During his studies in 1977 Garrett was asked to design his first record cover for the Buzzcocks which they called Orgasm Addict. He had worked with Sterling when they had produced a magazine called The Secret Public and decided to use one of her photomontages. He flipped it upside down, rendered it in cobalt blue and set it against a bright yellow backdrop. The song was swiftly banned by the BBC.
Garrett set up his own company, Assorted iMaGes in the same year and was its design director. His work there included graphic identity, exhibition design and television graphics as well as album covers and other materials for musical artists such as Duran Duran, Boy George, Human League, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel and Heaven 17. Given its success, after two years he moved the studio down to London and Kasper de Graaf, the magazine editor joined him. They developed Assorted Images studio into a wider community of artists, writers, designers, stylists and musicians in what was then a derelict Shoreditch in the East End of London.
They worked for other organisations such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Channel 4, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the London Symphony Orchestra and for the broadcaster Jonathan Ross and the filmmaker Peter Greenaway. They were an early convert to exploring the opportunities and challenges of digital technology, and his London studio was among the first to go totally digital in 1990.
In 1994 he established AMX, one of the first digital companies in what is now Tech City and continued to work with musicians such as Oasis, Pulp, Iron Maiden and the Spice Girls. He was the Founder and Joint Artistic Director of the annual Design Manchester Festival and in 2000, he served as Master of the Faculty of Royal Designers from 2013 to 2015.
Garrett continues to work in media, digital, immersive experiences and public spaces as Director of Design Manchester and an Ambassador for Manchester School of Art. In 2020 he was awarded an MBE for services to design.
You can find out more about him here.
