A huge new mural, designed by the illustrator Gregori Saavedra, has been revealed in King’s Cross. The mural depicts some of the new landmarks, restaurants and events of the neighbourhood.
The work has been created using a digital collage technique, which Gregori describes as “like playing with Lego”. The process allowed him to work up a design that joins together individual pieces, creating a landscape made up of powerful individual elements. The design itself has been inspired by King’s Cross, incorporating the huge range of activity taking place on site and people enjoying the spaces.
The mural will cover the entire German Gymnasium, a Grade II listed building currently under refurbishment by high quality restaurant group, D&D London. Originally designed in 1865 by Edward Gruning for the German Gymnastics Society, the Gym was the venue for the indoor events of the first Olympic Games in 1866. The iconic building will be transformed by D&D into a complex of restaurants, featuring a 150-cover independent brasserie and glamorous bar with outdoor terraces.
Gregori wanted to capture all that has changed at King’s Cross through his illustration and present it in a way that is visually accessible to the public, saying;
“This artwork should address a wide range of people and, at the same time, show the wide range of possibilities that King’s Cross offers and will offer. So I decided to visually depict the actual objective of the piece.”
He originally took on the project due to his fascination with the area and was particularly attracted to this because of the scale of illustration required on this project, recently noting his “obsession with the size of things”, adding, “I live in London and I have been hearing about this huge transformation of King’s Cross. To get involved was not only a surprise but an enormous pleasure as well. This exciting city welcomed my work and I feel very grateful for that.”
The mural will be in place around the German Gymnasium while renovation work is ongoing until its completion in 2015.
