Shop magazine covers at Kemistry Gallery

This week sees the opening of an exhibition of Shop magazine covers, with artwork from illustrators including Pietari Posti, The Heads Of State, Nathalie Lees and Adrian Johnson.

Retail magazine Shop is art directed by Studio 8, and editions from some of the 28 countries in which it is sold – each of which have different covers – will appear.

The bi-annual publication, which launched in 2005, is owned by retailer services company Global Blue, and focuses on tourism shopping. it is distributed in five-star hotels including The Berkeley, as well as on airlines.

The show, which opens at London’s Kemistry Gallery today, will present 38 cover images, prints of which are being sold here to raise money for Kids Company, from different international editions.

Tom Pollard, junior designer, at Studio 8, says that when the consultancy commissions illustrators, a sense that they will work closely to the brief is key. Last season, he says, their brief was to create an image that was clever, and able to convey an idea, but also that tied closely into the idea of fashion.

He says, ‘[The covers] are usually a combination of something of the city and the culture and working that towards a fashion direction.’

The work on show is hugely diverse – from the cute primary-coloured buildings of Nathalie Lees’ cover for the Copenhagen edition; to the opulent gold and black image for Istanbul, by Pietari Posti; to the clever building on a watch graphic created by The Heads of State for the Singapore edition.

We love the clever suggestion of the Tube map colours created by Adrian Johnson for the London edition, which form the multicoloured laces on top of a smart brogue image. Johnson also marries London with footwear in another of his covers – which sees the iconic London red telephone box become a display cabinet for shoes and handbags.

Shop Magazine Cover Illustrations runs from 21-26 November at Kemistry Gallery, 43 Charlotte Road, London EC2A