Bostin bid to claim culture crown
CLOTHING firm Bostin Group, which produces special West Midlands’ themed fashion wear, has created a special edition T-shirt to commemorate Birmingham’s bid to be the UK City of Culture.
Designer Mark Rowles has used the City-Region’s cultural heritage as the inspiration for his wordle design.
Featured on the design are references to famous places, buildings, politicians, businesses, sports teams; cuisine, pop icons, writers and other leading lights from the city’s rich history.
Among those featured are: JRR Tolkien; Duran Duran; Balti; Ozzy Osbourne; Matthew Boulton; Neville Chamberlain; Jasper Carrott; Cadbury.
A copy of the T-shirt was presented to the City of Culture judging panel when they visited Birmingham.
Mr Rowles 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.”
Birmingham must beat off competition from Derry, Norwich and Sheffield to claim the 2013 crown.
