Unique Gift Ideas! Exquisite Movie and Music prints by creatives Dorothy

Looking for a unique print gift? Dorothy combine film, music and graphic design with real style, invention and original ideas – we love their work!

Dan Bullock

Dec 10, 2024

4–7 minutes

2001: A Space Odyssey, A Quiet Place, Alien, Arctic Monkeys, art, BFI, Blade Runner 2049, Bob Dylan, Christmas, Christmas Gift Guide, Christmas Gift Guide 2024, Christmas Gift Guides, Christmas Gifts, Chuck Berry, Classic Film, Classic Movies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Dark City, David Bowie, Design, Doctor Who, Dorothy, Dorothy Designs, Dorothy Liverpool, Dorothy Star Charts, E.T., ELVIS, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Film, Forbidden Planet, Gift Guide, Gift Guide 2024, Gravity, Inception, Interstellar, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Jurassic Park, Kate Bush, Le Voyage dans la Lune, Lead Belly, Ma Rainey, Mad Max, Metallica, Music, Patti Smith, Pink Floyd, Prints, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Clash, The Cure, The White Stripes, The X-Files, Tom Waits, Under The Skin, Woody Guthrie, Xmas Gift Guides

I’ve been an admirer of the art and design print work by a creative setup named Dorothy for years now, their designs drift naturally between the sublime and inventive with classic ease, plus an additional twist of the astonishing – which I’ll go into further – and best of all everything here, and so much more, are available to order online, or even via their Liverpool workspace / studio / gallery.

There’s many wonderful print choices in the world today, and it’s clear that pop culture posters and prints are more in vogue than ever, and Dorothy – very specifically – offer a unique view by adapting existing ideas, likes maps, circuit boards and star-charts, and make designs that are completely original. Today, I’ve got some excellent examples with their outstanding Rock and Roll Love Blueprint – A History of Rock Music – Special Edition and an absolutely stellar Science Fiction Star Chart.

Rock and Roll Love Blueprint – A History of Rock Music – Special Edition

Now, while my close-up shots will reveal some of the bands and artists involved with this colossal Rock ‘n Roll Blueprint, it’s difficult to put into word how astonishing this is – but I’ll try my best to explain.

Imagine seemingly almost every musician in the genre in the modern music world, and then they’re linked through their influence or foundation in the world of rock and roll. In total, the Blueprint encompasses over 1,400 musicians, artists, songwriters, and producers who have been crucial in the timeline. From those early blues, gospel, jazz and country artists including Ma Rainey, Lead Belly, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Woody Guthrie, right through to Chuck Berry and Elvis who in turn inspired a generation including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and The Velvet Underground and continue to inspire musicians today like The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys and St Vincent.

And when you stand back and look at the print, mapped out as if a circuit board of a guitar amp, you can get welcomingly lost within the collection. In some ways, not only would this piece help remind you of your personal favourites, but it’ll also take you on a new musical journey – discovering new artists related to those you already admire, like an old school YouTube or Spotify deep dive and, you know what, it’s just even better this way.

I can pick out a few names, but you’ll certainly find your own way through your music adventures, but even via an early scan you’ll see the likes of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, across to Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, and AC/DC, plus then Pink Floyd, and Kate Bush, not forgetting David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and even Tom Waits. And, to name a few more, we’ve got Patti Smith, The Clash, Joy Division, and The Cure… and you get the picture through to the 80s, 90s, 2000s, all the way up to now – with their recent updates.

Also, the print also celebrates those key places that fuelled scenes and the popularity of the bands that frequented included places like the Cavern Club and Merseybeat, The Gaslight Cafe and Greenwich Village folk scene, CBGB and punk and Eric’s and post-punk, as well as some of the designers and artists who influenced the aesthetics and – of course, the actual inventors of rock’s essential musical instruments as well.

I could go on forever, but the detail blows my mind, and it’s a quality Metallic gold screen print, printed on 120gsm Keaykolour Deep Black uncoated paper, and that gold embossed set pops out against the dark black/blue and deserves framing, trust me! It looks good here, and even better when you see it first-hand.

Order yours here: WeAreDorothy.com/RnR-Blueprint-SpEd

Science Fiction Star Chart – Open Edition

Not too long ago, I picked up one of Dorothy’s wondrously impressive Hollywood Star Charts, which aren’t just maps like you might pick up in LA, it doesn’t tell you where people once lived, or still reside, this is an enterprise based on the constellations in the nights sky, linked up with famous films and it’s a stellar print to behold in its own right.

But my focus today is a newer Science Fiction edition, that’s definitely right up my street, and if you enjoy the likes of Dark City, Mad Max, Jurassic Park or Close Encounters of the Third Kind and this particular version also adds other more recent up-to-date ones including the likes of Under the Skin, Interstellar, Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049 and A Quiet Place as well TV shows like The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror or even one of the best of all-time: The X-Files.

One of the best things about this Science Fiction Star Chart is that it’s based on the night sky above Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris on September 1st, 1902, following the first screening of Georges Méliès Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon). Méliès, is a famous French filmmaker and magician, and was a pivotal figure in the history of sci-fi and narrative filmmaking.

Much like the Rock and Roll print, this one features so many films and TV Shows that have been key in the genre, and it also nods the mutual hat to actors, directors, producers, graphic artists, authors and writers whose work has been pivotal to the enduring beauty of science fiction, with 134 titles – noted for their cultural, historical or aesthetic significance – including A Trip to the Moon, Metropolis, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Forbidden Planet, plus the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange,and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, it hits the big ones with Star Wars, Alien and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, before including contemporary brilliance like Inception and Gravity, – and it gets even better with the likes of Doctor Who and Star Trek as well!

And, once again, seeing it in the flesh is the way to really be impressed by what’s been put together, with a huge amount of time and effort, and film history. This is a lovely Metallic silver litho print, on 120gsm Keaykolour Navy Blue uncoated paper, and also features an A-Z key, so you can trace what you want as well!