Merry Christmas!

Piper Gates Design is primarily a one man concern, however it exists with the help of some very wonderful people. So special festive greetings go to Glyn McPheator, Matt Poynton, David Walker, Nick Rhul, Chris Perkins, Steve Marmite and especially to Sue Thompson without whom none of this would have been possible. Also a big thanks to all the blogs and websites that have featured us and especially to everyone who has comissioned work or bought pieces - thank you very much and a merry christmas to you all!

Saul Music

Two posters comissioned by ace Fence Records popsters Viva Stereo.

What The World Is Waiting For

This years subject of the Piper Gates colouring book treatment is those psychedelic jangly baggy popsters The Stone Roses. The colouring book is A4 in size with a 4 page four colour cover with 16 pages of colouring in fun and is signed and numbered. Available here

My Partner The Ghost

After several requests Piper Gates decided to tackle the wonderful world of Marty and Jeff otherwise known as Randall and Hopkirk: Deceased. This poster set is the first of four of the Piper Gates "cult crimefighting duo sets". To do justice to the subject it was decided to re-visit the world of the marber grid and in particular Penguin's detective novels of the mid 1960s. Particular influence was taken of the great man himself Romek Marber and re-imagined in a more contemporary setting. The set of two 30 x 40 cm posters are available here

Bronson's got to pay

Piper Gates has always loved the movie/ television paperback tie in and pride of place goes to Alan Dean Foster's novelisation of John Carpenter's Dark Star. The mind boggles at how hard it must have been writing that last chapter. Anyhow bearing this in mind (and whilst working on something else) it was decided to create a homage to the classic movie/ television tie in of the 1970s and in particular the genius campfest that was The Tomorrow People.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Slight Reprise)

Piper Gates Design has always been a fan of the movie tie in, in fact 1978 would have been a much poorer year without Star Wars figures. Bearing that in mind the Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy poster from last year has been amended and now released as a 30 x 40 cm (12" x 16" approx) poster to tie in with the movie release. Inspired by the opening titles of the iconic 1979 BBC adaptation this poster features the 'grumpy' Russian Doll rendered in the Swiss Graphic Design style. This is limited to 25 copies and printed on very high quality 200 gram silk paper. Available here

The Meddlers

Still looking into the world of all things 'lost novel' it was decided to recreate the design of a Piccolo television tie in book. With this in mind a decision was taken to 'reissue' the Ace of Wands novel to see what it would look like within this context.

Tarot the diamond man

Continuing the recreation of analogue printing effects in the digital age it was decided to use cult tv favourite Ace Of Wands as the subject for the latest 'lost novel'. Inspiration came from Bruce Robertson's cover for the penguin book 'Scootering' with a hint of the sleeve of Tangerine Dream's Electronic Meditation to create the counter culture occultism of the subject matter. A limited edition of 15 copies signed are available here

Exposed

A set of eight postcards printed on 350 gram silk that comes complete with a holder to keep all these Shado operatives (and one alien) together. Each postcard is designed to look like a 'lost' vintage novel with the influence this time coming from the lithographic look of Penguin and Pan books from the late 1960s and and how the limitations of technology created a certain look. This limited edition set is strictly limited to 30 copies only and is signed and numbered by the artist.

Kill Straker

Piper Gates second print in the 'lost novels' series. Based on the aptly titled UFO episode “Mindbender” This print sees the redoubtable Ed Straker under attack from those pesky aliens by the means of a hallucinogenic rock! The print itself is influenced by Giannetto Coppola’s work for Penguin with a dash of Peter Blake and measures 30cm x 40 cm. This print is a strictly limited edition of 15 copies so get one while you can.

Update: Now available as a limited edition poster set together with the lovely Lt. Gay Ellis available here

Mark Caine

A limited edition print of the mighty Jason King. Based on the classic Jason King episode "Wanna Buy A Television Series" this print sees the world's campest crime solving playboy's novelisation of the Mark Caine adventure "A Face I Used To Know" Now available as a 30 x 40 cm (12" x 16" approx) print on 200 gram paper from here

How to make the mundane interesting: part three

A portfolio of research was re-imagined as a cinema brochure from the 1970s. To coincide with the previous entry it was decided the cover would again be influenced by Jan Tschichold's posters for Phoebus Palast.

Brian

With the exception of Van Dyke Parks there was only one man resposible for SMiLE and that wasn't Mike Love or Al Jardine.

Arrival

After numerous requests the Piper Gates Postcard Set has been adapted to become a set of eight posters measuring 30cm x 40cm (12" x 16" approx).

Delia

Moving away from the marber grid it was decided to explore other avenues of Penguin's innovative cover designs. The result of this is a 500mm x 700mm limited edition print of the very wonderful Delia Derbyshire. This has been released in a limited edition of 45 copies and is signed and numbered by the artist.

UPDATE: Now only available as a signed 30 cm x 40 cm print (12" x 16" approx) from here

Some Velvet Morning

A 500mm x 700mm print of Nancy & Lee in all their glory. Currently unreleased.

Up All Night Part 2

Piper Gates were once again asked to create the cd cover for Going Undeground's latest happening which takes place at Lock 42 on June 4th 2011. Continuing to base the design on Phil Smee's legendary Rubbles series it was decided to visualise the look of the Rubbles series had it been conceptualized by the design department responsible for the Top of the Pops compilation albums of the 1970s.

Garcia

Opening titles and novelisation from "Garcia" the non existent detective series from 1970 starring Larry Graham, Orson Wells and Richard Roundtree.

Julie Andrews

You can't really have Pete without Dud...

Bedazzled Poster

Deciding to revisit Penguin Books and the Marber grid a year after the initial explorations it was decided to investigate the illustrative qualities of some of the Penguin titles particulary the work of Charles Raymond. The result is a limited edition 500mm x 700mm poster numbered and signed by the artist of Peter Cook in his Drimble Wedge & The Vegetations mode.

Going Underground revisited

Piper Gates was very pleased to be asked to design the cover for the free cd to be given away at Going Underground's first allnighter on March 5th 2011 at Lock 42, Leicester. The concept for the cover was to make it a homage to Phil Smee's groundbreaking design work on the Rubbles compilations but with a typical Piper Gates twist re-imagine the Rubble design had it conceptualised by the design department of K-Tel Records in the 1970s.

Prisoner Postcards

The complete set of eight postcards

Number One and Number Two

Number three and Number Four

Number Five and Number Six

Number Seven and Number (Forty) Eight

Postcard Wallet

As a sequel to The Prisoner poster (think Godfather 2 not Jaws 2) a limited edition set of eight postcards has been created. Each postcard represents an iconic moment from the genius that is The Prisoner. The set of eight postcards comes with a wallet to keep all these subversive elements together in their own little village and is signed and numbered by the artist.

How to make the mundane interesting: part two

A Developement Cycle & Creation essay was re-imagined as a twenty page booklet with the cover influenced by Jan Tschichold's posters for Phoebus Palast and the inside being influenced by the layout of Look-in and Jackie magazines from the 1970s.