T-shirt design puts Birmingham culture on the map

Designer Mark Rowles is putting his shirt on Birmingham’s bid to be the UK City of Culture after winning a competition to design the bid’s official t-shirt.

Brummie Mark’s design is a cultural map of Birmingham featuring of the city’s cultural icons, including:

• Tolkien
• Duran Duran
• Balti
• Ozzy Osbourne
• Matthew Boulton

The t-shirt, produced by Midlands fashion company The Bostin Group, will be presented to the UK City of Culture judging panel on Wednesday (June 16).

And Mark hopes his winning design will boost Birmingham’s chances of beating Derry, Norwich and Sheffield to the 2013 crown.

Explaining the idea behind his design, he said: “The design is a celebration of all the celebrities, architecture, Religions, brands, art and cultures that make up Birmingham.

“I wanted to use a wordle (word cloud) to show just what Birmingham culture is all about and the design is broken up so that the areas around central Birmingham are relative to where they would be on a map. The idea was to showcase all the culture in each area to build up our City of Culture.

“It was an interesting process that brought home to me the fact that our city doesn’t just showcase its culture but it has managed to integrate culture and build communities on these foundations.”

Cllr Martin Mullaney, Chairman of the Birmingham Cultural Partnership, added: “I love Mark’s winning design because it clearly illustrates the rich cultural heritage we’re looking to build on with our UK City of Culture bid.

“This bid aims to celebrate every element of art and culture in Birmingham, including a thriving creative industries sector and Bostin t-shirts are a brilliant example of the vibrancy and creativity here in our city.

“I’m confident the creative industries would go from strength to strength under a national and international spotlight if Birmingham was named the UK City of Culture for 2013.”

The Bostin Group has been producing Birmingham and Black Country themed t-shirts for almost a decade, celebrating the region with a number of popular designs.

ENDS

Click on the link below for more information about Birmingham’s UK City of Culture bid. http://birminghamculture.org

For more information call Geoff Coleman on 0121 303 3501

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4. Birmingham shortlisted for city of culture crown
5. Birmingham City of Culture bid