Photographer Dirk Kruell has produced a stunning new 2013 calendar for paint supplier Standox based around the theme of  'Cars and Culture'.

The central idea is to show 13 icons of automobile history embedded in their original eras, characterised by art, design and cultural highlights from the period. There are several perfectly staged iconic images included. This even includes a reinterpretation of the classic Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover.

In the Standox image the “swinging sixties” are symbolised by a number of other icons, in addition to the Beatles. Among these is a barely three metre long car rolling on tiny 10-inch wheels, of which an incredible 5.5 million units came off the assembly line. The Mini was a revolutionary concept at the time and features on the July page of the calendar.  Designer Lutz Menze and photographer Dirk Krüll created a Sgt. Pepper-styled setting to portray this four-wheeled icon.

The very British image was actually taken in Germany. Dirk Krüll did not have to travel far to find the right backdrop, a baroque palace set in a manicured park in a southern suburb of his hometown of Düsseldorf. This is where the photographer assembled not only his team but also a large group of enthusiastic volunteers. “A class from a local school were doing a project on Sgt. Pepper in their arts course. This involved the creation of the masks and cardboard figures which can be seen in the photo. We hired a school bus to bring the entire class to the location because we wanted them to be part of the picture of course,” Dirk Krüll explains.

The staring Mini belongs to Holger Boborowski, an employee of the nearby Standox head office in Wuppertal.

For more information visit www.standox.co.uk