Michael Salu

Michael Salu November 2015

Michael Salu is a creative director, art and photography editor, designer, brand strategist, writer and illustrator with a strong focus on creating work with clarity and narrative. He has conceived and managed the creative output of well-respected and culturally-focused brands such as Granta and Curzon Cinemas,[1] working with the languages of both art and design across a variety of media. He has collaborated with and published many young and established artists including the Chapman brothers, Sir Paul Smith, Yinka Shonibare, Nadav Kander and the 2013 Deutsche Börse winners Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. He often acts as a creative hub, utilising his vast network of artists, designers and illustrators to create acclaimed work.[2]


Education and career

Born in Britain of Nigerian heritage,[3] Michael Salu earned a BA (Hons) degree in Graphic Communication from the University of Wolverhampton.[4][5]

Artistic direction, editing and art publishing

Cover of If On A Winter's Night A Traveller, from the Italo Calvino series

In his role as Artistic Director of Granta Publications (2010–13), Salu was responsible for the creative concepts behind Granta Magazine, Granta Books and Portobello Books, commissioning and creating work for print, covers and digital. During this period, he was also the art editor for Granta magazine, publishing new and established artists’ and photographer’s work and curating conversations around aesthetic media. Some highlights of his works include curating a showcase of art to respond to the question “What is British Identity?” for Granta 119[6] and a photographic collaboration with Nadav Kander for Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists 4, which also appeared in The New York Times.

At Granta magazine, Salu was also responsible for art editing and commissioning on projects including Contacts[7] and the Pakistan issue.[8]

Prior to Granta, Salu worked for Random House,[9] where he designed and art directed covers for classics such as Kurt Vonnegut and Fyodor Dostoevsky as well as more contemporary fiction including Xiaolu Guo and Chuck Palahniuk. In this role he also worked with a range of photographers, designers and illustrators to help produce a distinctive list for the literary division of Random House UK (Vintage).

Brand strategy

Salu also works in the world of identity and more expansive forms of design. From 2008 to 2013, he was the Brand Guardian for Curzon cinemas, creating a strong brand identity for the company. This included development of multiple aspects of the brand, from interior design of cinemas[10] to creation of the bi-monthly Curzon Magazine. This brand identity was showcased in the book Brand Identity Essentials,[11] as an exemplar of innovative practice in the area of brand strategy.

Salu is currently shaping a new brand identity for Soda Pictures launching in 2014 and is creative director for the Art Dubai Abraaj Art Prize 2014.

Awards

Salu has received numerous awards for his achievements in the field of design, including: D&AD In Book awards 2011, 2012, FWA Site of the Day in 2011 and Best Cover of the Year in the British Book Design Awards 2011.

Other work

Granta Magazine 110 - Sex

Salu has written fiction and essays for publications such as Varoom, Eye Magazine and Under The Influence magazine. He also contributes original art to Grey Magazine[12] and is working on further artworks using a variety of media.

Salu has conceived a variety of digital projects for Granta and other brands. For Granta 110: "Sex", he conceived and commissioned a viral website[13] featuring several films to promote the issue. Salu was Creative Director on the Granta documentary on A. M. Homes, May We Be Forgiven, in conjunction with her latest novel of the same title, in 2012. In 2011 he commissioned an animated HTML5 graphic novel[14] based on a short story by Roberto Bolaño,to explore ways in which the short story can be promoted as well as interpreted.

He has also produced some work for the music industry, most notably creating artwork for the musician Tricky.

Salu is currently writing a collection of short stories, the latest of which is to appear in an anthology entitled The Short Anthology in 2014.[15]

He published an essay entitled 'Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable' in Tale of Two Cities an anthology on the socio-economic imbalances of New York edited by John Freeman and published by OR Books. The anthology also includes works from Zadie Smith, Jonathan Safran Foer, Taiye Selasi, Mark Doty and a host of other writers.

He is also working on a short film adaptation of "The Children of the Children", a story he published in 2013 that takes an oblique look at the cause of the UK riots of 2011.

Salu is frequently invited to speak at prestigious institutions such as The Photographers’ Gallery and the Royal College of Art on various aspects of visual culture.

References

  1. ↑ "Contributors: Michael Salu", Granta.
  2. ↑ Profile on LinkedIn.
  3. ↑ "It's Nice That", 18 October 2010.
  4. ↑ "Graduate to great - Michael Salu", YouTube video.
  5. ↑ "Our graduates", University of Wolverhampton.
  6. ↑ Granta 119: "Britain".
  7. ↑ "Contacts", Granta, 14 February 2011.
  8. ↑ "High Noon (I)", Granta, 9 September 2010.
  9. ↑ James Morrison, "To Convey an Idea Concisely, with as Little Fluff as Possible: An Interview with Michael Salu", Caustic Cover Critic, 14 February 2010.
  10. ↑ "Curzon invests £6 million in London cinemas", Curzon World, 4 February 2014.
  11. ↑ Budelman, Kevin (2010). Brand Identity Essentials: 100 Principles for Designing Logos and Building Brands. Rockport. p. 105. ISBN 159253578X.
  12. ↑ Michael Salu page at Grey.
  13. ↑ http://www.thisisnotapurse.com
  14. ↑ http://www.nothingbutamovie.com
  15. ↑ "The Short Anthology - The First Issue", 4 May 2014.
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