographs, but, oddly, strongly similar. What a pair!'

Harold Smith (1903–1998) was a credit draper in Nottingham, England, and a co-founder of the Beeston Camera Club. He won many awards in photographic competitions in and around his home town of Nottingham.

Sir Paul Smith (b. 1946) is a multi-award-winning designer who works in a variety of media and is best known for his menswear collections. He was knighted in 2000 for services to fashion design and in 2007 he was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Forty years after opening his first
shop, Paul Smith has expanded to a global brand of 13 different collections, with stores in New York, Tokyo, Cape Town, Moscow, Dubai and throughout Europe, each of which is individually designed to suit its location. His designs have been the subject of exhibitions including True Brit at the Design Museum, London, which toured Europe and Japan, and Observations at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.