Sir Peter Blake to Design Pop Award

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Chiswick artist will remodel Brits statuette

Chiswick artist Sir Peter Blake has been chosen to design the next Brit Awards statuette.

Sir Peter, who is well-known for designing the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album cover, has redesigned the Britannia statuette which will be given to the winners at the event next February. He revealed that the organisers had rejected his first design in favour of something that was more " pop art".

He said he had added "some symbols around the bottom that I've used constantly over the years - a star and a heart and half a rainbow and a target".

"So it looks very much like my work," he said. "It needed a signature and I think those symbols gave it the signature."

The 79-year-old artist is the second person to redesign the trophy, after fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood created her version for the 2011 ceremony.

According to Brits chairman David Joseph, the famous collage Sir Peter designed for the 1967 Beatles album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is "the world's most iconic album sleeve".

"Sir Peter's work is synonymous with the best of British music," he said, calling his design concept for the award "incredible".

Other album covers designed by Sir Peter include Paul Weller's Stanley Road and Oasis's Stop the Clocks.

Actor James Corden will once again host the ceremony, which will take place at London's O2 Arena on 21 February. The Brit awards, often referred to as " the Brits' are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop awards and began in 1977 .

Winners in 2011 included Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Take That, Tinie Tempah and Mumford and Sons. Robbie Williams holds the record for the most Brits, having won twelve as a solo artist and five with Take That.

October 28, 2011