This simplified feel calls to my mind the landscape designer Jacques Wirtz. He might be in his 80s but he’s so relevant, creating clean, beautiful sculptural forms that are refreshing and highly in step with what’s being produced by younger designers across interiors, furniture and product. It’d be great to see him create something for Milan one year.

Jaques Wirtz hedges, private garden

Jaques Wirtz hedges, private garden

Jacques Wirtz, private garden

Jacques Wirtz hedges, private garden

Trade fairs are still an essential part of doing business in this industry but these events are expensive, short-lived and incredibly wasteful, really taking their toll on the world’s resources. Not in keeping with current thinking around environmental issues. ‘Saved by Droog’ picked up on our desire to take better care of our planet, inviting a range of designers (nicknamed ‘revivers’) to recycle and upcycle over 5000 items rescued from liquidation sales.

At Moroso there was talk in emotional tones, new designs were developed around words such as ‘memory’, ‘wellbeing’ and ‘intimacy’. In their showroom, the company presented ‘Tumbleweed’, an installation by two artists Francesco Simeti and Andrea Sala that juxtaposed the prevailing trend for plain, angular furniture with large-scale prints inspired by travel and journeys – both real and imagined – to invigorate the overall space.  Similarly at Poliform a blowsy, bold print by Ken Scott was used to upholster sharp, modern pieces.

Moroso, Tumbleweed by artists Francesco Simeti and Andrea Sala

Poliform, Ken Scott print

When I was at college we studied Derrida, which led me towards trying out his deconstruction theory in textiles. I experimented with the construction of a repeat pattern by taking it apart and putting it back together again and also played with Cyanotype – a technique of transferring large-scale photographic images onto fabric.

But aside from Derrida, hauntology links with a noticeable and growing trend; the longing for things that remind us of the past. It’s been manifesting itself as a gradual fondness for retro–feeling interiors and products and the popularity of vintage-inspired, shabby chic interiors; second-hand clothes that have a ‘story’ behind them, the phrase ‘loveworn’ increasingly being used in fashion journalism; comfort food and classic British favourites finding their way onto menus in expensive restaurants; ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ posters.

But it’s not necessarily just about flowers, chintz and bunting. You can detect it in Jacques Wirtz’s work who I mentioned in the post about Milan. Architect David Chipperfield’s Neues Museum in Berlin beautifully marries the past with the contemporary, one informing the other to create a brand new kind of experience.

David Chipperfiled Neues Museum

And last year Muji teamed up with Thonet and Konstantin Grcic to reinterpret Thonet’s famous curved wood chairs – the original design of which was first created 150 years ago.

Thonet Muji chair

Once you’re aware of hauntology it makes absolute sense, and you can’t escape it!

I like this one by artist Patrice Moor called Josephine she looks beautiful wrapped up in a coat of flowers, you can spot her at Sloane Square.

Patrice Moor’s elephant ‘Josephine’

But if you miss seeing them in situ you can see the entire herd at the Royal Hospital Chelsea from 24^th June – 4^th July.

The Museum of Everything Exhibition #1 Guide

For those of you that were fortunate to visit The Museum of Everything (see my November blog) you will be very interested to know that there is to be an event # 2 which not only can you visit but you can enter your art work as well !!

Here is the info from the lovely people at Museum Of Everything:

CALLING THE UNTRAINED, UNINTENTIONAL & UNSEEN CREATORS OF GREATER BRITAIN.

The Museum of EVERYTHING

Exhibition #2 @ Tate Modern

THE MUSEUM OF EVERYTHING

NEW! Exhibition #2 @ Tate Modern NEW!

On Friday May 14th, Saturday May 15th and Sunday May 16th 2010, The Museum of Everything will present Exhibition #2 at London’s Tate Modern, featuring the unknown, untrained, unintentional and unexhibited artwork submitted during the show itself.

If you are a self-taught or non-traditional artist, or if you know one, or if you have discovered something we ought to see, bring it to the Tate Modern and hang it next to a couple of Rothko’s. For details on how, when, where, what and why, click here, my dear.

The exhibition is very much about what she represented and her persona as opposed to just a series of garments. It makes you wonder about the meshing of her real personality with her starring roles and question which was more influential on how she dressed. Was Kelly’s style molded by Hitchcock and wardrobe designer Edith Head (after all, the studio even made Kelly’s wedding dress and honeymoon outfit), or was this Kelly’s natural look and they created the costumes and characters to match? Either way, the result was effortless and enduring – a style that was simple, understated and elegant, which she seemed to exude in her acting as well as her off-screen presence.

Very GK.

There are a few unexpected pieces to be seen. I loved the black floral dress (wearing pattern was untypical of Kelly) this is the dress she wore to the Cannes festival and on her meeting with Prince Rainer.

The amount of beautiful printed fabrics dating way back acts like a documentary of the fashions and fabrics available at the time. It’s fascinating to see how fabrics were saved and stored, perhaps expectantly watched whilst being worn in the hope that one day that they (the quilters) could get their scissors and needles out to fashion the item into a bedcover. In fact, I could have studied the prints in each of the early quilts for hours, so amazing is the amount of pattern and colour that was used, some of the pieces were made up of 15 or 20 different prints. And even though they have aged, you can sort of feel the crispness of the prints on the cottons.

Bishops Court quilt, Unknown, 1690-1700. Museum no. T.201-1984

Calico and cotton lawns, pale blues with brown, typical 1800s seaweed designs mixed with tiny dotted paisleys, yellows with soft purple circles… I was enthralled by the intricacy, effort and detail, by the tiny circles and smallness of some of the patches but then patience isn’t my virtue!

It was interesting to see the reverse of a quilt so you could see the newspaper pattern pieces which are still in place, you can even make out some of the old newsprint.

I have always admired Sonia Delaunay’s quilt she made for her son Charles, it’s such a personal celebration for a child’s birth that can handed down the generations.

Sonia Delaunay baby quilt for Charles, 'Couverture' 1911

This is what I love most about quilts; they are such an emotional and human product, so non-commercial and genuine in their purpose.

The early historical pieces from the 1700 and 1800s and the war quilts were particular fascinating but the exhibition also includes work by contemporary artists including Nina Saunders and Grayson Perry’s incredible ‘Right to Life’. They show how what is such a homely, cosy product can be appropriated for political and sociological messages; the AIDS Memorial quilt is perhaps the best-known example of this.

Grant Heap, Garden Chairs, Radiant Dark 2010: Assets & Values, Exhibition Toronto

Tracey Emin’s bed with quilts and embroidered cushions seems to relate to the comfort, security and warmth that bedcovers and quilts bring, again using specially saved fabrics and compiling them together with stitch and verse. Canadian artist Grant Heaps’ work isn’t included in this exhibition but naturally, the show reminded me of him, I love his quilts and the ‘quilt chairs’ are bang on the hand-made/folklore/crafted trend.

The exhibition also features quilts that were made for use in hospitals with biblical verse stitched in for the patients to read. I could see this idea being used today’s digital world. Wouldn’t it be great to read your book actually in the bedcovers, or to read little relaxing messages before you sleep?

The current trend and popularity for all things handmade and homemade, especially knitting, sewing, ceramics and so on, fits very well with the quilts from the past. In North America quilting is a much celebrated and loved craft (as proven by the sheer number of exhibitions devoted to the subject and huge number of active quilters). I’m half expecting quilting groups to spring up like those pub knitting groups – social gatherings that are such cooperative experiences.

There’s a lot to see and the exhibition is so beautifully and thoughtfully organised so I’m definitely going to go back to see this again.

It’s always lovely to discover a new artist and this weekend I stumbled across the work of a lady called Georgie Hopton. Her exhibition ‘Cut and Come Again’ is partly like a grown-up version of potato prints! After successfully growing a vegetable garden at her home in the Catskills in 2005, she started photographing herself with her harvest. She then began using the vegetables as tools, dipping them in acrylic paint to create brightly coloured abstract prints on paper. Finally the vegetables and chopping board are cast in bronze. It’s an intriguing, playful and very personal series of work.

The show is part of the Nomad galleries programme and is therefore on in a space temporarily commandeered just for this exhibition so catch it while you can!

Cut and Come Again is organised Poppy Sebire and is at 232 King’s Road, London SW3 5UD until May 29^th 2010.

Rig by Lucienne Day for Heals Ltd., 1953

As well as Sanderson, from the 1950s onwards Lucienne Day had a whole range of successful collaborations including those with Liberty, Habitat, John Lewis Partnership, Rosenthal and Heal’s with whom she worked for 20 years, creating more than 70 patterns. It was a boom time for freelance designers and pattern was popular so she produced a prolific amount of work – textiles, carpets, ceramics, wallpapers – linking mass production and fine art.

Read more about Lucienne’s legacy at Design Museum.org

Sadly Lucienne Day passed away at the start of this year but with the timeless quality of her work, her importance and influence as a designer surely she will always be a role model.

Lucienne Day London 1997 by Anne-Katrin Purkiss

You can still buy her work from  classictextiles.com

It’s especially fascinating to see the early photogravure papers that were introduced in 1923, way before they became standard in the industry. Sanderson really pushed the boundaries of this technique. The exhibition includes some fine examples of papers that have gravure metallised canvas grounds, which were then surface printed with water-based emulsions. Another paper that shows the range of textured gravure grounds is from 1926 by Harry Watkins Wild – a beautiful peacock print. Look out for it as it hangs in the entrance hall on the way into the exhibition.

There are also some interesting interviews with people significant to Sanderson’s history. Pat Albeck discusses her design Sunflowers that has been re-launched. It was first produced for one of my all time favourite collections, the Palladio, but I think this design really stands the test of time and still looks fresh and contemporary. Elsewhere in the film Albert Riva, Sanderson’s Italian agent who grew up understanding and appreciating the collection and took over from his father in the 1960s, talks with affection about the company.

Accompanying the 150^th anniversary celebrations is ‘Sanderson. The Essence of English Decoration’ by Mary Schoeser. She is an authority on textiles and wallpaper and her beautifully illustrated book is a must if you’d like a more detailed look at the company’s history and developments.

'The Essence of English Decoration', by Mary Schoeser

CFA Voysey, William Morris, Picasso, John Piper, Lucienne Day, Norman Hartnel… ‘Very Sanderson’ celebrates a roll call of amazing designers and artists invited over the years to combine innovation with timelessness. Long may it continue!

For more information see the Fashion and Textiles Museum blog and download the Sanderson history timeline.

So how can we get from here to what we can see at Premiere Vision with designers such as Claudia Caviezel (see Claudia’s wonderful interview on Faces of Design and her website) using digital in an exciting and stimulating way?

Spring 2009 Collection of AKRIS designed for Jakob Schlaepfer by Claudia Caviezel

Perhaps the answer is to introduce drawing, collage, lino cutting, wax relief printing, mono printing and many others handmade skills to try and turn the young students’ heads away from their computers. Maybe even ban them in the first year! It may sound harsh but it could work, after all, in my first year at Camberwell we had to work solely in black and white from painting to printing!

Elanbach Chelsea Harbour showroom

In some ways I think the digital fabrics might hold the key to breathing life back into this country’s fraying textile industry. With only a few companies really exploring digital printing in the UK, it might still be considered a cottage industry here, but having seen how it has taken off in Europe and South-East Asia, it seems a real growth area financially but also a way to be able to offer great creativity as well as a beautifully finished product. And we’re nothing, in the UK if not creative! Inks are becoming more light-fast and durable and as variety of what can be printed on keeps improving with fabrics like heavy linens, cottons and velvets in the mix, we’ll start seeing more digital prints in the home.

PRADA Summer 2010

Because of its flexibility and beauty of placement printing we will continue to see digital printing used commercially in fashion. Designers are willing to pay the price for the more expensive digital fabric but these are coming down and it is considerably cheaper than it was even 2 years ago.

I saw a lot more companies (mainly Italian) at Premiere Vision offering digital as well as conventional printed fabrics. The perfect product for this technique is the scarf. Sadly it’s often too expensive for small-scale designers to get involved in creating scarves as the quantities required to make the numbers work are too big, and unless you are a skilled printer they are very time consuming to produce oneself. I know because I have tried and although I was able to sell at great shops such as Paul Smith, Joseph and Bergdorf Goodman ultimately I couldn’t compete with the lower prices that manufacturers were getting from China. But as I said digital printing is becoming more affordable so look out for it on more scarves whether in Liberty or coming to a high street near you.