(1955 - )
One of the UK’s most influential graphic designers, Peter Saville designed album covers for Manchester’s Factory Records artists such as Joy Division and New Order in the 1980s. He has also worked in the fashion industry for, amongst others, Alexander McQueen and Dior. In 2004 Saville became Creative Director of the City of Manchester and, in 2010, he designed the England Football team home shirt. His first contemporary art exhibition was in 2005 in Milan.
Saville collaborates with the photographer, Anna Blessman. They met each other in 2001 in Berlin, became a couple and have made work together since. Their recent work has invited interaction and participation through tactile installations that speak directly to the audience. For their exhibition Swing Project 3 at the Cabinet Gallery in Vauxhall, London in 2014, for example, you were urged to touch and fondle colourful fake fur forms sitting on plinths. In another piece, Leaning Works (prototype), two soft structures were presented that allowed you rest your back when leaning on the wall (perhaps chatting at the opening, a glass of wine in hand).
