Playing dress-up

The child in us likes to play dress-up now and then, so to give my inner child this opportunity I invented Jacket January. It consists of everyday wearing one of the many "little jackets" that accumulated in my cupboard during The Working Years. 

One of those jackets is not so "little". It's made of Collier Campbell (furnishing) fabric - probably a remnant found in Liberty's in the 1980s, that era of shoulder pads and power dressing. I was all set to wear it today, to brighten up a gloomy day, but either the fabric is overwhelming or the day isn't quite gloomy enough -

 So I went for this ensemble instead -

Note the jaunty cuffs! This jacket too is from the 1980s (I think) - it was found in a charity shop early this century, unfashionable because of its huge shoulder pads. But the fabric is superb, and the label says Jaeger - and I love the cuffs - so I took the trouble to remove the shoulder pads and restyle the shoulders. (Inside was some proper tailoring, a delight to behold.)

The ceramic pin that rests on its lapel came from a craft show at Somerset House in 2009, and I don't remember the name of the maker. It's been printed with various layers of coloured slip, and the design, or the method, cries out to be turned into a woodblock print -

 Back to that Collier Campbell fabric -

The name of the designers hovered near the tip of my tongue for an agonising length of time - how to find it if all you know is that sounds like duh-duh and duh-duh and one of the names starts with C? Finally I remembered seeing an exhibition at the Fashion and Textile museum and could scroll through their archive of shows, what a relief!

Many of their fabrics are shown online, but I haven't been able to find "mine" - I'd love to know what they called the pattern ... "leftover paint", maybe?

Perhaps the best known is Kasak -

(via)

Or maybe Bauhaus?

(via)

 Or Cote d'Azur?

(via)

 In 2013 The Collier Campbell Archive was published; its blurb says:

For the five decades of their partnership, the sisters were at the forefront of textile design, with their vibrant hand-painted patterns.  

They were renowned for their handling of colour with a painter's aesthetic and their signature ability to cheat the repeat in printing: qualities that infuse their work with a sense of fluidity, freshness and exuberance.  

Launching their careers in London during the Swinging Sixties, they made their names with stunning collections for Liberty of London Prints, and their renowned patterns, with a painterly aesthetic, marked a significant turning point in textile design. 

Together, Susan and Sarah painted textile patterns for international clients including Yves Saint Laurent, Liberty, Habitat, Cacharel, Jaeger, Fischbacher, Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser and many others in the UK.  

In the USA, Collier Campbell became a sought-after brand for designer bedding with Martex, Westpoint Stevens, Springs Wamsutta, and Homestead; their decorative fabric was taken up by P. Kaufmann and Fabricut, and their wallcoverings by Manuscreens and Imperial Wallcoverings. 

In 2011, The National Theatre, London, celebrated fifty years of their exuberant designs to great acclaim. Important examples of their work are held in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York. 

Susan sadly died in May 2011; Sarah is now working independently under her own name, undertaking one-off special commissions from hand-painted fabric pieces, scarves and stationery, to patterns and textiles for the high street with collaborative lines in both Marks & Spencer and West Elm.

This scarf, which also emerged from years of dormancy in my cupboard, is not a Collier Campbell design, but rather in that spirit -

The art vs design question

A book borrowed from the library which I've been looking at over breakfast has got me thinking about the difference between the world of Design and Art. It's the work of Mark Hearld, which is a bit of both - he started as a printmaker and using collage, and has built on his success by painting on ceramics, designing tote bags for the Tate, wallpaper, etc etc. You've probably come across his work somewhere, somehow.

Mind map of sources and influences

The section called "The artist as designer" (text by Simon Martin) starts by talking about the strong graphic quality and feeling for composition and abstract pattern making in Hearld's work. Hearld says: "As well as just making pictures to go on a wall, I enjoy making and designing objects. The artists I most admire, such as John Piper and Edward Bawden, were also designers. It's about enjoying the visual quality of the objects that surround you. That's really the impetus behind everything I make. Also, there is something lovely about designing an object that people can afford to buy. They might not want to purchase a big painting but they can buy just a cushion. To design something that's functional and domestic really appeals to me because I like creating a home. I like creating a wonderful space."

Later, in regard to his first (complicated!) wallpaper design, he writes: "I had long been interested in surface pattern and textile design, but, as an artist, felt it was somebody else's world."

... which leads me to wonder how separate the Art and Design worlds are seen to be - especially by those making a living from either, or both. 

Seems to me that Fine Art is the world of big paintings at big prices with big cuts taken by dealers (who distance the artist from the owner of the work?) - a million miles away from Just a Cushion and its processes of commissioning, making, outlets, status. 

Just a few of the miniprints at Morley College

Seeing art shows - eg the miniprint exhibition at Morley - or the RA Summer Show - you encounter the work of literally hundreds of People Who Make Art, and I do wonder, why do it... is there room for more in this already overstuffed world. (Why am I bothering? is another question...)

After mulling on things like this I looked at the book some more and read "It's satisfying to get the most out of each creative idea" and maybe that's another way Art and Design differ ... how far the idea can be stretched, and the recognition that at some point it's become a different idea - or that it's run out, and you have to switch to something different. I have only a vague feeling about this ... which so far boils down to: Design = finish a set project, whereas Art= see where a visual idea leads - ? 

And then there are the Two Big Questions about making Art: 1. who is your audience. 2. what is your intent. 

What are the Two Big Questions in design? Maybe ... 1. who will pay for it. 2. how can it be used.

Oof, it makes the brain hurt. Let's relax and look at a little more of Mark Hearld's work (or have a look at this short film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byG6w2qaWnw) -

mm, those corrugated buildings!

 This page spread put me in mind of a "folk art object" seen recently in a local charity shop.

I regret not buying it, but did take a photo; might have to make my own, maybe even out of painted metal, some day -

Josef Frank's rugs

Josef Frank (1885-1967) trained as an architect in Austria, also designed fabrics, and in the 1930s moved to Sweden to work for Svenskt Tenn, where he became important in the Swedish modernist movement that was a forerunner of ... ikea. 

The Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey is just finishing a show of his textile work, with a little furniture included too - he designed over 200 pieces of furniture. 

And he designed rugs - for instance this cheerful take on the Tibetan tiger rugs -

 and Carpet 1 -

 and Carpet 3 -

Shapes and textures that, like his fabrics, bring lightness and space into rooms.

Design Museum

Relocated to Holland Park, the Design Museum is in the listed building that used to be the Commonwealth Institute (1962-2004).

 A spacious core -

 My photos show a random selection of objects on display -

Forms and structures "From the spoon to the city"

Froebel gifts 1837

Modern German kitchen: Frankfurt Kitchen, designed by Grete Schütte-Lihotzky, 1926/27

Fascinating to see tools used for creating commonly-used items

Evolution of technology

 And then there's this somewhat surprising display -

Felting with various sorts of hair

Highlight of the week

Quilt I like, by Keiko Goke

How would you categorise this quilt - modern? contemporary? traditional? folk-art? art? What's its technique - improvisational? faux-naive?

Keiko Goke, My Double Wedding Ring, 2008; 88"x87" (via)

It's by Japanese artist Keiko Goke, and I find it utterly delightful ... but why? The colours are overwhelmingly bright and at first glance the effect is of green-yellow-red brightness ... not something that usually attracts me. Then you start to notice the subtle secondary hues in their random piecing ... or is it? Look at those tiny-piece sections, how artfully they are placed; not too many and not too few. That change of scale is brilliant - and also the use of larger-scale pieces, among which one, just one, of the greens is made of two shades; doesn't your eye keep coming back to that one?

The yellow centres tie it all together (their shape helps too); they look to be slightly different shades of yellow... and then you notice the red squares, another shape contributing to the lively mix and harmonious variety, and the colour contributing to that variety too. The dark yellow finds its way among the reds and oranges, and one of those squares is definitely a rectangle - though another rectangle is made by two reds of similar tonality.

As you notice (and verbalise) what's going on, you find yourself looking and looking...

Keiko Goke also designs fabric, a wide range including this one -

Up on the roof

John Lewis has made a roof garden at its Oxford Street store as part of its 150 years celebration - a combination of fake turf and real plants. Open to the weather, with good views of nearby rooftops.

Yes it was raining - we didn't stay long

Looking west on Oxford Street

Looking east on Oxford Street

Planter with altitude

The third floor has an exhibition of the history of the store, with some unexpected items -

Attendants wear dresses made of the grey Lucienne Day fabric -

Robin and Lucienne Day were employed as consultants between 1962 and 1987 to help develop the house style for John Lewis shops. Robin was a furniture designer, and Lucienne's fabric designs were inspired by her love of modern art, particularly Joan Miro and Paul Klee.

Doll-like objects

These are children's dolls made by the Nenets tribe in north-western Russia -

What do you think their heads are made of? The label at the Polar Museum in Cambridge reads: "Dolls are made from the upper bill of a duck or goose, with the beak representing a person's head. Along with carved wooden reindeer and miniature sledges, children use beak dolls to enact scenes of everyday life such as lassoing reindeer or migrating to a new campsite. Beaks are obtained in May during the spring hunting season when ducks and geese from southern regions (including Britain) fly to nest in the tundra. There they constitute the main diet for herders at a season when reindeer meat is scarce, as reindeer are not slaughtered in the calving season."

Less exotic are these figures seen recently in Selfridges -

They're designed by Alexander Girard (1907-93), who designed much else, including textiles for Ray and Charles Eames. He had an extensive folk art collection (now housed in Santa Fe), and obviously loved colour and pattern. The year before his death, he gave the contents of his studio to the Vitra Design Museum.

Monday miscellany

Recycled paper bag - the paper is tyvek, "hand dyed with acrylic colours".
By Dana Poles; available here

More on the theme of "Christmas presents you didn't know you wanted or needed" - 10 of the world's best maps (here), starting with this waterproof, crumplable one -

But why stop at a map? A trip to Barcelona would be an even better present! (The metro map of Moscow is appealing - available via lineposters.com)

Design principles are explained in Molly Bang's "Picture This: How Pictures Work" - available as a book, or if you need it now, various manifestations are available as a powerpoint (via bookcandy.typepad.com/files/engl-3840-bang-principles.ppt, for instance) or pdf (via http://www.nhsdesigns.com/pdfs/graphic_ss_picture-this.pdf; the principles start on p14; take the quiz on p34) - why not try the assignment?

Do try this at home

London Design Week

First, on the Monday, to Graphic Africa at Habitat on the King's Road. This exhibition is on till 20 October - more info here. I didn't have my camera so the pix are courtesy of Jo -

Overview of a corner of the gallery

Only 3 drawers in the sideboard - but look at the massive stone lamp base!

Made of recycled oil drums, amazing

Yet more oil drums, brilliant

A short bus ride to "Cabinets of Curiosity" at Mint and outrageous wildness by Korean designer Myung Nam An at Squint -

Flocking - fabric collage - patchwork upholstery - a profusion by Myung Nam An

Inside a chair, who knew?

Leaving "Chelsea Quarter" of the design festival, we went to 19 Greek Street, drawn by this "floating world"

The 3D drawing in the air seemed to be strips of felt, held with a tricksy series of invisible threads - you can just about see the grid of hooks on the floor -

With time running out, on Friday I made it to the V&A to see the work of Julia Lohmann, whose stint as artist-in-residence - or rather, Design Resident - finishes this month. She's been working with kelp, treating it so it keeps its elasticity when dry, and stretching it over canes. She calls the studio Department of Seaweed -

At the end of the gloomy Leighton Corridor is Oki Naganode, the luminous creature that she

made from a type of Japanese seaweed,  -

The canes are covered with metal tubing -

ao textiles is a group whose practice emphasises the sustainable. I was impresssed by the marbling on silk, and the way embroidery (with recycled indigo-dyed thread) is used for emphasis -

The fabric yardage is woven from yarn dyed with madder, but what interested me was the effect of erasure with white paint to produce the backdrop -

Along a corridor, 70 designers' sketchbook response to three questions: what can we not live without; what needs improving; what would you like to design -

I was delighted to see Tina (centre, bottom row) among them - years ago we were part of a group that went to the V&A or British Museum to fill our sketchbooks. Read more about the moleskine sketch relay, and see lots of good pix, on her blog.

Contributions from the public were part of the display

Between the metalwork and medieval galleries, 5000 paper windmills made an impressive door curtain -

Every now and then a switch flipped and a wind blew through the Wind Portal, turning some of the windmills - my camera was too fast to get much of a blur -

Leaving the V&A via the front entrance, you see 28.280 by Omer Arbel "a pure celebration of the monumental height of the building". It's there till November -

Of course there was much more to see in the various "design quarters" around town, in shops and special spaces - but not enough time (or obsession) to see it all.