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Black and white EMMA CASSI MAKES DECORATION SIMPLE
Jewellery designer Emma Cassi lives in South London with her husband, Bertrand, their son Anton, aged five and their brand new baby. The couple came to London ten years ago from their native France and fell in love with London because ‘the people are so nice and this city has everything including wonderful art galleries’. With her Beaux Arts School training, Emma’s interest in art is not limited to museum outings as the interior of their home, basically a giant whimsical installation, clearly demonstrates.
Each room is a carefully curated tableau in black and white ‘I like a plain house as it allows me to have lots of ideas. I like my jewellery to provide the colour.’ This blank canvas approach is the ideal backdrop for the veritable treasure trove of antiques, objet trouvé and personal effects Emma has collected and carefully put on display. The mantel is loaded with vases lined up like toy soldiers, a
Perers
Kristen collection of white china is artfully stacked up in a glass-fronted cabinet, empty frames are hung in an arc around the fire place mimicking a Victorian interior.
To soften the look textiles from gossamer lace to knobbly rugs to luscious silks and satins are invitingly layered on floors, chairs and beds. Precious bits of ribbon, handmade paper notebooks and scraps of ribbon are left lying around as if someone has just walked away, leaving in their wake a wistful air and an echo of Miss Haversham’s house in Great Expectations – but without the cobwebs. Absolutely everything is an object of beauty. To learn Emma’s father was an antiques dealer is not a surprise ‘our home was full of a shifting collection of stuff my father had bought ready to sell on’
The house also provides Emma’s workspace ‘We’ve lived here for five years and I have a little studio in the sitting room which I find very convenient. As soon as I have an idea I can work on it straight away.
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g l o b a l
The Gardens of Eden EMBROIDERED WEDDING BLANKETS OF SOUTHERN IRAQ
selv edge .org
In the South of Iraq between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers the Sumerians built some of the earliest known cities. More than 5,000 years ago the legendary Gardens of Eden were said to have been sited there. The ancient places are no more, but up to the middle of the 20th century the rural population lived a life that had changed little over the course of time.
It is in this region that the embroidered wedding blankets were made until a few decades ago. In Iraq the blankets are called Izar-as-Samawa, Samawa, or Sumawa (a town in the South of Iraq). The embroideries are, however, not the work of city dwellers but were made in the villages. They are different from any other textile tradition of the Middle East. Flowers, animals, human figures, symbols and geometric motifs are embroidered with wool yarn on a handwoven ground. Each one is composed of two lengths of cloth which are sewn together after the embroidery is completed. Some are shorter or longer but the width is consistent, on average they measure 160 x 220 cm. Each blanket varies in its design and character, yet visibly belongs to a common tradition – information about that tradition is still scarce.
Some of the motifs date back to the Sumerians and can be found on ancient cylinder seals. Some may be traces left by the hundreds of Roma who tid imSchm
Ach had migrated from India and some by a large group of East African slaves, who rebelled against the Caliph in the 9th century, failed and took refuge in the marshes of the South. Later it was the Bedouins who represented a cultural ideal to the villagers on the banks of the big rivers and in the marshes.
From the middle of the 20th century onwards oil began to change the hitherto traditional society. More dramatic changes occurred in the South of Iraq with the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988 and above all in 1991 after the Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein drained the South Iraqi Marshes, once double the size of the Everglades in Florida and home to 300,000 people, to punish the
Shiite population who had always been his opponents. Hundreds of thousands left their homes and fled to Iran or to the big cities. When the Iraqi dictator fell in 2003, the marsh people destroyed the dams and water flowed back into the lakes but the Embroidered Gardens, testimonials of a way of life, of a culture, have yet to return. Gardens of Eden of Mesopotamia, Embroidered Wedding Blankets of Southern Iraq, A Collection of 20 pieces presented by Maya Ilg, Anna Marie Stöckli and Ramazan Akpinar will on show exclusively at the Festival of Quilts 2010, 19-22 August, Birmingham NEC, T: +44 (0)20 8692 2299, www.twistedthread.com s e l v e d g e . o r g
Joining forces CULTEX AND THE ART OF COLLABORATION
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Working collaboratively is rewarding but it is also hard: negotiating, finding points of connection, tolerating differences, maintaining the sense of self while creating a joint identity – What do you give? What do you gain? What do you lose? How much more difficult it is when the two partners in the collaboration are from different countries, and if those partners also do not speak each others language and have never previously visited each other’s country, then the difficulties could seem almost insurmountable.
This is the situation that artists Norwegian Gabriella Göransson and Japanese Kiyonori Shimada had to navigate when partnered, by me, for the project Cultex. As they faced the prospect of working together, exchanging ideas, creating final outcomes for the exhibition both were, naturally, intensely worried about communication. As Göransson wrote in her online Journal: “It was really complete madness. Starting work with a person with whom I shared neither a common language nor a common cultural framework. And that the outcome of this cooperation should lead to a joint piece of work – the idea seemed increasingly more and more absurd.” But in pairing the two I had felt a connection, one that emerged from the ideas underpinning their work, and it was a thread that both could recognise and gently tease and spin into a cobweb of communication that has resulted in a beautiful and monumental installation.
It began with a response. I asked each of the artists to devote their first web journal to describing their understanding of the work of their partner. For Göransson and Shimada, this was of the utmost importance. In this first entry, both acknowledged the role of texture and memory, archaic memory, to their work. This became their starting point.
Their first period of working together took place in Norway and was spent gently edging towards each other through the materials they work with and the importance of light and shadow within their work. They discovered that they both had grown up with 1,000-yearold trees in their neighbourhood – for Göransson it was oak and for Shimada it was Ginko. However, as Shimada wrote after the visit: “At the moment we are still a long way from having a clear image of the whole piece.” Yet even this slow pace seemed to echo the painstaking archaeology required to unearth those primordial memories and forms that are the basis of both their works. When Göransson visited Japan she was able to write at the end of her time there: “We have been able to make these thoughts clear through our “spartan” communication. Most of it is still inside our heads, but it is starting to materialise in works in an Oslo studio and in an Okayama studio.”
For many years Shimada has been creating large textile installations for buildings and in collaboration with opera and dance companies. In common with many Japanese textile artists, his work is a response to place and space. In this he is following the Japanese tradition in which architectural space is one that has been given by nature and needs to be physically experienced before a response is made. This approach is also taken by Göransson; for her it is during the installation that the parts finally coalesce into a coherent work of art. And so it was, as they built their work in the gallery space, they finally created their conversation, one that had been verbally impossible, achieved through their materials – Shimada with white nylon and Göransson with linen pulp.
In the event, their two works are visually rather than physically integrated. The viewer enters through Shimada’s textural doorway and is immediately acutely aware of spatial relationships. His installation is constructed in such a way that most visitors have to bend down a little to go through the entrance (echoing the entering of the Japanese Tea House). The passageway is narrow, so that when people encounter each other, they have to stop and carefully make way. As they walk through, his soft, white ‘gills’ of cloth whisper in our wake. And glimpsed at the end of the passage and through its windows are Göransson’s black skeletal forms that pattern the walls and cluster in corners. On closer examination we find the pieces are hard, brittle and dry, like abandoned skeletons or fossilised shadows. Both works are organic in inspiration and form, together they form connection to our earliest memories, the earliest memories of the earth. White and black, light and shadow, fluid and hard, these are the elements that form what Shimada has described as: “the ‘contrast’ which is visible and the ‘harmony’ which is not visible” in their installation.
c o n c e p t s e l v e d g e . o r g
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Recognize an opportunity when it presents itself and go for it.... Gillian Newberry, Bennison, www.bennisonfabrics.com
1. Don't think too much – just do it... you’ll learn more
2. Make it quick to produce but look expensive.
3. Keep versatile, you are capable of lots of different things, when one avenue is quiet move to another. 4. Don’t scrimp on materials. If you are doing a lot of work on something it’s worth getting a good base cloth Karen Nicol, embellisher, www.karennicol.com
While you are accustomed to living on a shoe string, follow your ambition, it’s much harder to step out of an income into erratic earning! Teresa Green, textile designer, www.teresagreen.co.uk
Just arrived in Moscow, with luggage still in Frankfurt and musing on what wisdom to proffer beyond always travel with hand baggage only! One other piece of advice – think across a wider set of horizons – read the New Scientist and the Economist as well as Selvedge for a balanced diet! David Weir, Director Dovecot Studios, www.dovecotstudios.com
1. The world is constantly changing and us with it, embrace change! 2. Don't eat yellow snow 3. You can still do a lot with a small brain. Rob Ryan, artist, www.misterrob.co.uk
Aim high. Apply for things you feel may be out of your reach – if it hadn't been for my boss encouraging me to apply for Origin within a year of graduating, I wouldn't have had the exposure or experiences I have had to date. Ellie Evans, artist, www.ellie-evans.co.uk
In 1980 I graduated from St Martins School of Art (now Central Saint Martins) first in my class with a BA in Fashion Design. Within the week I was in the dole queue. Careers in the creative arena involve false starts, knock backs and dead ends. Accepting this makes the endeavour more bearable. Anyone I know who has had longevity in the industry has welcomed opportunities to work in related areas even if it wasn’t their original plan. Iain R Webb, fashion writer
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Most curious TRACEY NEULS, NINA SAUNDERS AND FABRICS BY SANDERSON
selv edge.org
Imagine a boutique that sells award-winning shoes, and where cool prints can sometimes be found among cutting-edge designs. A shop whose interior is a wonderful surprise, and where fashion, art and furniture blur into one. A place where a forest has taken root indoors, closing in on an edgy armchair and some random shoes, both of which are upholstered in floral fabric. In the run up to London Fashion Week last February, Londoners flocked to one such boutique.
At her shop in Marylebone Lane, cult shoemaker Tracey Neuls exhibited ‘Most Curious’, an installation that marked Sanderson’s 150th anniversary and was far cooler than any of the fabrics sauntering down the catwalks. Using textiles as a common ground, Neuls worked collaboratively with Danish-born artist Nina Saunders to create a site-specific artwork, which flaunted the sculptural surrealism characteristic of both practitioners’ works. Together, the two dived into the archives of the iconic Sanderson textile brand, and surfaced with a striking selection of prints.
Since establishing her label nine years ago, Neuls’ work has often featured an unexpected subversion of familiar objects. After graduating from Cordwainers, the designer revived the market for quirky footwear creating innovative, idiosyncratic designs. With a string of awards behind her, and a determination to break new ground, Neuls’ interdisciplinary vision takes footwear far beyond the form we know it. Her collaboration with Saunders centred around the sculptural showpiece the artist crafted from an overstuffed Victorian armchair, upholstered in Sanderson fabric. Saunders has a flair for the fabulously farcical, and often mimics everyday forms. Her armchair is no exception. It was immediately identifiable as antique but morphed into a new form. As if transmuted into a labile state, Saunders’ armchair cascaded into the space around it.
Neuls contributed to the sculpture by adding a pair of open-toe court shoes. The shoes were placed at a strategic distance from the upholstery which congealed on the floor around them. An initial glance suggests a woman has been poised comfortably in the chair, her now-absent body signifying a terrifying escape from the mess pooling behind her. A closer look tells a different story. The chair has swollen in size, taking on new proportions. Its normal contours shift sideways echoing the human form. Has the chair devoured the woman? Is she cocooned in its upholstered belly? Did the seated victim try to save herself, or merely her shoes? Kicked well out of range, the shoes Neuls' designed stand their ground when all else is collapsing around them.
Although shoes rarely have such direct links to interior design, the pair Neuls created for the project add an element of normality. Crafted from moulded rubber soles and patterned Sanderson fabric, the shoes are wearable and hence 'real'. They balance the melted armchair and link the installation with the rest of the shop’s eclectic, uncanny displays. Neuls designs for women who are strong, complex characters – in fact the absent woman would have been an unlikely victim. In styles ranging from show-stopping glamour to whimsical fancy, Neuls dresses women’s feet to enhance their inherent sensuality rather than using footwear to sexualise their bodies. Yet, the link between shoes and sex seems to be an intrinsic part of the artwork, perhaps in the boudoir-like sensuality evident in the femininity of its forms.
While initially Sanderson may seem to be an unlikely fit for Neuls and Saunders’, the company boasts a long tradition of working creatively with artists and designers. Collaborations with Gio Ponti, John Piper, Mea Angerer and Raymond Loewy resulted in distinctive prints, and designs created by Picasso have also featured in their collections. Rather than commissioning Neuls and Saunders to create new motifs, the collaboration centred around their use of Sanderson’s prints. ‘Maybe it is the comfortable, vintage feel that reflects the mood of today,’ says Liz Cann, Sanderson’s design director. ‘They move away from the contemporary glamour that has been so popular in recent years. We have had such a strong response that we are already discussing the possibility of working with artists again in this way. It would be wonderful to venture into more innovative design as we did in the past.’
Sanderson’s collaboration with Neuls and Saunders bridges the present with the past, and merges tradition and innovation into one. ‘Most Curious’, with its mix of classic motifs, modern craftsmanship and contemporary sensibilities, promises to forge fresh dialogues between textiles, art and design that lasts long after the installation is taken off display. Bradley Quinn
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c o n c e p t s e l v e d g e . o r g
CONCEPT textiles in fine art
48 Joining forces Cultex and the art of collaboration. Professor of Textile Culture Lesley Millar explainshowtwoartistscommunicatedthroughthecommonlanguageoftextiles 52 Most curious Tracy Neuls, Nina Saunders and fabrics by Sanderson. BradleyQuinnauthorand journalistisdrawnintoasurreal,meltingworldoffootwearandfurniture 54 Standing to attention Textiles at the Milan furniture fair and beyond. Writer and broadcaster CorinneJuliusintroducesfourScandinaviandesigners
ATTIRE critical reporting of fashion trends
20 Paper work Unfolding Isabelle De Borchgrave’s illusions. PhotographerRenéStoeltiedocuments thesegorgeousandcleverlycraftedpapergarments 26 COVER STORY Pretty practical How country smocks had a dressing down. Authorandregular SelvedgecontributorSarahJaneDowningoutlinesthelossofatraditionalruralgarment 34 COVER STORY Detailed statements Fashion and needlework in Jane Austen’s letters. SarahJane Downing,authorof‘FashionintheTimeofJaneAusten’discussesthewriter’slifeasaseamstress
GLOBAL
72 The Gardens of Eden The embroidered wedding blankets of Southern Iraq. Curator Maya Ilg documentsthehistoryoftheseelaboratelyembellishedtraditionaltextiles
INFORM the latest news, reviews and exhibition listings 04 bias /contributors A letter from our editor-in-chief and comments from contributors 07 news essential textile news, Ally Capellino, Bovey Tracey, Rachel Hazell, Jewish Museum, Newark Park, Art in Action 14 diary festivals and shows not to be missed 80 subscription offers Catherine Tough lavender hearts and the chance to win new titles from Abrams Books and tickets to the Petworth House Textile Fair 83 affiliates Find out about our affiliate scheme and new shops offering discounts 84 international listings Exhibitions, fairs, events all over the world 87 read The khadi covered Love Travel Guides
88 view Nancy Crow Not So Fast! Very Sanderson 91 preview Grace Kelly 93 resources Websites and reading lists for those who want to know more about the Romance issue 95 coming next The Independence Issue: American Dreams
SELVEDGE ('selnid 3 ) n. 1. finished di fferently 2.?the?non-fraying edge of a length of woven fabric. [: from SELF + EDGE]
