Harry Pearce D&AD Lecture Reviewed on Design Week Blog
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WITNESS and Peter Gabriel at Pentagram
Pentagram’s London office welcomed WITNESS last night for an intimate dinner with Peter Gabriel. Co-hosted by Harry Pearce and Michelangelo Volpi the evening provided an opportunity to raise awareness of the work WITNESS does using video to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations.
Harry Pearce has been working with WITNESS for the last 17 years producing some of his most acclaimed work including the award-winning “Infantry” and “Burma” posters. He is a member of WITNESS’s advisory board.
Peter Gabriel describes working with Harry as “a mixture of good karma and great design”.
Celebrating ‘Conundrums’
On 10 December, our friends, clients and colleagues gathered at our New York office for some pre-holiday cheer in celebration of Harry Pearce’s new book, Conundrums. The party doubled as a fundraiser for WITNESS, with all proceeds from books sold at the event going to benefit the human rights organization.
Guests puzzled out a series of conundrums projected on the walls. Toasts were made by Terron Schaefer, senior vice president of marketing at Saks Fifth Avenue, who initiated the Conundrums project when he used Harry’s typographic games in Saks’ 2008 holiday catalog; and Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, executive director of WITNESS. Pearce has worked with WITNESS for nearly two decades, creating designs for the group’s campaigns. WITNESS was co-founded in 1992 by musician and activist Peter Gabriel and uses video and online technologies to raise awareness of human rights abuses. Peter sent a personal message for Harry that was read out by Yvette.
We would like to thank It Books for its generous donation of books for this event.
Peter Gabriel Comes Face to Face at Pentagram
Peter Gabriel gives a wonderful namecheck to Pentagram and Harry Pearce in his latest monthly video diary, citing the photographic faces on display in the front conference room of our London office. In his comments Gabriel attributes the authorship of the photos to a partner, but they were actually created by Jean Edouard Robert, who worked in the London office on Pentagram Papers 4: Face to Face, which was designed by John McConnell and published in 1977. Gabriel is the Chairman and Co-founder of the human rights organization Witness and saw the “Face to Face” prints during a Witness brainstorming with Harry Pearce, who has designed for Witness for the past thirteen years.
More faces after the jump.
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Harry Pearce on Australian National Radio’s ‘By Design’
Harry Pearce, in Melbourne, Australia for the agIdeas International Design Forum, was interviewed by Alan Saunders for the radio program “By Design” on ABC Radio National. Pearce discusses his work for Witness and the role of design in our daily lives. Listen or download here.
New Work: The Hub
As part of his ongoing work for Witness, Harry Pearce has created the identity for The Hub. Conceived as a “YouTube for human rights”, The Hub is the world’s first participatory media site focused on the protection of human rights, providing a network for users to upload, share and discuss videos, photos and audio.
Peter Gabriel, the founder of Witness, appeared on BBC News this morning to explain the rationale behind the project. The launch coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Watch Gabriel’s video here.
New Work: Witness Annual Report
Harry Pearce and designer Richard Wilson have designed the 2007 Annual Report for Witness, a New York-based charity that uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. Pearce is a passionate supporter of Witness’ work. He is a member of their advisory board and has been producing work for them for the past twelve years.
‘Burma’ Takes to the Streets
Harry Pearce’s Burma poster has been adopted as a placard by activists in the recent international street protests against the current situation in the country.
The poster, designed in 2006 for an event organised by the New York-based charity Witness to raise awareness about human rights violations in Burma, has been appearing in news footage of the protests held in cities from Bangkok to New York.
Harry Pearce to Judge Prison Art
Harry Pearce has been invited to be a judge for the annual Creating a Future prize, part of an exhibition of art, prose and poetry by inmates from sixteen prisons in the North West of England to be held at The Co-operative Group’s headquarters at New Century House in Manchester from the 13th to the 18th of August 2007.