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Right: Hop Garden Blue on white, Marthe Armatage Left: Marthe Armitage printing SELVEDGE 62 blocks when the wallpaper is being produced. Finely drawn botanical imagery features prominently in Armitage’s designs. Plants naturally lend themselves to repeat patterns, she finds. William Morris has been a great inspiration over the years. Marthe finds the colours, shapes and rhythms of his designs “completely satisfying”, although her own style is much lighter and more linear. Armitage is constantly expanding her repertoire, and current designs range from illustrated alphabets to meticulously detailed panoramic garden landscapes. Armitage admits that she didn’t appreciate the significance of her work until recently when she became aware of how little wallpaper was still hand printed. “I do think that hand printing and making things is important,” she declares. The advent of digital printing has led to a decline in both hand screen printing and block printing. Although blockprinted wallpapers have undergone something of a resurgence of late, block-printed textiles seem to be increasingly rare these days. Very few young textile designers seem to be embracing this process, which is a great shame, considering what a fertile creative outlet it has proved in the past. Katherine Morris admits it’s, “almost impossible to make any money using this printing method – as it is so labour-intensive!” She has considered other techniques too. “I’ve had screens made up, in the past – to have screen printed but this didn’t work out as I still had to order a minimum amount, up-front, from the printers and, in unlimited possible colourways it was unfeasible to keep enough patterns ‘in stock’.” She is, it seems, discouraged but not completely deterred; “I would still very much like to get some of my designs printed digitally with images tgomery Mon Andrew
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used from original hand-blocked printing – lending the papers a texture and ‘hand-printed’ look. And I would like to resume hand printing one-off commissions and hope to create new designs in the future.” The flourishing Philadelphia-based company Galbraith & Paul, established by Liz Galbraith and Ephraim Paul in 1986 to produce block-printed textiles and wallpapers, (recently however, they have switched to digital printing for their wallpapers) suggests that there is a gap in the UK market for an enterprising small firm specializing in this area. “Block printing is the earliest, simplest and slowest of all hand printing methods, yet it’s capable of producing fabrics of great subtlety and elegance,” state the American duo. “We are dedicated to traditional craftsmanship and inspired by modern design. Bringing the two together is what gives our fabrics a spirit of their own.” Perhaps a recent graduate from Leeds College of Art, India Rose Bird, provides hope for the future. Her African-inspired block-printed patterns featuring creatures reminiscent of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are aroused a flurry of interest when they were shown at Texprint last year. “My design work focuses on the beauty of laborious hand drawings and the timeless quality of traditional print methods,” she says. It may never make a designer a vast fortune but block printing is in some ways the gold standard. Hugh Dunford Wood, www.handmadewallpaper.co.uk Katherine Morris, www.katherinemorris.com Marthe Armitage, www.hamiltonweston.com India Rose Bird, www.cargocollective.com/indiarosebird Galbraith & Paul, www.galbraithandpaul.com Right: reverse monarch in cobalt blue wallpaper by Galbraith and Paul, Philadelphia Left: Liz Galbraith printing SELVEDGE 63

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Right: Hop Garden Blue on white, Marthe Armatage Left: Marthe Armitage printing

SELVEDGE 62

blocks when the wallpaper is being produced.

Finely drawn botanical imagery features prominently in Armitage’s designs. Plants naturally lend themselves to repeat patterns, she finds. William Morris has been a great inspiration over the years. Marthe finds the colours, shapes and rhythms of his designs “completely satisfying”, although her own style is much lighter and more linear. Armitage is constantly expanding her repertoire, and current designs range from illustrated alphabets to meticulously detailed panoramic garden landscapes.

Armitage admits that she didn’t appreciate the significance of her work until recently when she became aware of how little wallpaper was still hand printed. “I do think that hand printing and making things is important,” she declares. The advent of digital printing has led to a decline in both hand screen printing and block printing. Although blockprinted wallpapers have undergone something of a resurgence of late, block-printed textiles seem to be increasingly rare these days. Very few young textile designers seem to be embracing this process, which is a great shame, considering what a fertile creative outlet it has proved in the past.

Katherine Morris admits it’s, “almost impossible to make any money using this printing method – as it is so labour-intensive!” She has considered other techniques too. “I’ve had screens made up, in the past – to have screen printed but this didn’t work out as I still had to order a minimum amount, up-front, from the printers and, in unlimited possible colourways it was unfeasible to keep enough patterns ‘in stock’.” She is, it seems, discouraged but not completely deterred; “I would still very much like to get some of my designs printed digitally with images tgomery

Mon

Andrew

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