The Cloth were David Band, Fraser Taylor, Brian Bolger and Helen Manning who met at London’s Royal College of Art. In a short but prolific period; 1983 - 1988 they designed many record sleeves along with their own fashion collections, and bespoke fabrics for Paul Smith, Betty Jackson and Marks & Spencer amongst others.

I discovered David Band and Fraser Taylor’s work when they were members of The Cloth through their record sleeves for pop bands including Spandau Ballet, Altered Images, Aztec Camera, Friends Again and The Bluebells. As a design student I was inspired by what I saw and completed a research assignment for a college project, collecting as much material as I could. This site contains my entire archive of nearly 200 images, created between 1981 and 1988 along with other items from the period sourced more recently.

I liked that their work eschewed the austerity and pretension of the predominant record sleeve designers of that period - Neville Brody, Peter Saville et al. David Band and Fraser Taylor’s free and organic work, with their painterly textures and bold colours made each record sleeve a work of art. I saw London shows by them and visited The Cloth studios in London at 27-29 Union Street where I picked up some of the items included here.

If you’re on Facebook, join The Cloth (UK) Group to share stories and images, and to stay up to date with news.

Site constructed by: Andrew Dineley at Soft Octopus Design Studio. For further information and examples of contemporary works by Fraser Taylor and the late David Band please visit their websites.

Thanks to Fraser Taylor and the following sites for some of the images used:

Chart Stats + Consolation Prizes + Like Punk Never Happened + Discogs.com

DISCLAIMER: This tribute site is not for profit, images have been archived purely for reference and nostalgia and remain the property and/or copyright of the respective artists, musicians, photographers and/or publishers. Please email me if you feel any copyright or intellectual rights have been infringed and inclusions will be removed accordingly.

SITE UPDATED: 02/05/12