9 Across is a game played by two designers/journalists, Amy de Wit and Ornella Stocco, who have used a newspaper crossword as the generator for a series of objects. Inspired by the wordplay of George Perec and the Surrealist tradition of parlour games and automatism they began with a set of clues and answers and allowed their imaginations to roam. Sometimes the crossword offered a direct instruction for an object, a material or an action, at other times, a few words were the starting point for an entire story.

De Wit & Stocco met while studying design at London Met and have a shared interest in material and craft. Approaching design in a narrative way, they play with the boundaries of materials, pushing them into new contexts and forms.