Ben Kelly (designer)

Ben Kelly is a British interior designer, who owns interior design firm Ben Kelly Design. He has also won awards for graphic design.

Ben Kelly
Born1949
Appletreewick, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
OccupationInterior designer
Spouse(s)Clare Cumberlidge
Websitebenkellydesign.com

Biography

Ben Kelly grew up in the village of Appletreewick then in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[1] Kelly trained at Lancaster College of Art, from 1964 to 1969 and graduated in Interior Design from the Royal College of Art in 1974.[2] Kelly was awarded the title Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in 2007.[3] Kelly is an Honorary Doctor, and Professor of Interior Design at London's Kingston University.[4] In 2018 Kelly was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Art.[5]

He is cited by The Visual Dictionary of Interior Architecture and Design as a "hugely influential interior designer",[6] and by Kingston University as "one of the UK's most influential interior designers".[7]

Historic England has listed the Kelly designed Haçienda nightclub as one of the 100 Places that tell the remarkable story of England and its impact on the world.[8]

Studio
Kelly's signature black and yellow stripes originated at The Haçienda

In the 1974, manager Malcolm McLaren asked Kelly to refurbish a basement rehearsal room for The Sex Pistols in Denmark Street, London, which McLaren had bought from Badfinger.[9] Kelly had designed the store front for Vivien Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s Seditionaries shop. In 1977 Kelly was also arrested with Westwood and McLaren when police raided The Sex Pistols' legendary Silver Jubilee cruise, organised by Richard Branson to launch the single "God Save the Queen".[10] Kelly was also known at the time by his alter ego "The Photo Kid", and he still uses the name on social media.[11]

Kelly collaborated with Peter Saville on numerous projects who acknowledged basing much of his early work on Kelly's.[12] Kelly and Saville won a Designers and Art Directors Award for the sleeve of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's 1980 self-titled first album.[13]

Ben Kelly is best known for his interior design of The Haçienda in Manchester, which he converted from a yacht showroom in 1982, retaining its red brick facade, inner columns and large iron doors.[14] Kelly was recommended to design The Haçienda by Saville. Kelly also did much other work for Factory Records, including their 1990 company office in Charles Street, Manchester.[15]

In 1995 Kelly designed Peter Saville’s legendary Mayfair apartment in London that was also shared by Meiré und Meiré. The mood and mythologies of that space inspired and informed a shoot with Nick Knight for the July 2009 'Sex' issue of Wallpaper Magazine.[16] Kelly has designed several gyms for Gymbox in London,[6] and is also a furniture designer.[17] Kelly has recently completed a number of collaborations with Virgil Abloh;[18] Josephine Nightclub in Paris,[19] and a DJ touring set that Abloh travels with and debuted at Art Basel Miami.[20]

Influences

On arriving in London in 1971, Kelly was greatly influenced by Kenneth Anger's films and visiting the ‘When Attitudes Become Form’ exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Kelly cites Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp as his two main influences.[21]

Kelly has acknowledged the bright colours, bold lines and disposable aesthetics of Max Clendinning designs, as well as Ralph Adron’s visualisations of Clendinning’s work.[22]

Style

International Orange
(Golden Gate Bridge)
#F04A00

Kelly’s style can be summarised by his description of his dream interior being “A mash up between Andy Warhol's original Silver Studio, Kurt Schwitters’ Merzbau, Adolf Loos’ Kärntner Bar in Vienna and Frank Gehry’s house in LA!”[21]

The design of The Hacienda has been described as post industrial.[23] Peter Saville observed at the time that Punk had levelled the ground and there was a strong feeling that it was a post-revolutionary moment.[24]

The colour International orange which he used in The Hacienda and many subsequent projects, is considered a Kelly signature.[25]

Legacy

Kelly and Saville's work has been referenced numerous times by Raf Simons.[26]

As a tribute to both the anniversary of The Haçienda and the grand opening of the UK’s first Yohji Yamamoto Y-3 exclusive store, a special Adidas FAC51-Y3 model was created in 2007.[27]

Manchester City and Puma's 2019/20 football jersey featured Kelly's signature black and yellow stripes.[28]

Virgil Abloh states, "the diagonal lines of my brand’s logo are very similar to the work of Ben Kelly. My whole thing is very much about urban credibility, I work with people I can share with my generation as it’s an access point for a young kid because the art world is so far off in the distance and protected from them."[29]

The 2002 film 24 Hour Party People tells the stories that centred around The Haçienda, with a reproduction of the club built for the movie.[30]

Vitra Design Museum and ADAM - Brussels Design Museum coproduced the 'Night Fever: Designing Club Culture' exhibition to explore how architecture and interior design merged with sound, light, fashion, graphics and visual effects to create epicentres of pop culture.[31]

References
  1. "Ben Kelly paints the town international orange". Creative Times. 12 March 2010. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  2. "Ben Kelly Jewellery". EigerGallery.com. Archived from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  3. "Current Royal Designers - RSA".
  4. "Professor Ben Kelly".
  5. "Honorary Fellows | Royal College of Art".
  6. Coates, Brooker & Stone 2009, p. 132.
  7. "Mr Ben Kelly". The Faculty of Art, Design & Architecture , Kingston University, London. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  8. "100 Places - Music & Literature".
  9. Matovina 2000, p. 303.
  10. Savage, Jon. "The Sex Pistols' jubilee boat trip – a classic account".
  11. Gorman, Paul. The Life & Times of Malcolm McLaren: The Biography. Hachette.
  12. Shadowplayers, pp. 92-93. "I thought I could just take things from Ben," admits Saville, "like he was a reference book or something. He used to get really mad about it."
  13. Shadowplayers, p. 99.
  14. Hessler 2008, p. 292.
  15. Shadowplayers, pp. 368, 388, 401-402.
  16. "TRANSCRIPT: PETER SAVILLE ON SOFT FURNISHINGS".
  17. Designer. Society of Industrial Artists and Designers. 1987. p. 56.
  18. "Interview: Designer Ben Kelly On His Versatile Practice & Collaborating With Virgil Abloh".
  19. "Typology: Nightclub".
  20. "Designing a Myth".
  21. "BEN KELLY: "THE INTERIOR IS THE ARTWORK!"".
  22. British Design: Tradition and Modernity after 1948. Bloomsbury. 2015. p. 9.
  23. "The Haçienda nightclub voted one of the UK's top historic sites".
  24. Hook, Peter. The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club. Simon & Schuster.
  25. "International Orange: Please Shut the Gate". The Glasgow School of Art.
  26. "How Factory Records inspired decades of fashion".
  27. "The Hacienda 25th Anniversary x Y-3 FAC51-Y3".
  28. "Haçienda designer says Man City away shirt is 'beyond appropriation'". The Guardian.
  29. Obrist, Hans-Ulrich. "What is Virgil Abloh ?". BURO.
  30. "24 Hour Party People (2002)". IMDb.
  31. "Night Fever. A design history of club culture". ADAM - Brussels Design Museum.

Bibliography
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