Royaldesigners

Peter Saville’s practice can be located somewhere between art and design – merging aspects of both. This hybrid position came into being partly through the unprecedented autonomy afforded to him as co-founder and art director of the independent UK record label Factory, where, free to design without approval, he made art in the context of mass production; best exemplified in the series of record sleeves he created for Joy Division and New Order between 1979 – 1993. His radical designs seemed to break all the rules, sometimes omitting information about artists or titles, or employing visual codes, fundamentally questioning modes of consumption and communication. His achievements were celebrated in The Peter Saville Show, Design Museum, London, 2003. His first major show in a contemporary art museum was at the Migros Museum, Zurich, 2005 and he continues to exhibit internationally. His first monograph was published by Frieze, 2003. Saville has three D&AD Silver awards, honorary doctorates from Manchester Metropolitan University and University of the Arts London, and in 2013 he won the London Design Medal. In 2020 he received the honor of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of the cultural impact of his work.