Storm Thorgerson

Born in Dartford, Kent, Storm Thorgerson (1944-2013) went to school with Pink Floyd band members, Roger Waters and Syd Barrett.

He studied English and Philosophy at Leicester University in 1966 and went on to complete an MA in Film and Television at the Royal College of Art in 1969. While studying at the Royal College, Thorgerson shared a flat with his friend and future associate, Aubrey Powell. The residence soon became a hub of creativity and talent and the pair started to design book covers by experimenting with infrared photography.

Thorgerson’s hugely successful career as an artist flourished soon after, almost by accident. Around the time of his graduation, Pink Floyd were completing their second album ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’, when a friend turned down the job of creating its album sleeve and Thorgerson volunteered to step into the fold. Having established the British graphic art group with Aubrey Powell known as ‘Hipgnosis’ in 1967, the pair specialised in creative photography for album covers, and their work soon began to catch the attention of many other renowned musicians.

Thorgerson's surrealist work continued to raise the bar for album cover designs, changing the way the world looked at the music of everyone from Peter Gabriel to Black Sabbath. In 1982, Thorgerson branched out into video production and established Green Back Films with Aubrey Powell and Peter Christopherson. With his background in film and television production, he successfully directed numerous rock music videos, including for Nik Kershaw, 10CC, Wax, The Cult, and six short films for Pink Floyd in 1994 which were screen at concerts during their world tour.

By the early 90s, Thorgerson established Storm Studios along with Peter Curzon, and were soon joined by Rupert Truman (photographer) and Dan Abbott (designer and illustrator). Alongside an ever-evolving team of freelancers, the group have created designs for exhibitions, books, airships, company logos, websites, and more.

Thorgerson continued to design album cover artworks for newer bands and musicians, including Audioslave and Muse, and went on to design almost every Pink Floyd album sleeve. He also published several books based on his artworks, depicting his work, photographs, and memoirs that spanned over four creatively-charged decades. Though a stroke in 2003 left him partially paralyzed, the artist’s passion and creativity remained inextinguishable, and in 2009 had a retrospective show of work at London’s OXO tower. Thorgerson sadly passed away in 2013 after his battle with cancer, aged 69.