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Outside Material: The cover Art of Preservation Music

In 2001, friends Andrew Khedoori and Mark Gowing founded an independent record label with a singular aim: to provide like-minded listeners with good music and congruous design.

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Bright green hardcover book with a white circle containing a smaller green circle at its centre on the cover

Inevitably, Preservation Music’s groundbreaking packaging and cover art became essential to the label’s evolution, the course of which you can now trace in Outside Material, a new book courtesy of Formist Editions.

As the work of multi-award-winning designer Mark Gowing, the Preservation artwork reflects his commitment to experimentation in typography, photography and graphic abstraction, all with an eye to effective communication. Whatever its printed design, every CD cover employs folded paper as a package, offering the listener, or user, an intimate and tactile experience. Consequently, Outside Material’s image-drenched pages present music as something more than sound – these creations are material objects to see, hold and cherish.

Featuring an illuminating essay by music and arts writer Dan Rule, this lavishly produced volume showcases six years’ worth of thoughtful, music-inspired design. Printed on superior-grade paper, Outside Material presents actual-size reproductions of the label’s most distinctive CD covers alongside macro and micro details that further represent the intriguing artwork. An illustrated catalogue of Preservation releases completes the publication.

Open spread from Outside Material book showing Preservation Music CD covers with geometric designs in yellow, pink, teal and purple on dark leather background
Spread from Outside Material showing a Preservation Music CD cover for Tom Carter and Robert Horton's Monsters of Felt album with colourful woven textile and yellow curved design element
Open book spread showing a dark textured left page and right page displaying an abstract portrait with geometric overlays and fragmented imagery from Preservation Music cover art
Open book spread showing a Preservation Music CD cover with red die-cut circle and overlaid red square with blue typography on grey textured background, alongside a decorative plate with orange and yellow design
Open book displaying two pages with black and white portraits of musicians overlaid with orange text blocks listing names and track information from a Preservation Music release
Open book spread showing a red and white striped CD cover design for Preservation Music with "edback/guitar" text and a man's profile photograph
Open book with pages showing geometric line drawings in rust orange, including rectangles, circles, lines and abstract shapes on light blue background
Open book spread showing a Preservation Music CD package with bright yellow disc in tan envelope, and accompanying white card featuring yellow flowers and leaves against rust-coloured pages
Open book displaying Preservation Music CD covers featuring purple geometric shapes, wooden textures and black circular elements on white pages with green binding
Open book spread showing pages of Preservation Music CD cover designs featuring brown textured materials and folded paper packaging arranged on white pages
A stack of books with a bright green cover on top, displayed on a black textured block against a white wall
A grey stepladder next to a stack of bright green Preservation Music CD covers arranged on a concrete floor
Bright green Preservation Music CD cover with white circular design sitting atop a black audio receiver
Opened CD book spread featuring bright green cover with a blue-to-white gradient circle on the left and a white circle on the right, each with a small central hole
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