FUEL Design

The FUEL design group handles commercial commissions specializing in the fields of art, fashion, and music. The group was founded in 1991 by Stephen Sorrell, Damon Murray and Peter Miles (who left the group in 2004).

History

The founder members of FUEL all studied graphic design at the Royal College of Art. They first worked together on their magazine also entitled FUEL which was initially produced at the college. Containing ambiguous and thought provoking messages, these bold graphic statements served as a developing manifesto. After leaving the RCA they set up a studio in Spitalfields, east London. Pure Fuel and Fuel 3000 followed. Far from being monographs these books examined the accepted notions of graphic design, illustrating ideas and preoccupations, as well as exploring themes of authorship.

Works

In addition to commercial art, music, and fashion, the FUEL group has also worked with moving image, receiving awards for both their commercial and experimental digital work in this field. They also created the title sequences for Nick Cave's The Proposition, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation and Samantha Morton's The Unloved. They are known for producing books and catalogues, working closely with artists – in particular Tracey Emin and Jake and Dinos Chapman.

In 2006, they were asked to produce a 60th anniversary Penguin Designer Classic (Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky) alongside Paul Smith, Sam Taylor-Wood, Ron Arad and Manolo Blahnik.

In 2009 FUEL purchased the archive of 600 original tattoo drawings by Danzig Baldaev from his widow, and in November 2010 FUEL curated and held the Russian Criminal Tattoo Exhibition ([1] details). The exhibition consisted of works taken from the The Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia series, which were shown for the first time. It comprised 132 original drawings by Danzig Baldaev, and 16 photographic prints by Sergei Vasiliev.

Publishing

In 2005, FUEL Publishing was formed within the group. Concentrating on books concerned with visual culture, their approach to publishing involves close collaboration with authors over content. Their broad range of distinctive books have been critically acclaimed. In 2005 The Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia won a D&AD award for book design, and in 2010 the three volume boxed set of the Encyclopaedia was acquired by the Design Museum in London as part of its permanent collection. These books were also used as inspiration and reference by director David Cronenberg in his 2007 film Eastern Promises.

Books published by FUEL publishing include:

• Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia, Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev (London: Steidl/FUEL, 2004)
• Fleur. Plant Portraits by Fleur Olby (London: FUEL, 2005)
• The Music Library, Jonny Trunk (London: FUEL, 2005)
• Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume II, Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev (London: FUEL, 2006)
• Home-Made. Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts, Vladimir Arkhipov (London: FUEL, 2006)
• Ideas Have Legs, Ian McMillan and Andy Martin (London: FUEL, 2006)
• Match Day, Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne) and Paul Kelly (London: FUEL, 2006)
• BibliOdyssey, P.K. (London: FUEL, 2007)
• Notes from Russia, Alexei Plutser-Sarno (London: FUEL, 2007)
• Crime, Alix Lambert (London: FUEL, 2008)
• Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume III, Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev (London: FUEL, 2008)
• The Marriage of Reason & Squalor, Jake Chapman (London: FUEL, 2008)
• A Process Revealed / Auf Dem Holzweg, Henrietta Thompson (London: FUEL, 2009)
• Spirit: Garden Inspiration, Dan Pearson (London: FUEL, 2009)
• Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I, Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev (London: FUEL, 2009)
• Memoirs of My Writer’s Block, Jake Chapman (London: FUEL, 2010)
• Dressing for Pleasure, Jonny Trunk (London: FUEL, 2010)
• Drawings from the Gulag, Danzig Baldaev (London: FUEL, 2010)
• James White, Paintings, Martin Herbert and Jeremy Millar (London: FUEL, 2011)
• Own Label, Jonny Trunk, Emily King (London: FUEL, 2011)
• INTROSPASTIC: From the Blackened Beyond, Jake Chapman (London: FUEL and White Cube, 2011)
• They Teach Us Nothing, Dinos Chapman (London: FUEL and White Cube, 2011)
• Home-Made Europe: Contemporary Folk Artifacts, Vladimir Arkhipov (London: FUEL, 2012)

Books of FUEL's work

• Pure FUEL (London: Booth Clibborn Editions, 1996)
• Fuel 3000 (London: Laurence King, 2000)

External links

• Official website
• FUEL profile and interview at the Design Museum website
• FUEL Penguin Classic in The Guardian
• FUEL talk about their version of Crime and Punishment in the Guardian
• FUEL publishing on Design Observer
• FUEL and Alix Lambert talk about Crime
• FUEL talk about their Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia series in the St. Petersburg Times
• FUEL interview on the website of Russian cultural magazine Snob
• Review of FUELs Russian Criminal Tattoo Exhibition in The Guardian
• Review of FUELs Russian Criminal Tattoo Exhibition on Design Observer
• Review of FUELs Russian Criminal Tattoo Exhibition in Time Out
• Review of FUELs Drawings from the Gluag in The Moscow Times