Local designers The Sculpts bring 200-year-old Manchester icon to life
200 years of The University of Manchester’s world-class education, research and incredible people have been brought to life in an exclusive design partnership with Sale-based designers, The Sculpts, celebrating the University’s bicentenary.
The bicentenary design tile outside the Whitworth Arch © The Sculpts
Since 1824, the prestigious University has been spearheading change, addressing the planet’s greatest challenges and making a difference in the city of Manchester, the nation and beyond. The Sculpts’ stunning pen and ink design brings this rich history to life, illustrating some of the University’s most distinguished alumni and staff, iconic architecture, and several of its most important innovations and discoveries. The design is the latest in a series of individual artistic collaborations between the Sale-based brand and the city’s cultural institutions.
The bicentennial design includes illustrations of Christabel Pankhurst, suffragette and alumna; Alan Turing, mathematician and computer scientist; Arthur Lewis, economist and Nobel Laureate; components of the Manchester Baby, the first electronic stored-program computer; botanical illustrations from the Manchester Museum Herbarium Archives; the Sackville Street Building, home of Manchester College of Technology and UMIST; the atomic structure of Graphene; the Lovell telescope; early medical instruments; and the iconic ‘Manchester bee’.
The University’s bicentennial design sits alongside The Sculpts’ iconic range of handmade ceramic ‘Manchester’ tiles. Each 6x6-inch tile is one letter of the alphabet illustrated to depict a different stage in Manchester’s transformation – from post-industrial depression to a technological and cultural force to be reckoned with.
Jade King, director of The Sculpts, says: “We’re delighted to be working with The University of Manchester to celebrate its birthday. For 200 years, the University has been a world leader in its field: pioneering, innovating, and discovering. We jumped at the chance to be a part of recognising the contribution the University has made to this city and the world, in a beautiful design that brings the University’s history alive.”
Kim Graakjaer, leading across the bicentenary celebrations at The University of Manchester, says: “It has been fabulous to collaborate with such a distinctive and iconic Manchester brand to celebrate our 200th year. The design is so intricate and encapsulates our University’s history and heritage, alongside some of our more recent discoveries and our links across the city region, in a really delightful way.”
The Sculpts opened their first physical shop in Sale’s Stanley Square in July 2023 and will soon be celebrating their first anniversary. Previous collaborations for The Sculpts have included Manchester Museum, for whom the designers created a bespoke range of their iconic ‘alphabet’ illustrations for the museum, the Whitworth Art Gallery and the Stock Exchange Hotel.
As The Sculpts prepare to mark a year of contributing to Sale’s vibrant local business scene, this latest project highlights the significant role that local talent plays in celebrating and preserving Manchester’s rich cultural and educational heritage.
The new design is available as a decorative ceramic tile, a ceramic coaster, mug or an A4 print.
📍 The Sculpts, 26 Stanley Square Sale, M33 7XZ (open every day except Monday)
