BOBO1325 creatively celebrates the life of James Sadler through unique project with NOMA.
BOBO1325 - a Partner at Material Source Studio Manchester - has collaborated with NOMA on a unique design project - Together We Rise - "a celebration of innovation, creativity, and courage; of the bold, the brave, and the beautifully baffling", explains Beth Travers, BOBO1325's founder.
"An exploration of maverick thinking and the restless spirit that drives progress, even when it defies logic, convention, or approval."
Supported by Material Source Studio and NOMA, a year-long project marks 10-years of Sadler’s Yard - the public square adjacent to our Manchester Studio, and honours the legacy of James Sadler, a pioneer whose contributions to science and engineering continue to echo, despite his near-erasure from mainstream historical record.
A figure defined by courage, experimentation, and a touch of avant-garde absurdity, Sadler exists somewhere between documented fact and mythologised memory.
Beth is creating a series of artworks, conveyed through a variety of mediums, including fabric, with each collection acting as an open invitation into an internal landscape: provocative, layered, and unapologetically eccentric. Symbolism weaves throughout, encouraging curiosity and rewarding those willing to look closer - designs that don’t simply sit still, but ask to be discovered, questioned, and felt.
Within the body of work - which has been hand-painted over the last 12-months by Beth live at our Manchester Studio - Sadler appears "fragmented, rendered in broken lines and shifting forms. This visual language reflects both the gaps in his story and the instability of historical narrative itself.
"What remains is incomplete, contested, and at times unreliable; a patchwork of folklore, embellishment, and partial truths. It raises a question: was Sadler overlooked not for lack of impact, but for lack of status - just another casualty of the divide between 'town and gown'?" Beth ponders. "Yet this is Manchester - a place that thrives on doing things differently," she adds.
This collaboration reclaims Sadler’s story, celebrating a forgotten pioneer and reimagining his historic ascent from Balloon Street as both a moment of invention and an enduring symbol of fearless imagination.
A recent event held here at our Manchester Studio saw Beth's fabric used to craft lanterns to, quite literally, shine a spotlight on this man of myth and legend. The project will continue over the coming months. If you pop into Material Source Studio Manchester, you can see Beth in action working on the next phase of her wonderful, narrative rich designs.
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BOBO1325 is an award winning, innovative, interior brand founded by designer Beth Travers.
