modern spring 2009

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modern spring 2009

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STYLE ICONS To mark the 300th anniversary of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the Woven Textile students at Central St Martins School of Art were approached by Canon Martin Warner to enter a competition.

The historic brief was to design a collection of vestments, in ‘contemporary classic’ style, that would complement the cathedral’s magnificent Baroque interior. French textile designer Marie Brisou won the competition, and has been working on the project since its inception in September 2005, during which time she has also completed an MA in Textile Design at the RCA.

When designing the lavish garments – the very first collection belonging solely to the cathedral – Brisou drew her inspiration from its architecture, mosaics, metal work and wood carvings. She even re-designed the crucifix in order to create one that would be unique to St Paul’s. Working in collaboration with the GainsboroughSilk Weaving Company and the newly formed

St Paul’s Textile Guild to produce the woven cloth, Brisou achieved a classical look with a modern twist by incorporating brocade effects and combining colours such as salmon pink and light silver-blue. She also juxtaposed symbols with flowers and stems to reflect the cathedral’s English Baroque style. The finished pieces show off the time-consuming handiwork involved – on the

back of one of the Bishop’s cope’s collars is a small cross that alone took fifteen hours to make. Swarovski crystals added opulence and grandeur to the final designs. www.stpauls.co.uk

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NEWS & EVENTS11

Photo: A loisio Bri to

42EXPERT’S OPINIONMODERN TEXTILES

modernspring 2009

LA LUNE ELSI GIAUQUE, 1972

CHRISTA THURMAN Curator and Chair of Textiles, The Art Institute of Chicago

Swiss artist Elsi Giaque’s La Lune is made of four individual parts, positioned one behind the other. The

weaving consists of exposed, taut, warp threads, which create the form of the piece, incorporating all that she sought to realise in her work: the transparency of the weave and the authenticity of the thread. Walking around La Lune, the viewer has an ever-changing vision of the juxtaposed layers, like the changing faces of the moon itself.

Giauque contributed to textile production acquiring the status of art form in its own right, quickly becoming one of the initiators of new trends in the tapestry world. Already in 1945, she had started questioning traditional wall tapestry. Her work heralded the radical changes that textile art would see during the 1960s and 70s, of which the International

Biennials of Tapestry in Lausanne were a witness for over thirty years (1962-1995). As a pupil of Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and as herself a teacher in Zurich, she had an influence on many younger artists.

Photo: S imon Martin, P alla nt House

SUN MAN ROBERT STEWART, 1950, LIBERTY & CO LTD.

CATHERINE MORIARTY Curator, Design Archives, University of Brighton

In the late 1980s I worked along Savile Row at the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. At lunchtime I would sometimes cross Regent Street to Liberty. On one visit, I came across a display of items made up in Scottish designer and artist Robert Stewart’s Sun Man. First produced in 1950, this late 80s re-release provoked a powerful fusion of nostalgia (a cushion cover at my grandparent’s house perhaps) and my contemporary

enjoyment of London. I still don’t see Sun Manin any cosmic sense but in a very literal way: the sun shining over the city, railings, dynamism (it’s those dotted ellipses) and urban energy. In Liz Arthur’s excellent book Robert Stewart: Design 1946-95, we learn that the designer and his wife were living in the west end of Glasgow at this time, enthused by Scottish heritage both urban and rural. I bought a tea cosy in the blue colourway, and twenty years on, though fraying at the

edges, it still speaks to me of a sparkling River Thames, Routemaster buses and St James’s Park on a sunny day.

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MODERN TEXTILESEXPERT’S OPINION43

FELT LACE XCHANGE PAULINE VERBEEKCOWART WITH BETHANNE KNUDSON, 2008, ORIOLE MILL

MATILDA MCQUAID Deputy Curatorial Director, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York

At a recent conference in Hendersonville, North Carolina, I had

the opportunity to visit a new mill, Oriole Mill, founded by Bethanne Knudson and Stephan Michelson. It offers custom woven and designed textiles, focusing on quality, rather than quantity and speed, in the production process. They are dedicated to making the finest jacquard and dobby fabrics from natural fibres, and ultimately hope to lead a resurgence of small

artisanal mills in this once vibrant textile-making area. One wonderful outcome of opening the mill has been the formation of Studio Structure by Knudson and Pauline VerbeekCowart. Felt Lace X-Changereflects the mission of the mill in its craftsmanship and experimentation with natural fibres and also demonstrates Verbeek-Cowart’s interest in exploring ways in

which wool can be transformed. Essentially, Feltis a double-cloth with an open weave structure that has been woven into four ‘tubes’, which are then cut, and the fabric is washed and fulled to achieve a soft felt-like texture. The cut tubes splay out creating a 3-D cloth that shares the soft and undulating folds of a curtain. The deceptively simple structure, pure and natural colour, and

fine merino wool fibre give credence to the designers’ and Oriole Mill’s renewed hope for the textile industry in the US.

LACE MOUNTAIN ZANDRA RHODES, 1974

DENNIS NORTHDRUFT Director and Curator, Fashion and Textiles Museum, London

Lace Mountainrepresents a culmination of several key aspects of Zandra Rhodes’ textile design work. Rhodes trained as a textile

designer at the Royal College of Art in London, before establishing a fashion house. The use of her own printed textiles was a trademark of her oeuvre. Inspired by a trip to Ayers Rock in Australia, this print is shaped by representations of the bush lands, spinifex grass and Ayers Rock itself. Figurative elements developed from observational drawings are an important part of

these designs. Her earliest works were directly influenced by Pop Art that was all the rage in the mid 1960s in London, and the mixing of incongruous elements, drawn from real life and recreated in unexpected ways, has remained typical of her work. Rhodes’ designs have a strong technicality to them, particularly pronounced in Lace Mountain.The design is printed

with a ‘turn-around’ screen which can be rotated 90 degrees, resulting in a completely different repeat. The three-colour print, on silk chiffon, also features design elements that define the shape and construction of the dress that was to be made from it – within the print are necklines, waistlines, armholes and hems.

Editorial 7 Using rugs a medium for communication

News & Events 9 News: ‘Collect 2009’ at London’s Saatchi Gallery, Olga Fisch and Galapagos colour, Cadrys launch Florence Broadhurst collection, Marie Brisou designs vestments for St. Pauls Exhibitions: Jo Barker at theScottish Gallery, graphic Thonik at the Venice Biennale Fairs:Our pick from Hanover, Atlanta, Parisand Cologne; what to expect at ICFF and Salone

Insight 20 The woven worlds of Loophouse 24 Robin Gray’s global inspirations

In Situ 28 We select companies that add texture to the luxury of superyachts

Features 34 A new rug for the Oval Office? We consider President Obama’s options 37 Floor to Heaven’s Michaela Shleypen talks with Natasha Randall about innovation 41 What epitomises a ‘modern’ textile? We ask leading curators for their choice 46 The man behind the brand; talking textiles and design with Sir Terence Conran 50 Langlands & Bell’s first carpet commission

Market Report 74 Egypt’s contemporary textile trade 78 This season’s hot metallics

Retail Report 82 Megerian rugs collaborate with Barry Dixon

Last Page 88 Laura Marsen and eco plastic lace

Photo:John Parkinson Agency

modern spring 2009

TERENCE CONRANPROFILE47

A Life in Design Following the publication of Terence Conran’s Inspiration, Emma Millstalks to him about his background in textiles and the future of design

You began your career in 1948 at the age of 17 when you studied textiles at London’s Central School of Arts and Crafts – what motivated you to pursue this medium? I was interested in organic chemistry, colour and pattern making, so the combination of all three suggested a course in textile design and printing. Dora Batty, a wonderful woman who ran the textile department at Central, saw that

my talent was for a whole range of design activities and encouraged me to take a job that wouldn’t pigeonhole me. Dora brought in a whole raft of inspirational young designers as outside lecturers who really broadened our horizons. I learned how to screen-print, but also absorbed the belief – which came from the Bauhaus and Arts and

Crafts ideals that were evident at Central – that good design should be something available to the whole community. Were many men designing textiles at that time? No – in my textile class at Central there were 33 of us and they were practically all female. What inspired your early textile designs?

I remember very vividly the influence that Eduardo Paolozzi had on my early life – both on my approach to art and design but even more importantly to life itself. Paolozzi came to teach at Central in my early days there. He had just returned from Paris and I remember he was very interested in

primitive African art. As well as his sculpture, for which he

was best known, he made collages and printed textiles, all of which seemed to me to be bursting with colour and originality. A lot of my early work, particularly my textile designs, showed a heavy Paolozzi influence. He became a great inspiration in everything I did.

Were any of your early designs offered commercially? Have you returned to this area since? Opportunities for design work at that time were very rare, so I only managed to sell some of my designs on a small scale. I would love to print again one design from around 1954 called Leaf. Interestingly, some of my ceramic designs produced by

The Midwinter Pottery started out as textile designs I had done for Dennis Lennon at the Festival of Britain. How did you design the interior of the Princess Flying Boat with architect Dennis Lennon for the 1951 Festival of Britain? I was 19 when I started working for Dennis Lennon, who was

involved with various projects for the Festival Site, including the Transport Pavilion and the Homes & Gardens Pavilion. It was so exciting to be thrown into all the extraordinary activity that was going on at the South Bank – the Skylon was going up, there were fascinating objects of discovery and modern architecture, the likes of which we had never seen in

war-torn London.

My own project was designing the interior for the Princess

Flying Boat, which was supposed to take off from Southampton and land in New York. I also designed quite a lot of welded reinforcing rod furniture for the Homes & Gardens pavilion and some textiles. What stands out is the sheer optimism of the whole time – we felt that this would be a huge moment of change in taste in the UK – and, in a

way, it was. Inside the Festival Hall on the opening night it was extraordinary, a happy dream for the future, I thought. Does the work of one designer, or indeed one object, have particular resonance for you in terms of representing your approach to design?

The teachings of the Bauhaus and William Morris had a

significant impact on my approach to design and I decided at a very young age that I was never likely to be a great designer in the same way as Eileen Grey or Pierre Chareau. My ambition was, and is to this day, to design things that fit seamlessly into ordinary people’s everyday lives. Do you think that over the last decade or two, fashions and trends have become more important in shaping interiors? With this in mind, is the relationship between ‘good design’ and fashion positive or negative? Creativity and innovation are the defining characteristics of a good designer, whose role is to create inspired solutions

to the problems of contemporary life. For this they must

have their finger on the pulse of modern society because good design is enduring and moves with the latest trends but must never be held hostage by fashion or novelty. We must resist the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ culture because timeless design that acquires a pleasant patina with age is

the most appealing.

1 The textiles class, Central School of Arts and Crafts,

London, 1955

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Photo © Museum and Contem porary Colle ction at Central S aint Martins

Colle ge of Art and Design

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Creativity and innovation are the defining characteristics of a good designer, whose role is to create inspired solutions to the problems of everyday life

TERENCE CONRAN ‘ ‘

88LAST PAGERECYCLED TEXTILES

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BAGS OF CHARM Textile designer Laura Marsden’s plastic alchemy

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When you consider Laura Marsden’s intricate, ethereal creations, it’s hard to believe that they come from the humbleplastic bag. However, while studying for her MA at Chelsea College of Art and Design, Marsden developed a technique to recycle plastic bags and transform them into an innovative product which she calls ‘Eternal Lace’. By subjecting the plastic to various secret processes, she alters its

appearance and properties. The result is a waterproof, supple, and deceptively delicate-looking thread. Using this instead of traditional yarns, she combines hand-stitching and needle lace-making to produce one-off pieces, including sculptural wall hangings and cushions. Her inspiration comes in part fromhistorical costumes, especially Elizabethan ruffs and cuffs. www.lauramarsden.com

1 Eternal Lace Wall Bloom

in Black, by Laura Marsden

2 Eternal Lace and silk decorative cushions by Laura Marsden 3 Collection of Eternal

Lace Wall Bloomsin lilac,

black and yellow by Laura Marsden