I was invited to see Manchester-born graphic designer, Peter Saville, in conversation. His portfolio of work spans decades and has been very influential in music, fashion and now municipalities, yet I hadn't heard of him before watching the documentary "Shadowplayers" this month at a
Cinefamily event. But, everyone
else knows him...I found a good bio of him at the
Design Museum which exhibited his work in 2006.
Digging around I found that Creative Review
interviewed Saville in 2007 to discuss his seminal graphic designs for progressive Brit electronica and pop groups like New Order, Joy Division, Pulp and Suede.
In LA, during his hour-long interview, Saville was honest, funny and irreverent about life, Los Angeles and his new role as Creative Director for the City of Manchester. A classic quote when he was asked if he liked LA, "...
I like LA more when I have a ticket out!" He was encouraged by the laughs and continued, "LA has its beautiful areas but mostly it's ugly..."
Fashion victim When asked to describe his work for fashion designers he could barely disguise his disdain. "
I was working on Stella McCartney's first perfume line and was sat quietly at the back of the room...Stella asked me 'if I was interested in the project?' I said 'Not really'..." This led Saville to offer some career advice too, "
You won't ever be rich following your passion, but if you don't love what you do, why do it?"
Still in the fashion world he then got stuck into today's handbag culture, "
When we used to do photoshoots we only ever did handbags if we had a few minutes spare at the end! When did fashion move away from the body to handbags?!" He paused and then mimicked women shoppers who have just found a new darling handbag: he grabbed an invisible handbag and slowly lifted it in a circular movement and hissed, "
Yessssss!"
New contacts I met the marketing manager for Marketing Manchester at the event. She said I couldn't take my tea and cake into the theater, so I bagged the cake..."
no nibbling", she said! Saville's logo is on her business card and he's the man behind the new city slogan "Original Modern" which is a focus on the future and not the Manchester of the past.
You can read some more on this
NME blog from LA.
Labels: Factory Records, Joy Division, Los Angeles, Manchester, Peter Saville, Tony Wilson, UK