Secret 7″
Shh! It’s nearly time once more for Secret 7” – the enigmatic celebration of design, music and art that sees a host of big names create record sleeves anonymously, which are later sold for charity.
The project works in a similar way to the RCA’s Secret postcard project, in that records are sold for a uniform £45 each, with the buyer effectively blind to who created its sleeve.
Seven tracks are chosen, with each pressed to 7” vinyl 100 times. A mixture of invited creatives and those selected through submissions via the project’s website then get working on the look, resulting in 700 unique designs.
This year’s entry deadline is 17 February, and you can find out more about creating a sleeve or submit your designs via the website.
Savvy vinylophiles at last year’s event could have snapped themselves up a sleeve by the likes of David Shrigley, Gilbert & George or Ai WeiWei, and while this year’s designers are either under wraps or still being selected, we’re sure 2014 will boast a similarly impressive line-up.
This year’s, as ever, is an eclectic playlist, featuring Design Week favourites Roxy Music’s Virginia Plain; Black Sabbath’s Age of Reason; Grounds for Divorce by Elbow; Jake Bugg’s Strange Creatures; Team by Lorde; Karmacoma by Massive Attack and Get it On by the stomping fabulous T-Rex.
Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja (3D) says, ‘Like the sleeves that are produced, Secret 7” is a unique project that we’re excited to be a part of. I am looking forward to seeing the various ways our track is interpreted and creating my one-of-a-kind sleeve for the show’.
The venture – a partnership between creative agencies Mother and This is Goodness, The Vinyl Factory and Universal Music – was founded in 2011 by Kevin King and Jordan Stokes. The pair say they were ‘a bit frustrated by our own experience of charity auctions’, and looked ‘to fundraise a bit differently, to create a positive and fun experience for both designers and art fans’.
It certainly seems to have worked – Secret 7” has sold every sleeve it’s exhibited and raised £63,670 to date.
All 700 sleeves will be exhibited from 12 – 13 April at Downstairs At Mother, Biscuit Building, 10 Redchurch Street, London E2
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