Graphics: Simon Haynes’ designs for City Lights Studio 1972
//Swingtag, printed card, 4" x 2", 1972//
Artist/designer Simon Haynes has allowed me access to some of the treasures in his archive. Over the next few weeks I’ll be dipping into it and presenting a selection of artworks, display items, stage sets and graphics he has created over the years.
//Design on silk swatch for fabric for shop interior fittings, 1972//
//Draft for letterhead, ink on paper, 1972//
//Alternate letterhead draft, ink + poster paints on paper, 1972//
Haynes came to my attention for the ambitious commissions he and his first wife Sue Thompson carried out for the subject of my last book, the late Tommy Roberts. These included furniture, interior decoration and display items such as a giant blue fun-fur gorilla and a 6ft-long mechanical fly with flapping wings for Roberts’ Pop Art/glam boutique Mr Freedom.
The Haynes went on to produced a stunning stage set for Kilburn & The High Roads during Roberts’ mid-70s stewardship of Ian Dury’s art-rock group, and Simon Haynes made several large scale window displays for Roberts’ 80s post-modern hardware store Practical Styling.
I’ll return to those and other projects in due course; today I’m presenting Haynes’ post-modern graphics for the boutique City Lights Studio, which Roberts opened with partner Willy Daly in Covent Garden in November 1972.
//Interior, City Lights Studio, 54 Shorts Gardens, London WC2, 1972. Photo: Jeffrey Pine//
// Lorraine Piggott + Sharon Horsley of City Lights Studio at Haynes' London flat, 1972. Photo: Simon Haynes//
//Marrion Womble models City Lights menswear by Derek Morton, 1973. Photo: Herb Schmitz//
//Boutique label designed by Simon Haynes. Photo: Lloyd Johnson Collection//
//Left: David Bowie in City Lights suit. Back cover detail and LP inner, Pin Ups, 1973. Photos: Mick Rock//
City Lights represented Roberts’ rejection of the Mr Freedom/Pop aesthetic in favour of darkly glam sophistication, with pre-WWII inspired tailoring and eclectic accessories provided by a team of extremely talented young designers – many fresh from London’s Royal College Of Art – including Sharon Horsley, Ronnie Melia, Derek Morton, Lorraine Piggott, Malcolm “Percy” Raines, Nicky Rea and John Yong.
//Above: Artwork for label and carrier bag designs, ink on paper, 1972//
The shop interior, in the atelier space above what was still a fully functioning fruit and vegetable market, was designed by Andrew Greaves and Jeffrey Pine. “It all required a light touch; restraint was the discipline,” Roberts told me.
Like Greaves and Pine, Haynes was given an open brief to communicate a romantic mood via the boutique’s graphic identity, which he realised through the recasting of early 20th century British Modernist printmaking in a contemporary context.
“Bless Tommy, he was a gift from heaven, wonderful to work with,” said Haynes when we met last week in the west London apartment/studio where he carried out many of the original commissions. “He had the ability to convey exactly what he wanted, yet at the same time gave you free rein because he trusted you to deliver the goods.”
//Letterhead, 1972//
For the Eros statue base letterhead, Haynes took inspiration from 30s London Underground advertising: “Tommy was always keen to play up the London angle,” says Haynes. “I remember I put a lot of effort into it; Tommy was particularly pleased with the perspective.”
Buy Mr Freedom – Tommy Roberts: British Design Hero here.
Watch out for more posts on Haynes’ work soon.