Calendar of Welsh telephone boxes dubbed most boring of 2014

Calendar designer Kevin Beresford, who has a reputation for making calendars of mundane subjects, says he may have taken it too far with his latest venture — a calendar of telephone boxes in Wales, which has been roundly criticized for being the most boring calendar of 2014.

The Redditch, England, resident made headlines this week when the Fast Disappearing Red Telephone Boxes of Wales calendar failed to sell a single copy.

“The initial response has been awful and I don’t know if it’s a boring bridge too far,” he told CBC Radio One’s As It Happens.

“I like these iconic structures, these scarlet things that are scattered ‘round our countryside and cities. But it hasn’t quite caught the imagination of the public … I don’t take offence to that. It’s almost like a badge of honour, you know?”

A badge of honour he says that has helped boost calendar sales.

“Because I’ve got all this media attention … now I’m inundated now with orders,” Beresford said. “Me actual website crashed last night with the amount of traffic that came through.”

Beresford is working on a calendar of prisons around the world and another of roundabouts from across the globe. His previous projects include insane asylums, graveyards of London and roadkill.

“I like to focus, artists do do this, to focus on mundane things … I quite like the mundane and I like to celebrate dullness and embrace dullness. There’s nothing wrong with that, I don’t think, anyhow,” he said.

“I don’t do mainstream. It doesn’t work for me.”