Ben Drury and Will Bankhead for Mo Wax

When James Lavelle first launched his Mo Wax record label, it had a Swifty-designed identity that placed it a bit too neatly alongside a London scene and labels like Acid Jazz and Talkin' Loud. As releases like DJ shadow's 'In/Flux' began pointing towards weirder musical territory, it deserved an aesthetic that wasn't rooted in that vintage-inspired, Beatnik-y jazz style. So (alongside seminal graffiti artists like Futura 2000) designer Ben Drury and photographer Will Bankhead took it in a new direction.

I might be a bit biased about the importance of these sleeves as I was working in a record shop during this era, but new Mo Wax packaging always appeared to be greeted with interest. By the way, I did mention Will Bankhead earlier and I will be coming back to some of his more recent work [as a designer] plus I'll also dig out some later inspirational material from Ben Drury.

"James [Lavelle] encouraged us to source new materials, use special printing processes, develop new packaging solutions and to experiment across the range of formats, his mania for novelty and the profuse output of the label made this both an instructive and intense period and some of these sleeves are among my personal favourites."
Ben Drury