The Creative Works of Ben Drury
My favourite kinds of creatives are those that are able to apply themselves to a multitude of different projects, and although the outputs might be varied each time, you still somehow get a feeling of familiarity across them. This couldn’t be applied better to the way in which I discovered linking connections between the excellent works of Ben Drury.
Without already being aware, I’d been a fan of his work on album covers such as DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing, Plan B’s ‘Who Needs Actions, When You’ve Got Words, and Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Boy In Da Corner’, all of which take on very different appearances.
What I enjoy most about Drury’s work is the holistic approach he’s able to take with projects, album campaigns in particular. Among his many successes, Boy in Da Corner is potentially one of the most iconic sleeves in his roster, and it’s not until you dive deeper into the project you can see the way Drury created a whole direction for the albums lifecycle. Vibrant colour sitting alongside stark Black & White photography by Dean Chalkley was the running theme throughout, with the bright Yellow of the leading cover shot (which it turns out was the last shot of the shoot day) followed by blue, green and red used within following singles and music videos. The stripped back look of this campaign was a great nod to the raw sound of the album, which in itself was a simple yet gritty and hard-hitting production built in Dizzee’s bedroom on bare-bones equipment.
This project has since led to a long-term partnership between the two, with Drury working on five of Raskit’s LP releases, and you can see the continuity of his brand is still present throughout rather than hopping in radically different directions from record to record. For every album cycle, Drury will formulate a design language that runs throughout, and build bespoke typefaces relating to the albums content or namesake. ‘Maths & English’ for example featured an alphabet built from a combination of both type and numbers which replaced similar looking letterforms.
One of my favourite era’s of Ben’s work was his involvement with Mo Wax Records, working as a designer and art director together with Will Bankhead. Will’s approach to photography combined with Drury’s design sensibilities and the inputs of numerous other artistic collaborators brought in by Lavelle, formed a solid identity for a label with an extremely eclectic sound and roster of artists (a full Mo Wax visual breakdown is a whole other upcoming article in itself…). These releases were a masterclass in ‘finding familiarity in variety’, tying together so many different approaches under one creative umbrella.
As well as being an orchestrator behind the scenes for others, Drury’s also had the opportunity to work on various Nike shoes under his own name, and created some of the most sought after releases in the Air Max timeline. 2006 saw him work on the Air U Breathe pack alongside artists Kevin Lyons and Hitomi Yokoyama on a 3-shoe pack; with each artist being allocated a different silhouette to work on. Drury’s choice was the Air Max 1, creating the now historic ‘Hold Tight’ rendition which featured nods to London Pirate Radio culture through the sound-wave embroidered patterns radiating from each heel. Perforated leather on the toe box and a reflective 3M mudguard were further premium additions that took the collaboration up a level and secured its place as an iconic pair in sneaker culture.
The creative trio reunited again in 2008, with each artists working on their own version of the Air Max 90 Current in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Drury’s ‘OH 8’ rendition takes on a racecar looking aesthetic, with sharp red accents spread around the shoe and a wild checkerboard graphic featured on the sockliner and insole.
Fast forward to 2009, and his third and fourth forays into footwear were created at the same time, with the hero of the pack being produced to celebrate the launch of Dizzee’s 4th studio album ’Tongue n Cheek’. The overall palette reflected that used on the record artwork, combined together with high quality suede, leather, and pink reflective 3M on the embroidered tongues. Alongside this, Drury also created the ‘Silent Listener’; his take on the Air Max 90 Current which in a similar vein referenced London Culture, and being tapped into what’s going on. The Silent Listener moniker almost sums up his working practice as someone working behind the curtain, quietly making things happen.
As far as I’m aware he’s currently working his magic within Palace Skateboards on their design outputs, but you can get inspired by his vast archival portfolio of work over at www.bendrury.com