The Swifty Pop Shop Exhibition

Pioneering typographer, sleeve designer and artist Swifty will be setting up shop at the Sauce Gallery in Birmingham’s Custard Factory from Friday 11th December. Everything from originals and one off prints to T-shirts, skateboards and stickers will be for sale in The Swifty Pop Shop.

The Pop Shop, which is being brought to Birmingham by Sauce Gallery and Punch Records, will feature Swifty’s Newsagents installation. This life size shop front was partly inspired by Peter Blake’s ‘Toy Shop’ and the artist’s fond memories of a local village newsagent in Lancashire. The Shop will also be home to the A-Z of Swifty Show, including pieces based around everything from Action Man to Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout.

The Pop Shop is the latest branch of Swifty’s expansive career. Having studied design at Manchester Polytechnic, at the age of 21 he trained under Neville Brody at The Face magazine. His work at The Face and later Arena led him to be recognised as one of the top new talents in the specialist world of typography.

In 1989 he joined the team at Straight No Chaser, a publication aimed at the jazz, jive and soul community. As art editor he drove the creative style that went on to embody the magazine as a whole. At the same time he established his own font company, Swifty Typograpfix, and spread himself between the magazine and producing fonts, record sleeves, club flyer designs and many other sidelines. Swifty dominated the scene, being the designer of choice for nearly every acid jazz label.

Sauce Gallery curator Amar said:

“Swifty is a design legend whose work cuts across all typography boundaries. Bringing the Pop Shop to Birmingham is a real scoop for the city, and will give visitors a rare opportunity to see many of Swifty’s personal projects first hand.”

The Pop Shop will be open to the public at the Sauce Gallery, 5 The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth from 11th December to 10th January 2009. For more information visit www.myspace.com/saucegallery or www.punch-records.co.uk

For all press enquiries and image requests, please contact Rewired PR:

Ruth Ward

ruth@rewiredpr.com

Sauce Gallery

5. The Custard Factory

Gibb Street

Digbeth

Birmingham

B9 4AA

Email: saucegallery@live.co.uk

Sauce Gallery is located in Birmingham, West Midlands - see map below for driving directions to The Swifty Pop Shop Exhibition event. For more information about The Swifty Pop Shop Exhibition, please contact , see the event details on the left, or check for tickets below.