PETER SAVILLE RESVISITED
The legendary Factory Records may have been a dream long lost, but its legacy lives on in the form of the endless tributes to Joy Division, the late Tony Wilson, and the man behind its art, Peter Saville.

Most would have imagined Saville’s overall style to be dark simply because of his early association to Factory Records (as its co-founder and art director), and his modernist symbolism interpretations for the album covers of bands like Joy Division and OMD – that would mostly prove to be melancholic. A turn in the 90’s, after a bad spate of failed design ventures and Factory’s demise, allowed Saville to cater to a new generation of musicians who were visually sophisticated and who revered his signatory work as youth. Better still, they could now become clients. The rise of Britpop, with its brighter overtones, gave him a chance to create for bands like Pulp and Suede, and opened doors for him into the fashion world, where his creative direction extended to advertising campaigns for John Galliano at Christian Dior, Givenchy and Stella McCartney.

Inspired by the overwhelming reception from a new generation of audience that was artistic, Saville was able to feed on that energy and work on several personal projects that included his ongoing series of Waste Paintings, the nomadic The Peter Saville Show, and SHOWstudio, an online gallery of fashion, art and design projects in which he co-founded with long-time friend and photographer Nick Knight. In the backroom, he also provided a wealth of material for creative cats to feed on – Belgian fashion designer, Raf Simons, was able to dig deep into Saville’s archives of vintage Factory projects and integrate them into his Autumn/Winter 2003/2004 collection, themed “Closer”. Other auteurs who have made magic with Saville’s work include Jun Takahashi of Undercover.

Today, Peter Saville is the creative director of Manchester (UK), and consults for the City Council whilst maintaining pole position as an influential creative visionary. The man’s work is still recycled in many different interpretations of art across various scenes and he still selectively designs record sleeves for bands like New Order.

www.petersaville.com

Text: Wayne Lee
Images: Various Sources & Studio Parris Wakefield