In 1935 the K6 (kiosk number six) was designed to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V. K6 was the first red telephone kiosk to be extensively used inside and outside London, and many thousands were deployed in virtually every town and city. Today this British icon is still around and clearly visible around (almost) every corner in London. So what does this famous and endlessly photographed icon and the imaginations of some of our very best creative minds have in common? BT Artbox, the latest open-air art exhibition to take over the streets of London.
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of ChildLine, BT (British Telecom) announced the launch of the BT ArtBox project earlier this year and invited leading artists, designers and creatives from around the world to apply their individual talents to re-style our much-loved icon of British design. Participating artists include 2002 Turner prize winner Keith Tyson, Romero Britto and Royal Academician Professor of Sculpture David Mach, along with fashion designers Giles Deacon and Zandra Rhodes. All 83 artboxes are scattered all over the city and yesterday I took to the streets to find some of these beauties.
The BT ArtBoxes will be on display in high-profile locations around the capital between June 18 and July 16 before being auctioned off at a VIP Gala Auction at the National Portrait Gallery on July 18 to raise funds for BT’s long-time partner ChildLine and I hope to photograph most of these before they’re auctioned off. Watch this space!
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Comments on: "Celebrating a British icon" (10)
Great post Ged and a very good cause, I hope they raise lots of money. The Ted Baker one in particular looks very bling
Thank you!
The Ted Baker one is very blingly. I have quite a few of that particular one because of the different looks styles on each side of the phone box. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of them which will be on next weekend’s charts. 
Ged – I so much enjoyed seeing these! I am from Chicago originally and they did this with cows and then they did it with benches and in FL (where we live in winter months) they did it with Aligators in the Miami area…I am married to an artist, he is an abstract painter and retired prof of art, so I will have to show him your blog! Thanks for sharing – great pics! Hope this finds you having a great day my fellow PR person!
Thank you so much for the kind compliments! The phone boxes are truly spectacular and it’s for such an amazing cause so I am all for it. Earlier this year we had the Faberge Big Egg Hunt which I also blogged about and in 2010 we had the Elephant Family in London which is simply stunning too. Thank you so much for reading and wanting to share with your other half. Keep an eye out for some more posts on the fancy boxes.
Have a good week!
Wow that’s so cool and what great photo-ops too! All you need is a man in a suit to change into Superman in one of those! I can’t decide on which one I like best.
Thank you so much! Yes they are indeed quite spectacular. Believe it or not a number of wanna-be ‘supermen’ tried this! Haha! I even had one jumping in front of my camera each time I tried to take a picture until I told him to get lost. Haha! I am heading out again next weekend to find the other ones. They are really lovely!
Brilliant photos! I’m off to find some this week too!
Thanks! They are absolutely stunning. I am heading out again next weekend to find some of the other ones.
[...] crazy Saturday out searching for the BT Artbox 2012 phoneboxes in the lovely sunshine last weekend (click here to read all about it and see the photos), I decided to head out again and find some more. This [...]
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