This collectable wallet brings to life the designs and archive of Mr Manchester himself: Tony Wilson

Factory Records and the Haçienda nightclub are two institutions that sit firmly at the centre of Manchester’s rich musical lore of the 1980s and 1990s, and one (equally revered) man stands behind both: Tony Wilson. Or, as he’s been fondly dubbed: Mr Manchester. While it’s hard for Tony’s story to have passed you by (especially if you’re a music lover or a Manchester resident) what you might not have known about Mr Wilson’s colourful legacy is that, before the famous Peter Saville was employed to work on Factory Records’ design, Tony himself created the vast majority of its visual output, often by hand, and often using the Xerox printer in Granada Studios (the home of ITV). Now, the Manchester-based design studio DR.ME and Oliver Wilson – Tony’s son – have collaborated to create a Risograph collector’s wallet full of recreations of Tony’s creations and his wider archive entitled TWA 001–005.

“My dad was all about looking to the future and he hated nostalgia,” begins Oliver. You can therefore imagine his surprise when he stumbled across box upon box of ephemera that his dad had kept in the attic of his house, tracing his life from his time at Cambridge University in the 60s, to his time as a presenter at Granada Studios, to founding Factory records. Oliver didn’t get a chance to get too close of a look at the massive collection before it was shipped off to the vaults of Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry. But, a few years ago, the archive made its way to John Rylands Library where it’s now available to the public for study and research.

Ryan Doyle, co-founder of DR.ME alongside Mark Edwards, recalls the moment he first encountered the archive. “First, it was an absolute honour,” he says. “Growing up and living in Manchester, it’s hard to ignore the influence Factory Records has had on the city and its culture. Whether you like to admit it or not, Manchester really wouldn’t be Manchester if it weren’t for Tony Wilson.” Alongside the handwritten notes, Factory release budgets, a Haçienda bouncer beanie, and offbeat ads (one favourite of Ryan’s was an advert for The Durutti Column looking for a singer that featured two cowboys), what really blew Ryan’s mind was seeing the posters Tony had created by hand for the likes of The Human League, Echo and the Bunnymen and Joy Division. But it was even before seeing the archive that Ryan says he and Mark were on board.

Oliver had got in contact with him following a long history of collaboration (Oliver gave DR.ME its first commission back in 2009 when he asked the duo to brand the nightclub Blink in Manchester Northern Quarter) and gave the pair an invitation to do as they pleased. “He’d never been able to do anything with his dad’s work before, as it was all owned by other people – less said about that, the better – but now he had the opportunity to finally do something with this vast, mostly unseen archive,” says Ryan. “It was sort of an open invitation to use the archive as we wished and work with Oli to make his late, great father's work and mind public.”

For the early Factory posters, Tony largely used collage, a medium inspired by the radical group Situationist International, who were partial to speech bubbles and cut-and-paste, techniques reflected in the DIY nature of Tony’s work. He also got pretty crafty with the resources that were available to him. While working as a presenter at Granada Studios, he would use their photocopier machine. “I love the idea of Tony finishing presenting a news segment on Granada Reports about hang gliding and then photocopying 100 flyers of his handmade collages for a Joy Division show in Moss Side on his lunch break,” says Ryan. Elements of Tony’s production informed the visual approach of DR.ME; they only used white and pale pink, blue and yellow as these were the only colours the photocopier could produce. And, alongside being “Riso enthusiasts” the medium felt reminiscent of his penchant for Xerox.

But perhaps the biggest visual nod to Tony is the screenprinted document wallet that encloses all of the Risograph creations. A direct replica of one Tony used – emblazoned with the words ‘A Guide to Manchester Council Services’ – Tony was often pictured with such wallets, so, Ryan says “it felt natural to replicate that for this first collection and a great way to start and honour his legacy.”

As well as shedding light on Tony’s legacy, the collection is also an effort to add a new branch to the well known and loved visual world of Peter Saville. “I think most people’s image of Factory is black and yellow stripes and Peter Saville’s exceptional design work,” says Ryan, and, rather than overshadowing it, he and Oliver were excited to be able to show another, lesser-known side to its world. “It's a cathartic exercise cutting through the black and yellow stripes which seem to be everywhere now and presenting an alternative which may not have been seen before,” says Oliver.

The project is now on Kickstarter, which you can support here. If successful the first collection will be manufactured and any remaining funds will be reinvested into studio time, equipment and Manchester-based artists.