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CONTENTS INDULGE textiles to buy, collect or simply admire 20 COUNTERPOISE Fashion finds a graceful equilibrium Daniela Gregis’ latest collection modelled by Benedetta Barzini and Aira Ghirardini, Photographer Sara Kerens GLOBAL Textiles from around the world 43 BEST FOOT FORWARD An exhibition of shoes fit for princes from The Sadberk Hanim Museum Collection Written by Grace Warde-Aldam 46 ROUTE MASTER Tristan Rutherford follows a textile trail from Istanbul to Anatolia ANECDOTE textiles that touch our lives 38 FASHION’S WATERLOO Sarah Jane Downing tells how society surrendered to Napoleon’s military style 96 FABRIC SWATCH No 24: Ayrshire Whitework Our regular contributor Sarah Jane Downing explores a pretty fabric that was briefly the height of fashion. Illustrated by Jennifer Corace 57 HAT STAND Despite opposition the Fez became part of a national costume ATTIRE critical reporting of fashion trends 16 UNDOING THE LACES This fabric is no longer prim and proper Written by Kate Cavendish 26 FREE FOR ALL Amanda Carr calls time on age appropriate restrictions Portraits by Henry Nicholls and Michele Martinoli CONCEPT textiles in fine art 52 ABSTRACT IDEAS Ali Riza Tuna weaves links between Anatolian Kilims and Modern Art 62 THE COLLECTING BUG Artist Pae White’s vast array of Vera Neumann’s domestic textiles Written by Liz Hoggard ABSTRACT I D E AS Ali Riza Tuna weaves links between the Anatolian Kilim and Modern Art Woven for centuries by nomads and villagers, Anatolian Kilims were “discovered” and appreciated by western eyes in the 1970s. Since then they have been the subject of active collecting and research, entering museum collections around the world. Their designs and colours also found success with the public through fashion and interior design. Considered a ‘folk art’, with all that implies, appreciation of the Kilim has often been based on their links to tribal culture. Certainly these textiles, in the context of their nomadic roots, carry remnants of mankind’s early symbols. They also witness a moment in the life of their anonymous creator – each has interpreted the inherited design canon through their own lens. But while brewed from tradition, Anatolian kilims also reach intoxicating heights of form and colour. Imbued with meaning and rich in beauty, what distinguishes them from creations that earn a place in a modern art gallery? Their aesthetic qualities more than hold their own in comparison with impressionist, early abstract or later abstract expressionist paintings. In the West the emergence of Modernism in the 19th century required a definitive break from earlier traditions. In contrast, Anatolian kilims achieved similar aesthetic qualities through centuries of gentle refinement in symbolism and abstraction. Anatolian weavers achieved freedom and innovation through, not in conflict with, tradition. 4 SELVEDGE 52 P52/53 F I E LD OF DREAMS V&A Curator Sarah Grant outlines the creation of Toile de Jouy P30/31 SELVEDGE 30 FREE FOR A L L Amanda Carr calls time on fashion’s “age appropriate” restrictions When Jane Kellock and I started The Women’s Room Blog in 2008, we were in our mid forties and desperate to rebel against what we considered the outdated concept of dressing our age – whatever that actually meant. As fashion enthusiasts we were not prepared to ‘disappear’ clothes-wise once we reached mid life, and certainly not ready to slip into nancardigans and navy slacks as our mothers might. Working in fashion as trend forecasters (our day jobs), we became aware that older women – and remember in this industry anyone over 30 is ‘older’ – weren’t supposed to ‘do’ fashion. Like the pashmina and the cargo pant we were no longer ‘of-the-moment’. It seemed that fashion – and society generally – was happy to embrace a vintage textile but not quite so keen to encourage the display of too much vintage skin. Where once we could browse frivolous prints and playful cuts in Topshop, now sales staff assumed we were buying for our daughters. The ‘rules’ we were supposed to follow, restricting hemlines and toning down bright colours, were to save us from that most heinous fashion crime – being mutton dressed as lamb. Dressing our age meant investing in ‘classics’ (in this context read ‘boring’) and abandoning mini skirts and bikinis forever. It came as a bit of a shock: surely the concept of dulling down was dead? And, if not, where did these ageist rules originate? Cassie Davies-Strodder, Curator of 20th Century Fashion at the V&A, explains that as far back as the 18th and 19th century cartoonists had satirised women who dressed “inappropriately” for their age. Women’s magazines and etiquette manuals also had much to say on the matter. Heavier, darker fabrics were the wardrobe staple of the mature woman, and older married women were expected to cover their heads with a lace cap when indoors. According to Cassie, even in more relaxed periods such as the post-war 20s, when hemlines rose and Edwardian rules of dress were abandoned, etiquette remained strict for those of a certain age. A rather severe book, HarmonyinDress published by the Women’s Institute in the mid 1920s, advised: ‘The mature woman owes it to herself, her family, and the world at large to be as becomingly and appropriately dressed as intelligent effort, skill and available money will permit.’ Issues of exposed flesh were discussed too; ‘Wrinkled arms and necks or those discoloured by time should be concealed as discreetly as possible.’ Careful consideration should also be paid to undergarments as many women ‘take on flesh’ with maturity. And we thought today’s journalism was cruel. The stern tone taken goes some way to explain why the fashion industry still ignores us. When the boyish ‘Garcons’ look appeared during the 1920s, its advice was firm – older women should not follow the ‘extreme modes of the moment’ or ‘designs that are unmistakably originated for youth’. It all sounds horribly familiar, but surely times are changing? According to Cassie, not that much,“Appropriateness of dress for older women is still high on the agenda and what is worn by high profile, older women inevitably results in discussions of propriety in the press.” Having researched the fashion for platform heels for the forthcoming exhibition ‘Shoes: Pleasure and Pain’ at the V&A, she was struck by the reaction in the press to actor Helen Mirren adopting the trend on the red carpet. “The comments were disapproving and in some instances even angry,” continued Cassie. “If the press hadn’t drawn attention to this would anyone else have cared? Although we have moved on in many ways, it seems the press at least are still bound by the standards held up in the etiquette book of nearly a century ago.” Thankfully, we are part of a rule-breaking generation who don’t want to dress like our mothers or be hemmed in by the sartorial restrictions they endured. Many women who cut their teeth in the 60s and 70s (learning how to clash a tangerine shirt from Chelsea Girl with a maxi patchwork skirt picked up on the newly invented high street) intend to dress just as boldly in their later decades.4 SELVEDGE 26 P26/27 INDUSTRY from craft to commerce 30 FIELD OF DREAMS V&A Curator Sarah Grant outlines the creation of Toile de Jouy Additional text by Esclarmonde Monteil 60 A DELICATE PROCESS Catherine Brunel, founder of Fra Josephine, prefers natural beauty Written by Anne Laure Camilleri P44/45 SELVEDGE 44 encrusted clogs. And we are also offered a glimpse into the lives and methods of Ottoman shoemakers and distributors. Ostensibly this is just a show about shoes: however, perhaps unsurprisingly, those on show reveal much more than what people liked to wear on their feet. Wooden clogs, or ‘Nalın’ were an essential part of daily life in the Ottoman Empire, worn by all when visiting the baths. These clogs (which resemble 1970s Glam Rock boots rather than practical slippers) were usually made with a high heel or platform in order to avoid stepping in dirty water or on hot floors. For women in particular the higher the heel, the higher the wearer ranked in society – as ever in fashion “the more things change, the Opposite: Zorah Standing, Henri Matisse, 1912, 146.5x61cm, oil on canvas, Hermitage Opposite: Kilim, central Anatolia, 18th century Below: Coloured squares, August Macke, 1913 Detail: “Baklava” kilim, central Anatolia, 18th century or earlier SELVEDGE 53 Jouy factory, Jean Baptiste Huet (1745-1811), 1806 Is there a more timeless, more singularly evocative textile than Toile de Jouy? For well over two-and-a-half centuries it has held us in thrall. Perhaps it was Helen Churchill Candee, interior decorator to the turn-of-the-century American elite, who best identified the reason for its enduring appeal when she observed that in these ‘hasty unreflecting days’ its winsome vignettes ‘set us dreaming’. The mania for printed cottons began in France in the late 16th century when Indian chintzes were introduced to the market. Their lively, colourful designs spoke beguilingly of distant shores and warmer climes but also of new technologies. They utilised sophisticated painting and printing techniques and in particular, colour-fast dyes, processes then unknown to Europeans. The demand for these and, eventually, European imitations became so exorbitant that it was seen to endanger the native industries of wool and silk weaving. Louis XIV responded by imposing a ban on the import of Indian chintzes and their production in France in 1686, which was not lifted until 1759. The following year, Christopher-Philippe Oberkampf, the German-born son of a dye-maker, at just twenty-one years of age, founded the printed cotton manufactory in the small town of Jouy-en-Josas near Versailles from which his textiles would take their name. ibrary Art L ridgeman B In the early days the manufactory comprised just two workers, Oberkampf and his brother. At its height, however, the enterprise employed 1,335 workers, housed in the largest purpose-built structure in France or Britain at that time. The factory's phenomenal commercial success and the technical refinements developed over the years at Oberkampf's behest were recognised first by Louis XVI, who elevated the establishment to a royal manufactory in 1783, and then (with not a little irony) by Napoleon, who awarded Oberkampf the légion d’honneur in 1806. Though there were hundreds of printed cotton manufactories operating concurrently with Oberkampf’s across France, many of which approached its success, not one has enjoyed Jouy’s enduring fame. Today any printed cotton in the bucolic style is generally referred to as4 SELVEDGE 31 Sue Kreitzman li le Martino iche M SELVEDGE 27 more they stay the same.” Based on the collection of Sadberk Koç (wife of the successful entrepreneur who founded the museum in 1980 as Turkey's first private venue) this exhibition shows how traditional dressing has evolved and the ways in which European fashions have influenced Turkish craftsmanship over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. But a glance at designs by the West’s finest shoemakers will show inspiration flows both ways. For a/w 14/15 Spanish-born shoe designer Manolo Blahnik presented a pair of silk brocade, tasseled heels fit for an Empress. Grace Warde-Aldam Shoes From The Sadberk Hanim Museum Collection, Until May 31 2015, Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, Turkey, www.sadberkhanimmuzesi.org.tr SELVEDGE 45 SELVEDGE 4
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CONTENTS A natural affinity for animals, an understanding of their graceful movements and the ability to translate them into striking patterns on the page – Klaus Haapaniemi’s talents are well established. Perhaps that’s why discovering he’s moving in new directions is so exciting. Fingers crossed his recent foray into costume design for the Finnish National Opera will be the first of many. The designs for the production of The Cunning Little Vixen, a Czech opera by Leoš Janáček, are simply wonderful. They helped tell a sad and comic story that explores the co-existence of animals, humans and the eternal cycle of life. And though the opera may have ended, the charming characters – a flute playing deer, a smart badger in his fur coat and silk shoes, the eponymous vixen and the fox who dance in the shadows of the mystical forest – have been captured forever on a new range of decorative tableware for Iittala. Called Tanssi, which means ‘dance’ in Finnish, the collection includes ceramics and interior textiles. To mark its launch Haapaniemi commissioned studio Pocko Lab to create a animation that brought his folkloric animals to life, this time as 2D puppets. The resulting feature, just a minute or so long, combines Eastern shadow puppetry, Victorian theatre and a generous dash of magic – you can view it now on the Selvedge blog. www.klaush.com,www.iittala.com, www.opera.fi SELVEDGE 10 THE COLLECTING BUG Artist Pae White’s vast array of Vera Neumann textiles Ptolemy Mann meets Bagpuss creators Peter and Joan Firmin SMALLFILMS – B I G I MAGINATION In a white farmhouse near Canterbury, Kent I meet an elegant couple, Peter and Joan Firmin, who had a huge impact on my childhood even though we have never met. Any child of the 1970s and 80s will know exactly who I am describing if I mention pink marmalade fur, whiskers and a pair of twinkling blue eyes. The cosy dining room where we sit seems familiar; this generously proportioned bay window was once the backdrop of a shop owned by a little girl called Emily. A place where creatures would come to life under the watchful eye of a cat called Bagpuss. Peter Firmin is a man of extraordinary imagination – I’m in awe when I realise not only did he create Bagpuss but also the Clangers, The Saga of Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine and Pogles’ Wood not to crafting mention Basil Brush – “Boom, Boom, Boom”. These characters are so deeply embedded in my childhood and millions of others that an attack of nostalgia is inevitable. Joan and Peter met at Central School of Art in 1952. He was studying illustration and she, bookbinding – they quickly married and he was soon offered a job making props, which in turn led to an opportunity to work on a children’s programme called ‘Playbox’ which ran throughout the 50s and 60s and was filmed and broadcast, live, every week with three cameras and three animators. Peter met his long term collaborator Oliver Postgate and their company Smallfilms began to take SELVEDGE 72 An artistic family background and home inspires Grace Lane's hand crafted characters A L L CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL It’s about three o-clock in the afternoon and Grace Lane is busily working on one of her many creations lined up on the desk in the newly built studio at the back of her Lincolnshire home. There’s a gentle echo of Radio Four and two lanky dogs (Greyhound, Woody and Italian Spinone, Demo) lolling on the rug waiting with a watchful eye on Grace's miniature thimble to be put down, a sure sign that a walk will be on the cards. Having lived for three years in London whilst doing her degree in Costume for Performance, Grace always looked forward to coming SELVEDGE 68 J UST A NUMBER Thirty-five galleries from across the world, 400 leading makers, eight ambitious installations – this year’s Collect is something of a numbers game but one in particular caught our eye. Among the major British makers with individual showcases at the fair, renowned weaver Ann Sutton will be presenting new works – and making no concession to the fact that she turns 80 this year. Awarded an MBE for services to textiles, she has written nine books on woven textiles, though her most recent work has makes use of mediums fresh to her – painting and drawing. Through the latter she has moved back into three dimensions with her use of monofilament and her explorations show no sign of slowing. Collect itself continues to cover new ground too. Now in its fourth year it includes a second floor space showcasing installation work and dubbed “COLLECT Open”. Other highlights include the latest Crafts Council touring exhibition I AM HERE, Tord Boontje’s presentation of 11 chairs he has designed over the last decade, and a Caroline Broadhead performance piece. If that wasn’t enough – there will also be a programme of talks including the popular on-stand booth talks where you can hear the world’s best makers talking about their work. COLLECT: The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects, 8-11 May 2015, Saatchi Gallery, Duke Of York's HQ, King's Road, London SW3 4RY, T: +44 (0)20 7811 3070, www.saatchigallery.com, www.annsutton.info SELVEDGE 11 P10/11 72 SMALLFILMS BIG CREATIVITY Ptolemy Mann is charmed and inspired by Bagpuss creators Peter and Joan Firmin 76 HOUSE OF LOVE Beth Smith meets Jay and Niki, founders of The Cloth House, and finds a couple wrapped up in finding rare fabrics Portrait by Richard Nicholson COHABIT stunning interiors beautifully photographed 68 ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL An artistic family background inspires Grace Lane’s hand crafted characters Written by Sian Williams and photographed by Polly Ellis page 64 Right top and middle: Too much night, again, installation view, South London Gallery, London page 64 left and bottom: Weaving, Unsung, 2009, installation view, 53rd Biennale di Venezia, Venice, page 65 Chiacchiere 2004, 3 mobiles, thread, paper variable dimensions Left: Magnificent Obsessions, The Artist as Collector, 2015 The Californian multimedia artist Pae White continually references textiles in her work. Constructed from fragile, transient materials, her large-scale sculptural works include gold-lined popcorn kernels suspended from transparent thread; paper shapes strung on thread to capture the feeling of a swarm of bees; and tapestries of billowing smoke plumes. For Oslo Opera, she designed a stage curtain that mimicked crumpled tinfoil. Two years ago, for her solo show at the South London Gallery, she created an immersive site-specific installation (inspired by her own experience of insomnia) in which vast quantities of coloured yarn criss-crossed the room to create super graphics spelling out “tiger time” and “unmattering”. / Getty Images id iarm Peter MacD © But still for such a cutting-edge artist, it comes as a surprise to find that she is a passionate collector of the vibrant homeware textiles of American designer and entrepreneur, Vera Neumann (1907-1993), see Issue 36, who was almost the Martha Stewart of her day. In tribute to Neumann, for the Barbican’s current show, Magnificent Obsessions: The ArtistasCollector, White created an installation of over 1,000 Vera Neumann silk scarves, tea towels, napkins and bed linen. The show looks at the personal collections of postwar and contemporary artists. Displayed alongside Andy Warhol’s cookie jars and Damien Hirst’s skulls and taxidermy, White’s installation is dazzling. You want to dive in and lose yourself in the sheer jungle of scarves. “I wanted that feeling of a wave," she explains. "If you’re in the water and about to catch a wave, the perfect moment is when it’s starting to lift you up into a swell. It’s almost like there’s a roll of the water. I really wanted the cable to have this feeling of pulling you up with it.” Textiles are hung asymmetrically like pennants in slanting rows of stretched wire. “It’s all magnets,” White confides. “I didn’t want it to be horizontal like a laundry line and I didn’t want to have penetrations into the textile with pins so these are very, very, small, rare earth magnets that are very strong.” She also wanted to convey the sheer variety of the work. So scarves decorated with Vera’s dog or with emblems of love line up against each other in a “corridor” of designs. Lighting is deliberately bright so you can see all of them. “I said don’t make it precious,” she laughs. White has collected Neumann’s textiles most of her adult life and bought her first two scarves for 10 cents each from a thrift shop. Today her collection is more than 3,000 pieces. “They were so inexpensive and so ubiquitous. I felt it was my duty to buy every single one.” But there is a deep physical connection. 4 SELVEDGE 63 P62/63 shape. Postgate bought a 16mm Bolex camera and their single frame stop animation technique was put straight to use with Ivor the Engine and many other programmes. Peter’s ability to shift from 2D to 3D was incredibly versatile. One gets the sense that this was a deeply creative time in kids TV when entertainment and imagination was deemed more important than the educational, adult interaction style TV that came later with programmes like Rainbow and Playschool. These early animated shows are about storytelling, family and community and have a real sense of the handmade – they are approachable, intimate tales of mythical places and timeless characters. Peter did everything by hand – character drawings and development, building the skeleton animatronics underneath the glorious textile characters. As we talk a toad sits on the table overlooking our conversation – Gabriel the Toad from Bagpuss to be exact – and he looks like he could start strumming his banjo any minute. In 1959 the Firmin‘s moved to Kent and set up the Smallfilms workshop in the garden. Over the next two decades, whenever the BBC or Thames Television wanted a new programme for children Smallfilms would oblige in 2D or 3D styles of animation often mixed together. Joan was always a creative influence behind Peter’s work. Mother to six daughters she 4 SELVEDGE 73 P72/73 back home where she felt more at peace to think and work. Since finishing her degree she has lived here. “That’s the beauty of the internet, you still have the resources to run your business even in the middle of nowhere. I’m surrounded by open fields, my lovely dogs and three plump chickens who never fail to provide an egg for my breakfast. For me working in the countryside works really well,” she says. ltes lly E Po Grace and her mother, an artist/illustrator, bought their near derelict Railway Station 11 years ago. Built in 1867 it was part of the old Lincolnshire line that ran to Stamford, three miles away, and which closed in 1929 when its fortunes failed after a general strike. Many of its features such as its tin signs were gone by the time they moved in, but gradually over the years both have put back the character in their own creative way. Looking about the dining room the walls are filled with old stationstyle clocks. Everywhere you look there’s a fondness for times gone by. Unloved items such as the old suitcases and laundry baskets in the study have been cleaned up and polished and now have a new sense of purpose. The walls painted in white are almost completely covered, every inch filled with carefully grouped collections of photographs and artwork. The wall in the living room is filled with framed photographs 4 SELVEDGE 69 P68/69 WIN 83 PRIZES THIS ISSUE Five pairs of tickets for Fashion on the Ration at The Imperial War Museum, a Volga Linen Bath Hamper worth £288 and a hand woven Fra Josephine Scarf EVENTS Join us for this issue’s Launch Party on 6 May at William Morris Gallery. The Selvedge Spring Fair comes to Chelsea Old Town Hall, London on 25 April and reaches The Subscription Rooms, Stroud on 16 May INFORM the latest news, reviews and exhibition listings 03 BIAS / CONTRIBUTORS A letter from the founder and notes from our contributors 07 NEWS London Craft Week, Riviera Style, Costumes by Klaus Haapaniemi, Shoes: Pleasure and Pain, Pasting the Walls 08 ADVENTURES IN CLOTH Diane Gaffney in Uzbekistan 80 SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS A cheerful Gudrun Sjoden tote bag for every new subscriber and renewal. 82 BACK ISSUES Complete your collection while you still can! We currently have free shipping on all back issues. 14 LISTINGS Exhibitions, fairs and events taking place around the world in June. For up to date listings visit www.selvedge.org 86 READ Invitation Strictly Personal: 40 years of Fashion Show Invitations by Chrissie Charlton & Vicky Fullick, Thea Porter by Kaffe Fassett 59 DESIGN FILE Micol Fontana and her sisters 88 VIEW Signature Quilts by Jessica Hemmings, Dries Van Noten Inspirations by Veeri Windels, The William Morris Family Album by Catherine Harper 95 COMING NEXT The Pop Issue: Textiles that evoke the sounds of summer SELVEDGE ('selnid3 ) n. 1. finished differently 2. the non-fraying edge of a length of woven fabric. [: from SELF + EDGE] SELVEDGE 5

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CONTENTS

A natural affinity for animals, an understanding of their graceful movements and the ability to translate them into striking patterns on the page – Klaus Haapaniemi’s talents are well established. Perhaps that’s why discovering he’s moving in new directions is so exciting. Fingers crossed his recent foray into costume design for the Finnish National Opera will be the first of many. The designs for the production of The Cunning Little Vixen, a Czech opera by Leoš Janáček, are simply wonderful. They helped tell a sad and comic story that explores the co-existence of animals, humans and the eternal cycle of life. And though the opera may have ended, the charming characters – a flute playing deer, a smart badger in his fur coat and silk shoes, the eponymous vixen and the fox who dance in the shadows of the mystical forest – have been captured forever on a new range of decorative tableware for Iittala. Called Tanssi, which means ‘dance’ in Finnish, the collection includes ceramics and interior textiles. To mark its launch Haapaniemi commissioned studio Pocko Lab to create a animation that brought his folkloric animals to life, this time as 2D puppets. The resulting feature, just a minute or so long, combines Eastern shadow puppetry, Victorian theatre and a generous dash of magic – you can view it now on the Selvedge blog. www.klaush.com,www.iittala.com, www.opera.fi

SELVEDGE 10

THE COLLECTING BUG Artist Pae White’s vast array of Vera Neumann textiles

Ptolemy Mann meets Bagpuss creators Peter and Joan Firmin SMALLFILMS – B I G I MAGINATION

In a white farmhouse near Canterbury, Kent I meet an elegant couple, Peter and Joan Firmin, who had a huge impact on my childhood even though we have never met. Any child of the 1970s and 80s will know exactly who I am describing if I mention pink marmalade fur, whiskers and a pair of twinkling blue eyes.

The cosy dining room where we sit seems familiar; this generously proportioned bay window was once the backdrop of a shop owned by a little girl called Emily. A place where creatures would come to life under the watchful eye of a cat called Bagpuss. Peter Firmin is a man of extraordinary imagination – I’m in awe when I realise not only did he create Bagpuss but also the Clangers, The Saga of Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine and Pogles’ Wood not to crafting mention Basil Brush – “Boom, Boom, Boom”. These characters are so deeply embedded in my childhood and millions of others that an attack of nostalgia is inevitable.

Joan and Peter met at Central School of Art in 1952. He was studying illustration and she, bookbinding – they quickly married and he was soon offered a job making props, which in turn led to an opportunity to work on a children’s programme called ‘Playbox’ which ran throughout the 50s and 60s and was filmed and broadcast, live, every week with three cameras and three animators. Peter met his long term collaborator Oliver Postgate and their company Smallfilms began to take

SELVEDGE 72

An artistic family background and home inspires Grace Lane's hand crafted characters A L L CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

It’s about three o-clock in the afternoon and Grace Lane is busily working on one of her many creations lined up on the desk in the newly built studio at the back of her Lincolnshire home. There’s a gentle echo of Radio Four and two lanky dogs (Greyhound, Woody and Italian Spinone, Demo) lolling on the rug waiting with a watchful eye on Grace's miniature thimble to be put down, a sure sign that a walk will be on the cards.

Having lived for three years in London whilst doing her degree in Costume for Performance, Grace always looked forward to coming

SELVEDGE 68

J UST A NUMBER

Thirty-five galleries from across the world, 400 leading makers, eight ambitious installations – this year’s Collect is something of a numbers game but one in particular caught our eye. Among the major British makers with individual showcases at the fair, renowned weaver Ann Sutton will be presenting new works – and making no concession to the fact that she turns 80 this year. Awarded an MBE for services to textiles, she has written nine books on woven textiles, though her most recent work has makes use of mediums fresh to her – painting and drawing. Through the latter she has moved back into three dimensions with her use of monofilament and her explorations show no sign of slowing. Collect itself continues to cover new ground too. Now in its fourth year it includes a second floor space showcasing installation work and dubbed “COLLECT Open”. Other highlights include the latest Crafts Council touring exhibition I AM HERE, Tord Boontje’s presentation of 11 chairs he has designed over the last decade, and a Caroline Broadhead performance piece. If that wasn’t enough – there will also be a programme of talks including the popular on-stand booth talks where you can hear the world’s best makers talking about their work. COLLECT: The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects, 8-11 May 2015, Saatchi Gallery, Duke Of York's HQ, King's Road, London SW3 4RY, T: +44 (0)20 7811 3070, www.saatchigallery.com, www.annsutton.info

SELVEDGE 11

P10/11

72 SMALLFILMS BIG CREATIVITY Ptolemy Mann is charmed and inspired by Bagpuss creators Peter and Joan Firmin 76 HOUSE OF LOVE Beth Smith meets Jay and Niki, founders of The Cloth House, and finds a couple wrapped up in finding rare fabrics Portrait by Richard Nicholson

COHABIT stunning interiors beautifully photographed 68 ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL An artistic family background inspires Grace Lane’s hand crafted characters Written by Sian Williams and photographed by Polly Ellis page 64 Right top and middle: Too much night, again, installation view, South London Gallery, London page 64 left and bottom: Weaving, Unsung, 2009, installation view, 53rd Biennale di Venezia, Venice,

page 65 Chiacchiere 2004, 3 mobiles, thread, paper variable dimensions

Left: Magnificent Obsessions, The Artist as Collector, 2015

The Californian multimedia artist Pae White continually references textiles in her work. Constructed from fragile, transient materials, her large-scale sculptural works include gold-lined popcorn kernels suspended from transparent thread; paper shapes strung on thread to capture the feeling of a swarm of bees; and tapestries of billowing smoke plumes.

For Oslo Opera, she designed a stage curtain that mimicked crumpled tinfoil. Two years ago, for her solo show at the South London Gallery, she created an immersive site-specific installation (inspired by her own experience of insomnia) in which vast quantities of coloured yarn criss-crossed the room to create super graphics spelling out “tiger time” and “unmattering”.

/ Getty Images id iarm

Peter MacD

©

But still for such a cutting-edge artist, it comes as a surprise to find that she is a passionate collector of the vibrant homeware textiles of American designer and entrepreneur, Vera Neumann (1907-1993), see Issue 36, who was almost the Martha Stewart of her day.

In tribute to Neumann, for the Barbican’s current show, Magnificent Obsessions: The ArtistasCollector, White created an installation of over 1,000 Vera Neumann silk scarves, tea towels, napkins and bed linen. The show looks at the personal collections of postwar and contemporary artists. Displayed alongside Andy Warhol’s cookie jars and

Damien Hirst’s skulls and taxidermy, White’s installation is dazzling. You want to dive in and lose yourself in the sheer jungle of scarves.

“I wanted that feeling of a wave," she explains. "If you’re in the water and about to catch a wave, the perfect moment is when it’s starting to lift you up into a swell. It’s almost like there’s a roll of the water. I really wanted the cable to have this feeling of pulling you up with it.”

Textiles are hung asymmetrically like pennants in slanting rows of stretched wire. “It’s all magnets,” White confides. “I didn’t want it to be horizontal like a laundry line and I didn’t want to have penetrations into the textile with pins so these are very, very, small, rare earth magnets that are very strong.”

She also wanted to convey the sheer variety of the work. So scarves decorated with Vera’s dog or with emblems of love line up against each other in a “corridor” of designs. Lighting is deliberately bright so you can see all of them. “I said don’t make it precious,” she laughs.

White has collected Neumann’s textiles most of her adult life and bought her first two scarves for 10 cents each from a thrift shop. Today her collection is more than 3,000 pieces. “They were so inexpensive and so ubiquitous. I felt it was my duty to buy every single one.”

But there is a deep physical connection. 4

SELVEDGE 63

P62/63

shape. Postgate bought a 16mm Bolex camera and their single frame stop animation technique was put straight to use with Ivor the Engine and many other programmes. Peter’s ability to shift from 2D to 3D was incredibly versatile.

One gets the sense that this was a deeply creative time in kids TV when entertainment and imagination was deemed more important than the educational, adult interaction style TV that came later with programmes like Rainbow and Playschool. These early animated shows are about storytelling, family and community and have a real sense of the handmade – they are approachable, intimate tales of mythical places and timeless characters.

Peter did everything by hand – character drawings and development, building the skeleton animatronics underneath the glorious textile characters. As we talk a toad sits on the table overlooking our conversation – Gabriel the Toad from Bagpuss to be exact – and he looks like he could start strumming his banjo any minute. In 1959 the Firmin‘s moved to Kent and set up the Smallfilms workshop in the garden. Over the next two decades, whenever the BBC or Thames Television wanted a new programme for children Smallfilms would oblige in 2D or 3D styles of animation often mixed together.

Joan was always a creative influence behind Peter’s work. Mother to six daughters she 4

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back home where she felt more at peace to think and work. Since finishing her degree she has lived here. “That’s the beauty of the internet, you still have the resources to run your business even in the middle of nowhere. I’m surrounded by open fields, my lovely dogs and three plump chickens who never fail to provide an egg for my breakfast. For me working in the countryside works really well,” she says.

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Grace and her mother, an artist/illustrator, bought their near derelict Railway Station 11 years ago. Built in 1867 it was part of the old Lincolnshire line that ran to Stamford, three miles away, and which closed in 1929 when its fortunes failed after a general strike. Many of its features such as its tin signs were gone by the time they moved in,

but gradually over the years both have put back the character in their own creative way.

Looking about the dining room the walls are filled with old stationstyle clocks. Everywhere you look there’s a fondness for times gone by. Unloved items such as the old suitcases and laundry baskets in the study have been cleaned up and polished and now have a new sense of purpose.

The walls painted in white are almost completely covered, every inch filled with carefully grouped collections of photographs and artwork. The wall in the living room is filled with framed photographs 4

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WIN 83 PRIZES THIS ISSUE Five pairs of tickets for Fashion on the Ration at The Imperial War Museum, a Volga Linen Bath Hamper worth £288 and a hand woven Fra Josephine Scarf

EVENTS Join us for this issue’s Launch Party on 6 May at William Morris Gallery. The Selvedge Spring Fair comes to Chelsea Old Town Hall, London on 25 April and reaches The Subscription Rooms, Stroud on 16 May

INFORM the latest news, reviews and exhibition listings 03 BIAS / CONTRIBUTORS A letter from the founder and notes from our contributors 07 NEWS London Craft Week, Riviera Style, Costumes by Klaus Haapaniemi, Shoes: Pleasure and Pain, Pasting the Walls 08 ADVENTURES IN CLOTH Diane Gaffney in Uzbekistan 80 SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS A cheerful Gudrun Sjoden tote bag for every new subscriber and renewal. 82 BACK ISSUES Complete your collection while you still can! We currently have free shipping on all back issues. 14 LISTINGS Exhibitions, fairs and events taking place around the world in June. For up to date listings visit www.selvedge.org 86 READ Invitation Strictly Personal: 40 years of Fashion Show Invitations by Chrissie

Charlton & Vicky Fullick, Thea Porter by Kaffe Fassett 59 DESIGN FILE Micol Fontana and her sisters 88 VIEW Signature Quilts by Jessica Hemmings, Dries Van Noten Inspirations by Veeri Windels, The William Morris Family Album by Catherine Harper 95 COMING NEXT The Pop Issue: Textiles that evoke the sounds of summer

SELVEDGE ('selnid3 ) n. 1. finished differently 2. the non-fraying edge of a length of woven fabric. [: from SELF + EDGE]

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