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Toby Leigh artist design London 2012 souvenir tote bags parody locog Olympic Olympics steroids

Product shot by Mark Cocksedge

That Big Event in London (2012)

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During the London 2012 Olympics Toby designed three very unofficial souvenir tote bags in collaboration with accessories designer Elaine Burke and her brand Khama - a network of community groups in Malawi. The range represented the antithesis of the official mass produced merchandise and reflected the attitudes of real Londoners in the run up to the games. Whilst they closely parodied the official London 2012 branding, Toby avoided using anything that might infringe on the extremely draconian copyright issues surrounding the event. He even designed his own version of the official typeface. Following the climax of London 2012 the tote bags were taken into the permanent collection at the V&A.

Toby Leigh artist design London 2012 souvenir tote bags parody locog Olympic Olympics steroids Khama Malawi

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The slogan: ‘I’m renting my flat to a fat American family’ became somewhat controversial in the US and Toby began to receive a barrage of hate mail. One especially angry woman was so enraged that she created her own patriotic range of merchandise.

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This inspired Toby to create a series of films - 'An American Tourist in London' with his brother and filmmaker Leo Leigh. The films were released alongside the tote bag campaign and aimed to capture the attitude of Londoners towards someone visiting their city during the games. The films starred Jonathan Dunne as Justin, the American tourist. The word 'Olympics' was bleeped out in the films to avoid copyright infringement at the time.

More projects from the Art section:

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Branding & Website by Steve Baker

Toby Leigh artist design London 2012 souvenir tote bags parody locog Olympic Olympics steroids

That Big Event in London (2012)

------------------------------------During the London 2012 Olympics Toby designed three very unofficial souvenir tote bags in collaboration with accessories designer Elaine Burke and her brand Khama - a network of community groups in Malawi. The range represented the antithesis of the official mass produced merchandise and reflected the attitudes of real Londoners in the run up to the games. Whilst they closely parodied the official London 2012 branding, Toby avoided using anything that might infringe on the extremely draconian copyright issues surrounding the event. He even designed his own version of the official typeface. Following the climax of London 2012 the tote bags were taken into the permanent collection at the V&A.

Toby Leigh artist design London 2012 souvenir tote bags parody locog Olympic Olympics steroids Khama Malawi

------------------------------------The slogan: ‘I’m renting my flat to a fat American family’ became somewhat controversial in the US and Toby began to receive a barrage of hate mail. One especially angry woman was so enraged that she created her own patriotic range of merchandise.

------------------------------------This inspired Toby to create a series of films - 'An American Tourist in London' with his brother and filmmaker Leo Leigh. The films were released alongside the tote bag campaign and aimed to capture the attitude of Londoners towards someone visiting their city during the games. The films starred Jonathan Dunne as Justin, the American tourist. The word 'Olympics' was bleeped out in the films to avoid copyright infringement at the time.

More projects from the Art section:

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