Bid Blind For A Murugiah Or A Clare Twomey As War Childs Secret 7 Marks 10 Years

Creative Boom: News Art & Culture Bid blind for a Murugiah or a Clare Twomey as War Child's Secret 7" marks 10 years For its tenth edition, the cult charity auction returns with 700 one-off record sleeves from the likes of Murugiah, Clare Twomey, and Thierry Noir. And you won't know who designed yours, or which song is inside, until you've won it. Written By: Katy Cowan 24 June 2026 It's been a highlight of our creative community for a decade, and it's back once more with the same much-loved format: an anonymous auction featuring some of our favourite artists and designers. If you've somehow been living under a rock, here's how Secret 7" works.

Seven tracks from seven well-known musicians are each pressed 100 times onto seven-inch vinyl – 700 records in all. Artists, illustrators, designers, and the odd musician are then invited to create a one-off sleeve for each one. The catch (and the joy) is that it all stays secret. You bid on the sleeve you love, not the name behind it, and the artist and the track are only revealed once the record is in your hands. You could walk away with a superstar's song wrapped in a legend's artwork, or an emerging name you'll be glad you spotted early on. These days, War Child is behind the project.

But Secret 7" was founded in 2012 by Kevin King and Jordan Stokes, set up while King was working at Universal Music. It's why the music has always come from the Universal catalogue. It ran for seven editions until 2020, raising over £500,000 and gathering sleeves from the likes of Sir Anish Kapoor, Yoko Ono, Sir Paul Smith, and Ai Weiwei along the way. War Child revived it in 2023, and this is the third edition under the charity... making it the tenth in all.

This year's seven tracks come from John Lennon, The Last Dinner Party, Gabrielle, The Maccabees, Skin, Glass Animals, and Bastille – with Lennon's 'Out the Blue' and The Last Dinner Party's 'Let's Do It Again!' among the songs hidden inside. A gloriously broad line-up Ok, so the roster of visual artists for 2026 will mean you'll want to bid on everything.

Ceramist Clare Twomey MBE, French muralist Thierry Noir – whose elongated faces became a symbol of resistance across the Berlin Wall – and British Sri Lankan multidisciplinary artist Murugiah sit alongside graphic designer Anthony Burrill, New York-based British artist Jon Burgerman, and Liverpool creative Sumuyya Khader. All well-loved and familiar names to us all. There are sleeves from The Connor Brothers, Joy Yamusangie, Ken Nwadiogbu, Joey Yu, and Welsh artist Pete Fowler, best known for his Super Furry Animals artwork.

Andy Vella, who has been making covers for The Cure for more than 40 years, has returned to the project, having supported it since 2012. Ben Kelly, the interior designer behind Manchester's legendary Haçienda, has created one, as have artist, poet, and director LionHeart, photographer Rebecca Zephyr Thomas, and Chris Lloyd, known for sketching live concerts. There's a lovely thread of musicians who've crossed into art, as well. The Maccabees' frontman, Orlando Weeks, has made a sleeve, as has Justine Frischmann, who co-founded Suede and fronted Elastica before leaving music for a career as a visual artist.

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The article discusses a charity auction featuring unique art, which has significance in the art and culture sector, but it lacks direct implications for brand strategy professionals.