the modernist

15/06/2026

Big thanks to .halliday for his tour of Modernist Fitzrovia as part of on Saturday, and thanks to all of you who joined in. We hoped you enjoyed the sunshine.

If you couldn't make it to the tour.. you can now find it on our free mobile app which is available on Apple and Google app stores.. search for The Modernist. (Tours of Bristol, Glasgow, Huddersfield, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield are also available).

10/06/2026

Film Screening - Arthur Erickson : Beauty Between The Lines - 17th June 2026.

A rare UK showing of Arthur Erickson: Beauty Between The Lines. The film chronicles the untold personal and professional triumphs and tragedies of one of the most captivating modernist architects of the 20th Century.

BDP, 11 Ducie St, Manchester M1 2JB
To book, see https://buff.ly/I6VVLmE
£8 / £10

07/06/2026

We're delighted to be taking part in the London Festival of Architecture 2026 — and we're marking the occasion with something special. On Saturday 13th June, we'll be leading a guided walk through Fitzrovia as part of the official launch of Modernist Fitzrovia, our newest tour on the Modernist mobile app.

Although the walking tour is now fully booked - we invite you to explore Fitzrovia anytime, anyday, by downloading the modernist app and taking the free tour (tours of Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Bristol, Sheffield and Hudderfield are also available.)

https://buff.ly/0uyJ4Rj

The app tour was devised and written by .halliday and is available free from Apple and Google app stores.

06/06/2026

the modernist is a Manchester-based independent publisher, specialist bookshop, gallery, and cultural organisation dedicated to twentieth-century architecture and design. Founded in 2009 as part of The Modernist Society — a not-for-profit Community Interest Company — it has grown into one of the UK's most distinctive voices celebrating modernist and post-war built culture, typography, graphics, and design history.

The Modernist Gallery Shop opened in May 2019 at 58 Port Street, Manchester, M1 2EQ, in the Northern Quarter. It is the only bookshop in Manchester specialising in architecture and design, and is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am–5pm.

The shop stocks books published by The Modernist alongside a curated selection of titles from other publishers, as well as prints, posters, stationery, homeware, clothing, and design objects with a modernist focus. The organisation hosts regular exhibitions, talks, film screenings, and tours.

06/06/2026

Join the modernist and many more art publishers... as the 2nd Edition of Biblioteka Art Book Fair at the Warburg Institute is here!

Fri 12 June 12:00-20:00

Sat 13 June 11:00-19:00

The Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, WC1H 0AB, London
https://buff.ly/npJ8JQQ

05/06/2026

New exhibition. Coming soon!
TALKIN’BOUT 1976!
50 years since year zero for UK Punk & the Manchester connection...

'The summer of 1976 in Manchester was hot… very hot. And amid the bubbling tarmac and the brutal concrete housing estates, something seismic was happening down in the city’s ripped backsides…'

Exhibition designed and curated by Craig Johnson.

With contributions by Jon Savage, Paul Morley, Malcolm Garrett, John Cooper Clarke, Peter Hook and many more!

12th June - 25th July 2026

at the modernist
58 Port Street, Manchester M1 2EQ
open 11am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday
https://buff.ly/28go6dd

03/06/2026

"From its starting point – as a platform for society members committed to the celebration of Modernist architecture in Britain – The Modernist has matured into a publication that touches on subjects of wide public concern. The latest issue (56) addresses the theme of ‘Pleasure’. This imaginative range of topics is all the more impressive for a magazine that is a by-product of other activities rather than a main focus. The society produces a plethora of talks, tours, exhibitions and films about notable buildings. It has an extensive publishing programme (see review of Modernist Graphic Design in Britain, Eye 108) and an attractive shop in the centre of Manchester, where back issues can be found. In a field – architecture – that has never lacked publications of high calibre, The Modernist has been tended with devotion by its founders and friends, and evolved its own unique voice."

Rick Poynor, writer, Eye founder, Professor Emeritus, University of Reading

First published in Eye no. 110 vol. 28, 2026

31/05/2026

What does eye magazine say about the modernist magazine? Read it here.. https://eyemagazine.com/opinion/article/modern-lovers

31/05/2026

Britain's post-war graphic designers helped reshape society during a period of profound national transformation, yet many of their names have quietly slipped from view...

Some books deserve to reach more people. When we first published Modernist Graphic Design in Britain 1945–1980 by Ian McLaren and Tony Pritchard, we knew we had something special on our hands. What we didn't anticipate was quite how much the design community would agree. The original hardback edit...

29/05/2026

Modernist Graphic Design in Britain 1945-1980 (softback edition)

by Ian McLaren and Tony Pritchard

Some books deserve to reach more people. When we first published Modernist Graphic Design in Britain 1945–1980 by Ian McLaren and Tony Pritchard, we knew we had something special on our hands. What we didn't anticipate was quite how much the design community would agree. The original hardback edition — strictly limited to 500 copies — found its audience quickly, and the conversation it sparked has only grown louder since. So this May, we're making it available in paperback, because great design history needs to be appreciated more widely.

The authors bring formidable credentials to the project. Ian McLaren is best known for his work on the Munich Olympics and the Lyon Métro, while Tony Pritchard is the former editor of Typographic magazine and a longtime course leader at the London College of Communication. Between them, they don't just write about this tradition — they lived it.

Available now on-line and from the modernist shop.

£40.00
432 pages
Full colour
170mm x 240mm
ISBN 978-1-0682995-0-6