FUEL

Following the critically acclaimed first volume, Vladimir Arkhipov has travelled across Europe to further his collection for this essential second volume. The objects he has found are made by everyday people inspired by the desire to create something themselves rather than buying manufactured goods. ­­The book suggests that many of these utilitarian objects transcend the dictates of necessity, and that this passion for the home-made is not simply a consequence of hard times.

Featured among the 220 idiosyncratic objects are: a ski-bob made using an old bicycle frame from Austria; a titanium table tennis ball case from Russia; and a canoe outrigger constructed out of plumbing pipes from Wales. Other countries include Albania, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine. Each item is accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story behind the object, its function, and the materials used to create it.

With a foreword by Jeremy Deller, Turner Prize winner 2004.

In 1962, when Peter Dixon joined the Sainsbury’s Design Studio, a remarkable revolution in packaging design began. The supermarket was developing its distinctive range of Own Label products, and Dixon’s designs for the line were revolutionary: simple, stripped down, creative, and completely different from what had gone before. Their striking modernity pushed the boundaries, reflecting a period full of optimism. They also helped build Sainsbury’s into a brand giant, the first real ‘super’ market of the time. This book examines and celebrates this paradigm shift that redefined packaging design, and led to the creation of some of the most original packaging ever seen.

Produced in collaboration with the Sainsbury family and The Sainsbury Archive, the book reveals an astonishing and exhaustive body of work. A unique insight into what and how we ate, the packaging is presented using both scanned original flat packets and photographic records made at the time. With an essay by Emily King featuring interviews with Peter Dixon and Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover.

Featuring 22 pencil drawings by Dinos Chapman made on pages torn from children’s dot-to-dot colouring books. Created as part of the exhibition Jake or Dinos Chapman, in which the artists worked separately to produce a series of works in isolation from each other.

The book is made using brown craft paper. The artworks are printed actual size on matt white paper, and bound in as inserts. A cloth covered hardback with gold foil blocking.

Co-published with White Cube in an edition of 1,000 copies.

In his third novel, Jake Chapman returns to the parochial world of Chlamydia Love, the contagiously popular heroine from his first issue The Marriage of Reason and Squalor. 

Charged by The Someday Times to establish the truth about the rumoured rift between the Chapman brothers, she ventures deep into the hollow heart of the Cotswolds to interrogate the taller one, inadvertently revealing less than she intended.

Illustrated with works from the exhibition Jake or Dinos Chapman, the book explores the value and meaning of art, laying bare the inner turmoil that ensues when an artist is required to make art all by himself...

Co-published with White Cube.

James White paints flawless black and white photorealist images. His mundane almost incidental subject matter, which at first glance appear to be straightforward snapshots, on closer inspection reveal themselves to be beautifully painted images. White’s paintings invest the everyday with a level of attention that is both fascinating and disturbing.

White constructs his own focused world from the fragments he chooses to paint, his works have the intensity of a crime scene photograph – an unexplained moment forever captured. The details he documents lend themselves to multiple narratives that might describe the drama that inhabits these inanimate objects. In the search for evidence the viewer is seduced by the technique of the painting, but closer scrutiny only makes it harder to define the nature of what makes the work appear so photographic, so apparently ‘real’.

Containing contextual essays by Martin Herbert and Jeremy Millar, this is the first major book of Whites work, featuring over seventy paintings from the last five years.

AtomAge magazine was the underground bible of rubber, vinyl and leather fetish wear throughout the 1970s. Founded, designed and published by John Sutcliffe as a way of showcasing his extraordinary clothing designs, it inadvertently became a focal point for followers and explorers of every kind
of fledgling clothing scene.

For its readers AtomAge was both an instruction manual and a mirror. 
From motorbiking and mask wearing, to mudlarking and wading worship:
it covered every conceivable wrinkle.

Compiling the most astonishing imagery from all thirty-two issues of this now rare and sought after magazine, Dressing for Pleasure illustrates not just Sutcliffe's exceptional designs, but also, through their own photography and writing, the very fantasies and desires of the AtomAge followers.

Featuring over 130 drawings and texts by Danzig Baldaev – author of the acclaimed Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I, II, III – this book describes the history, horror and peculiarities of the Gulag system from its inception in 1918. 

Baldaev's work as a prison guard allowed him to travel across the former USSR where he witnessed scenes of everyday life in the Gulag first-hand, chronicling this previously closed world from both sides of the wire. The drawings, made during the Communist period, form a devastating document, a haunting echo of the works of Varlam Shalamov and Alexandr Solzhenitsyn.

With every vignette, Baldaev brings his characters to vivid life: from the lowest zek (inmate) to the most violent tattooed vor (thief), the practises and inhabitants of the Gulag system are revealed in incredible and shocking detail. He documents the contempt shown by the authorities to those imprisoned, and the transformation of these citizens into survivors or victims. This graphic depiction exposes the systematic methods of torture and mass murder of millions undertaken by the administration, as well as the atrocities committed by criminals on their fellow inmates.

Comes with a set of FUEL bookmarks - Russian prisoners playing cards.

In Memoirs of My Writer's Block, Jake Chapman haunts the shady world of the professional ghostwriter, posing as fragile amateur scribbler Christabel Ludd, whose broken attempts at completing her novel are frustrated by an unshakeable writer's block. In desperation she commissions a ragged collection of self-proclaimed professionals to transform the rudimentary tale into a compelling page-turner – with breathtaking results.

The story itself is that of Bao Xishun (once the world's tallest man), who uses his extremely long arms to fish pieces of plastic flotsam from the stomachs of some unfortunate dolphins, saving them from certain death. The bizarre narrative is made more so with each rewrite, from an 'ugly duckling' rendition through to a 'horror' version.

The book follows the crushing process of having to get your novel written by someone else. The author, wracked with creative energy, resorts to poetry in a desperate attempt to relieve the tension built up over months of waiting for other – apparently more accomplished – writers to finish her story.

Dan Pearson is one of the most important and influential landscape designers working today. At the heart of all his gardens lies an unshakeable theme – his reverence for the power and delicacy of nature: the spirit of the place.

This personal collection of new writing, illustrated by his own photographs, explores the sources of inspiration behind Dan's work. It reveals his response to landscapes both natural and designed, and the people, places and plants that have inspired him.

Foreword by Beth Chatto

This book reveals how client, architect, engineer and manufacturer worked closely to deliver an extraordinary nine storey residential development in central London. The tallest building of its kind, it has an entirely wooden 
structure from the first floor up. The building pushes the boundaries of timber use in modern construction and will profoundly affect the way we build in the future. The design team intends to make the processes developed for the construction widely available, so others considering this versatile and environmentally friendly material may use this book as a guide.

Produced in collaboration with Waugh Thistleton Architects and KLH UK, written by Henrietta Thompson.

In his first work of fiction, artist Jake Chapman slashes the romantic 
novel down to bare bone and constructs his own disfigured version 
from the slaughtered remains.

Chlamydia Love is gifted her very own tropical island by her fiancé, 
where she develops a grudging adoration for its real owner, the 
enigmatic bestselling author, Helmut Mandragorass. A battle between 
her fiancé and Helmut ensues, for ownership of the island and 
ultimately for the love of Chlamydia.

This mercilessly subversive tale is illustrated by Chlamydia's 
watercolours entitled Visions of Morass, images inspired by the island 
as she struggles with her feelings of agony and ecstasy.

This is the final volume of drawings and photographs from Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev, which completes the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia trilogy. 

Danzig Baldaev documented over three thousand tattoos during a lifetime working as a prison guard. His recording of this esoteric world was reported to the KGB who unexpectedly supported him, realising the importance of being able to establish facts about convicts by reading the images on their bodies. The motifs depicted represent the uncensored lives of the criminal classes, ranging from violence and pornography to politics and alcohol. The illustrated criminals of Russia tell the tale of their closed society.

With an introduction by historian Alexander Sidorov, exploring the origin of Russian criminal tattoos and their meaning today.

Comes with a set of FUEL bookmarks - Russian prisoners playing cards.

As long as it has been documented, crime has captivated the 
public's imagination. This book brings together the world of crime 
with its artistic counterpart and allows a dialogue to develop 
between the two. Through interviews with detectives, actors, 
murderers, film directors, prison inmates and authors, Alix Lambert 
uncovers both the prosaic and the extraordinary in a subject 
that implicates us all.

Over 5O interviews including:
Ben Affleck, Jake Arnott, LAPD Chief Bratton, Michael Buscemi, 
Dave Courtney, David Cronenberg, Mike Hodges, Ice-T, 
Takeshi Kitano, Dennis Lehane, Elmore Leonard, David Mamet, 
Viggo Mortensen, Samantha Morton

Across the world, libraries and institutions are just beginning to make 
their collections available online, much of this amazing material goes 
unnoticed by the casual surfer. 

BibliOdyssey's mission has been to search the dustier corners of the 
internet and retrieve these materials for our enjoyment. Thanks to the 
efforts of this singular weblog, a myriad of long-forgotten imagery has 
now resurfaced. Each of these fascinating images is accompanied by 
a commentary from PK, author and curator of BibliOdyssey, and a link 
to the source website. 

With a foreword by artist Dinos Chapman, BibliOdyssey is a journey in 
discovery and delight - a true cabinet of curiosities.

This is a portrait of the Russian street told through its public notices. They are pasted on everything - still or moving - notes for missing persons, love letters, political statements, job offers, complaints, and warnings. Their authors are the country's underclass made visible. 

The folklorist and lexicographer Alexei Plutser-Sarno, has collected these street notices for over twenty years. Published here for the first time, his collection tells an alternative story of recent Russian culture.
Designed as part of the acclaimed Russian series of books, and printed on an unusual mix of white and brown craft paper. A moving and vital contribution to the documentation of vernacular graphics.

Notes include:
"To everybody! If you want to have a good time, come to the New Year's Party 1999. There will be a buffet, dancing, and entertainment. The party begins at 3:00 p.m. local time on 26 December. 
Bring your own CUP, FORK, GLASS, PLATE, and a READY MEAL.
Entrance by invitation."

Public Toilet notice: "Attention! Please flush the toilet regardless of goals set and results achieved. If the results have exceeded all expectations, please use the toilet brush. Janitor."

This beautifully produced book is the result of two artists collaborating WORDS versus PICTURES. Ian McMillan, writer and broadcaster and Andy Martin, seasoned imagemaker, poetry and prose from one - visually interpreted by the other. The result is a lavish volume of ideas, oceans of notions. A mixture of the wry and the poignant rendered with the eye of a magpie.

This publication marks a new adventure in mixing poetry, prose and illustration. Images have been created using digital illustration, painting, photography and found imagery ingeniously edited into a consistent whole. They accompany pieces specially written for this publication as well as a couple of past favourites, fusing into a beautiful, colourful and thought-provoking volume.

With a foreword by BBC Radio's Mark Radcliffe.

This collection symbolises the golden age of British football programmes.
A spirit of innocence is reflected in these designs, with their colourful graphics and often quirky illustrations.

Compiled by Bob Stanley and Paul Kelly, it features every English league member from 1945 to the dawn of the Premiership, with a selection of non-league clubs, and other programmes from significant matches such as the 1966 World Cup Final. 

Match Day includes an introductory essay by the distinguished football journalist Brian Glanville, who traces the origins of the club programme.

Featuring over 450 programmes from the beautiful game.

This second volume of the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia is an essential companion to the critically acclaimed first volume. It features previously unpublished drawings and photographs from the extraordinary archives of Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev.

During his lifetime as a guard in St Petersburg's notorious Kresty Prison, Baldaev diligently recorded over 3,000 criminals' tattoos and their coded meanings. His drawings form a unique gallery; a passport into a hidden world of shovel-faced politicians, fornicating devils, messages tangled in barbed wire. Tattoos on hands, feet, legs, torsos, foreheads, eyelids, buttocks and genitals all take their place in this fascinating document of a rapidly disappearing criminal society, where history, status and even sexual preference are indelibly etched on the body.

Introduction by Anne Applebaum, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize.

Comes with a set of FUEL bookmarks - Russian prisoners playing cards.

This book contains highlights from Russian artist Vladimir Arkhipov’s collection of unique artifacts. Objects made by ordinary Russians inspired by a lack of immediate access to manufactured goods during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The archive includes hundreds of objects created with often idiosyncratic functional qualities made for both inside and outside the home, such as a tiny bathtub plug carefully fashioned from a boot heel; a back massager made from an old wooden abacus; a road sign used as a street cleaner’s shovel; and a doormat made from beer bottle tops.

Featuring over 220 individual artifacts of Soviet culture, each accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it.

Home-Made Europe will be published in Spring 2012.

Library Music, also known as source or mood music, was made for use in animations, commercials, film and TV programmes. This book is a compilation of cover artwork from some of the most important and beautiful library LPs produced throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Never commercially available and manufactured in limited numbers, these records are now highly collectable. The book is a celebration of and graphic joyride through some of the most amazing unseen and unheard music ever made.

Featuring over 325 full colour sleeve reproductions plus an exclusive 17 track CD of rare library recordings. With a foreword by Jerry Dammers.

Fleur Olby photographs plants and flowers in beautiful and intricate detail. Her plant portraits display an enormous range - from romantic and colourful to vivid and graphic - encompassing shapes textures and patterns. While covering a complete diversity of plantlife her images still retain her distinctive style. 

Her photographs illustrated Monty Don's gardening pages in the Observer Magazine for eight years, developing a loyal following. This book is Fleur Olby's first photographic monograph and contains some of her most popular iconic images - as well as many previously unseen photographs.

Print sales.

The photographs, drawings and texts published in this book are part of a collection of more than 3,000 tattoos accumulated over a lifetime by prison attendant Danzig Baldaev. Tattoos were his gateway into a secret world in which he acted as ethnographer, recording the rituals of a closed society.
The icons and tribal languages he documented are artful, distasteful, sexually explicit and sometimes just strange, reflecting as they do the lives and traditions of Russian convicts.

Skulls, swastikas, harems of naked women, a smiling Al Capone, medieval knights in armour, daggers sheathed in blood, benign images of Christ,
sweet-faced mothers and their babies, armies of tanks, and a horned Lenin - these are the signs by which the people of this hidden world mark and identify themselves.

Comes with a set of FUEL bookmarks - Russian prisoners playing cards.