//Janette Beckman’s 1980 image of Jerry Dammers of The Specials is included with documentary and portrait photography by the likes of Jane Bown, Bill Brandt,  Ian Macdonald, Colin O’Brien, Martin Parr and Jo Spence//

Curated by Christopher Bailey, creative director of sponsoring fashion brand Burberry, with Lucy Kumara Moore of bookshop Claire de Rouen and fashion/documentary photographer Alasdair McLellan, the exhibition Here We Are considers Britishness at this crucial juncture in our economic, political and social history.

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Tags: Bill Brandt, Brian Griffin, Chris Steele-Perkins, Christopher Bailey, Claire de Rouen, Colin O'Brien, Copyright 1978, Daffyd Jones, Daniel Meadows, Danny Reed, Gosha Rubchinskiy, Homer Sykes, Ian MacDonald, Jane Bown, Janette Beckman, Jerry Dammers, Jo Spence, Lucy Kumara Moore, Mark Stewart, Martin Parr, Paint Your Windows White, Power, Roger Mayne, Tessa Traeger, The Old Session House, The Pop Group

//Lynam – just about visible on the right – talks through the extraordinary sleeve design and packaging for Armed Forces, the 1979 album by Elvis Costello & The Attractions//

A film of last month’s celebration of design hero Barney Bubbles by American graphic designer Ian Lynam is now available to view online.

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Tags: Armed Forces, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Hawkwind, Ian Lynam, Let It Rock, Nick Lowe, The AC/DC Desk, Vermont College Of Fine Arts

// 5 x Barney Bubbles designs, 1981/2. Photo above: Nina Sologubenko//

Last week I had an exciting encounter with the rare and adventurous furniture designs produced by the late graphics master Barney Bubbles in the early 80s.

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Tags: Dave Fudger, Marius Cain, Memphis, Nina Sologubenko, Paul Jones, Paul Smith, Practical Styling, Thames & Hudson, Tommy Roberts

//Olympia Le-Tan handbag based on artwork for The Damned's 1977 LP Music For Pleasure, with promotional t-shirt for Fred Burns' documentary Johnny Moped Basically using 1978 lightbulb design//

So potent is the creative legacy of the graphic design master Barney Bubbles – who died on this day 30 years ago – that he is continually cited as an inspiration by contemporary visual communicators, while his name and work is attached to all manner of endeavours.

Recently, Bubbles artworks were chosen by the French fashionista Olympia Le-Tan to lead her exclusive collection of handbags. Meantime Tokyo lifestyle label retaW has named a range of fragrance products “Barney*” in celebration of “the many album covers he was responsible for in the 70s and 80s”.

//Barney* products named after Bubbles by Japanese lifestyle company retaW//

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Tags: (I Love The Sound Of) Breaking Glass, Basically Johnny Moped, Blockhead logo, Brian Griffin, Chalkie Davies, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, Fred Burns, Ian Dury, Imperial Bedroom, Music For Pleasure, New Kids On The Block, Nick Lowe, Olympia-Le-Tan, retaW, Royal Photographic Society, Spasticus Autisticus, The Damned, The Photographers' Gallery

//Selection of poster prints Graham Wood made for Magick Is Freedom! (After Barney Bubbles)//

Best known as one of the founders of British design collective Tomato, Graham Wood chose a 1968 poster for underground magazine Oz as the wellspring for a series of 24 poster prints.

I corresponded with Wood about the ways in which the original artwork- made by Barney Bubbles and his 60s design partner David Wills with a team of contributors – sparked inspiration for the two dozen A0-size posters, which were exhibited in Stockholm in November 2012.

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Tags: David Wills, Do It Yourself, Existence Is Unhappiness, Graham Wood, Hawkwind, In Search Of Space, malcolm Garrett, My Aim Is True, neville Brody, New Boots & Panties!!, Oz, Peter Saville, Scarlett Gallery, Tomato, Vaughan Oliver

//7in sq paper sleeve, front: Screwed Up, Mick Farren, Stiff Records, 1977//

//7in sq paper sleeve, back: Screwed Up, Mick Farren, Stiff Records, 1977//

This is the sleeve designed by Barney Bubbles – would have been 71 today – for Screwed Up, the 1977 EP by the rabble-rousing writer and performer Mick Farren, who died at the weekend after collapsing onstage during a performance with his band The Deviants of their poem/song Cocaine & Gunpowder.

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Tags: 1977, Mick Farren, Screwed Up, Stiff Records

//Dany Bubbles, 1963-66. Pencil and acrylic, 29" x 20" (framed)//

I sourced one of the paintings which is in More Than Fair, the exhibition of Ian Dury’s artworks which opens at his alma mater, London’s Royal College of Art, next month.

Dury gave the ultra-Pop Dany Bubbles to his friend and designer Barney Bubbles in the late 70s during their spell of collaboration which resulted in a series of triumphs: single sleeves such as Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, What A Waste and Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, the 28 wallpaper covers of the album Do It Yourself, the Blockhead logo…

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Tags: Blockhead logo, Do It Yourself, Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, Ian Dury, Jemima Dury, Jules Balme, Kosmo Vinyl, London Life, Royal College Of Art, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Tony Bennett, What A Waste, Will Birch

Read the story behind this obscure record sleeve design – for a single which failed to dent the Top 75 on release 30 years ago – over on the Barney Bubbles Blog.

TAGS: None

//Marque, Barney Bubbles, 1969.//

I interviewed the restaurateur and fine food champion Justin de Blank – who died last month aged 85 – for Reasons To Be Cheerful; de Blank recognised Barney Bubbles’ design talents when the pair met at the Conran Group’s design studio in the 60s.

//Justin de Blank, mid 70s. Courtesy Melanie de Blank.//

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Tags: 1969, Conran Group, Justin de Blank, Robert Troop

Signed copies from a selection of my work are now available from this site – click on the button in the right-hand column or select SHOP from the menu at the top of the page.

At the moment you can buy:

• Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero

• Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Life & Work Of Barney Bubbles

• In Their Own Write: Adventures In The Music Press (now out of print)

• The Look Of London (the new map collaboration with Herb Lester Associates)

From time to time I’ll also be making available signed copies of other out of print work, including my book with Goldie, Nine Lives (£9 inc P+P), and the increasingly rare second edition of The Look Adventures In Rock & Pop Fashion (£45 inc P+P).

Inquire here about these titles and for purchases outside the UK.

TAGS: None