Iconic Commonwealth Institute

What does a building mean to a child?

The last time I entered this incredible building, I was a child, goggling exhibits of countries of the Commonwealth. I have very happy memories of going there and of the feel of the building.

I remember room set ups of African villages. My brothers remember Canada's display featured fake snow and a sledge, and lots of maps!

'Regarded by English Heritage as the second most important modern building in London, after the Festival Hall, its striking hyperbolic paraboloid copper roof reflects the architects' desire to create a 'tent in the park', it will be open as part of Open House next weekend before closing for rennovation to begin.

As a designer, I am very happy to report that it's new use will be the enlarged home of the Design Museum in 2014.

I have volunteered to help with tours of the building next weekend and took these photos at our training session, and as an adult, loved being in there again.

They're expecting it to be a very popular so if you want to see it, be prepared to queue.

Sep

30

Ginkgo Inspiration

I am working on a piece of work for a new gallery space in Finchley which I wrote about in a previous post. This is going to be a bit rambly, but I wanted to record and share some of my thinking and process here.

I am equally inspired by nature and urban spaces, but it's when the two clash, that I start to get excited!

In exploring the 'gritty' urban space close to the gallery on Finchley High Road, I was stunned to find a newly planted row of Ginkgo trees. I have always admired their leaves, and have started to draw and study them.

I bought this lovely little book at the Natural History Museum last weekend. In it, I read

'The first vascular plants appeared in the Salurian period, 400 million years ago and began to pump oxygen into the atmosphere. By the time of the Carboniferous (around 330mya), carbon dioxide was getting scarce and tree ferns evolved with leaves that breathed. Next came height, with gymnosperms - the ginkgos and towering conifers of the late Permian (250mya) and Jerassic (150mya).

These trees are survivors!

I took this photo during my visit to the Natural History Museum. I love shadow patterns and distortions. I have been playing with patterns inspired by the Japanese Katagami stencils I saw at MoDA archive with a view to creating a suspended installation in cellebration of ginkgo leaves.

Someone told me the German poet, scientist, botanist and philosopher, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe also admired ginkgos and wrote a poem about them in 1815.

Here it is translated into English.

This leaf from a tree in the East,
Has been given to my garden.
It reveals a certain secret,
Which pleases me and thoughtful people.

Does it represent One living creature
Which has divided itself?
Or are these Two, which have decided,
That they should be as One?

To reply to such a Question,
I found the right answer:
Do you notice in my songs and verses
That I am One and Two?

ginkgo leaf design entwined by Jo Angell

Posted 30th September 2014 by Jo Angell

Labels: art ginkgo Goethe Hasler Gallery installation Natural History Museum Trees

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Jul

20

MoDA - Museum of Domestic Architecture

The Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture is part of Middlesex University.. It houses an archival collection of wallpapers, textiles, books, catalogues, and magazines from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Anyone can visit so long as you make a prior appointment to view the collection.

One of Britain's leading commercial design studios from 1880 to 1960 is The Silver Studio and much of the studio's work is stored at MoDA.

Back in June, I applied to a call for artists and designers to respond to the Silver Studio archive and put forward proposals for work inspired by this collection.

After cruising the MoDA website, I made my appointment. The staff there are very helpful and had a large collection of archival boxes ready for me, based on my requests, when I arrived.

These lovely delicate objects became my first inspiration! They are Japanese Katagami stencils.

The founder of the Silver Studio, Arthur Silver, was obsessed with Japanese Katagami stencils. He collected them and the studio gained inspiration from many of the intricate patterns. Katagami are made of multiple layers of thin mulberry paper which are bonded with a glue extracted from persimmon. They were used with resist paste made with rice flour and when dyed, the dye didn't adhere to the areas covered with the paste.

Next, I looked at some wonderful Art Deco designs. Many of these were original paintings and drawings made by designers working in the studio. It was great to see these original artworks close up and imagine designers of the 1930s beavering away on these modern and futuristic creations.

John Churton 1934

Many were charcoal and gouache paint on tracing or thin paper and very lovely.

I was delighted when my proposal was chosen and I am now starting to work on some designs inspired by the collection. I am planning to create a piece of work which combines laser cut panels with printed fabric designs and will play with light effects as the two merge. The final piece of work will be displayed alongside four other designers' work in a new gallery space, The Hasler Gallery, in North Finchley at the end of this year.

I'll be updating my blog with the work in progress, and news of related workshops, so do keep watching this space!

Images copyright the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, Middlesex University. Visit their website at http://www.moda.mdx.ac.uk/home

Posted 20th July 2014 by Jo Angell

Labels: art deco Hasler Gallery Japanese Katagami stencils MoDA Museum of Domestic Architecture Silver Studio textile design

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Apr

3

Marimekko and beyond

So there I was admiring this Marimekko cushion, when I learnt I was going to be lucky enough to spend a weekend in Helsinki with my other half. My designer-taste-buds started watering!

Here are a few of my visual highlights:

Graffiti Finnish style....

How great is this carved bear for a kids playground...

I had to sit on him

Here we go vintage Marimekko in the Design Museum

Fab Marimekko swatch books from the 60s

Wonderful Annika Rimala designs for Marimekko in 1963-4

Lovely bits of art deco

the station interior is fantastic with gems like these green tiles

I think these might be alvar aalto lamps...

These are definately Alvar Aalto lamps, as is the whole building

in the Akateeminen Kirjakauppa bookshop cafe

(which by the way has the best spinach quiche I've ever tasted!)

I also visited Tove Jansson's centenary exhibition

What an incredible woman. I have to admit I didn't love her early paintings which before the exhibition I didn't even know about. However, the exquisite pen and ink drawings for her illustrated books in the later half of the exhibition are absolutely stunning.

Posted 3rd April 2014 by Jo Angell

Labels: design Helsinki Marimekko Tove Jansson

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Feb

15

Artist Textiles Picasso to Warhol

An exhbition at the Fashion and Textile Museum
31 January - 17 May 2014

As a textile designer, and a long time lover of 1950s-60s textiles, I tend to know and admire the 'designers' who created them. This exhibition is specifically related to artists work on textiles of that period and a bit beyond. My art college years were spent looking at paintings by artists including Picasso, Leger and Miro so it was a nostalgic experience and a pleasurable one, discovering some new artists too.

The exhibition notes start with, 'many artists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries tried to make their work less elitist and more relevant to the lives of ordinary people.....through industrially manufactured textiles for the mass market'. Most are screenprinted, they're bold and colourful. They feel optomistic and fresh - look at 'Harvest Time' below - a sunny utopian view of town and country.
The exhibition is an international journey through Fauvist, Futurist, Constructivist, Surrealist, Pop Art, illustrative.....

Here are a few of my personal highlights - enjoy!

Detail of 'Deer Season' cotton furnishing textile by Rockwell Kent

Charles Bloom Inc New York 1950

Detail of 'Harvest Time' cotton furnishing textile by Rockwell Kent

Charles Bloom Inc New York 1950

'A Fish is a Fish is a Fish' by Ken Scott 1951

Cotton border print

This textile by the New York company W.B. Quaintence was subsequently marketed in the UK through Sanderson & Son Ltd.

Fashion textile for cotton summer dress by Alastair Morton c1949

'Full Measure' by Kenneth Rowntree 1957

Cotton crepe furnishing fabric, Edinburgh Weavers

Eduardo Paolozzi textile 1953

'Notes' cotton fashion textile by Pablo Picasso 1955

'Whithorn' linen furnishing textile by William Scott 1961

Dress made from Joan Miro's textile 'Farmers Dinner' c1955

Skirt made from Fernand Leger's textile 'Acrobats' 1955

D.B. Fuller & Co NY

'Mr Man and All Over Neon No 2' by Zandra Rhodes

'Arab Town' by Saul Steinberg 1952

Coset of California

'Frontispiece' by Pablo Picasso 1963

Bloomcraft Fabric, NY

Sonia Delauney

block printed silk c1925

What's suddenly struck me is that there are only two women here amongst about ten men - that's the 'art' world for you? This led me onto thinking about recent artist's collaborations. The two which spring to mind are the incredible Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama - not only a woman, but an 84 year old woman! who was invited by Louis Vuitton to create fashion textiles and window displays - I blogged about it here. Plus the fabulous Grayson Perry who has collaborated with Liberty on a number of projects.

If you're visiting, do pop into the museum shop where there are lots of books and goodies.....including some of my scarves! All proceeds go to the museum.

Posted 15th February 2014 by Jo Angell

Labels: Alastair Morton Eduardo Paolozzi Fernand Leger Joan Miro Ken Scott Kenneth Rowntree Pablo Picasso Rockwell Kent Saul Steinberg Sonia Delauney Textile William Scott Zandra Rhodes

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Jan

6

Fashion & Textile Museum

'ARTIST TEXTILES Picasso to Warhol' at the Fashion and Textile Museum

A splash of colour in Bermondsey, close to London Bridge - this is the Fashion and Textile Museum, designed by Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta.

It's a cutting edge centre for contemporary fashion, textiles and jewellery and has a programme of changing exhibitions and offers courses too.

Just opened is a really exciting exhibition 'ARTIST TEXTILES Picasso to Warhol' which traces the history of 20th century art in textiles. I'm delighted that a selection of my silk scarves have been selected to be sold in the museum shop to compliment this exhibition. How exciting to be mentioned in the same paragraph as some of the artists featured - George Braque, Alexander Calder, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Sonia Delaunay, Raoul Dufy, Barbara Hepworth, Fernand Leger, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro, Henry Moore, Pablo Picasso, Ben Nicholson and Andy Warhol!

Salvador Dali 'Number, Please?' textile from Wesley Simpson, c1947

and here's a little taster of details from my scarves...

'Gasholder' printed on silk habotai

'Geo' blue printed on silk habotai

'Geo' red printed on silk habotai

'Leaf flow' orange printed on silk habotai

'Seascape' printed on silk habotai

'Paint' printed on silk habotai

Posted 6th January 2014 by Jo Angell

Labels: Alexander Calder Andy Warhol bermondsey fashion and textile museum Henri Matisse Henry Moore Joan Miro Pablo Picasso Raoul Dufy Salvador Dali silk habotai Silk Scarf Sonia Delaunay Textiles

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Dec

11

Festive Gift Boutique in Clerkenwell

Can't believe it's December! A busy time for me, meeting customers at shows and updating the online shop. This week, I'm part of a pop up shop with nine other fab designers in Clerkenwell, at Craft Central's beautiful gallery space. I love this area - very buzzing with activity and combining business and creativity. Great architecture too and superb cafes and restaurants.

OPENING TIMES:

MON 9th - FRI 13th 9am - 8pm

THURSDAY til 9pm - Pop in for a glass of wine!

SAT 14th - SUN 15th 11am - 5pm

33-35 St John's Square EC1M 4DS (map)

One of the exhibitors "LOVE BESSIE" created our wonderful doggy illustration for

the event and I designed all the graphics around it.

Please keep scrolling down for pics of the gallery and designers work.

Early in the morning! The gallery is on the corner behind the lovely rowan tree with plump red berries

Here are a few photos from the gallery - hastily taken on my phone but hopefully gives the general flavour!

my scarves!

www.brandtsjewellery.co.uk

www.laparrajewels.com

www.laparrajewels.com

my scarves

Velvet cushions from me

www.deannakiernan.co.uk

www.deannakiernan.co.uk

www.facebook.com/LoveBessie

www.madeanew.co.uk

www.tinavlassopulos.com

my eyepillows

my lavender mini-pillows

www.beeandtea.co.uk

Beanbags and lavender kitties

www.baileytomlin.com

www.vickysaragouda.com/home

Posted 11th December 2013 by Jo Angell

Labels: Clerkenwell Craft Central December 2013 design Digital Textiles EC1 Farringdon Festive Gift Boutique gallery Gifts handmade jewellery Pop Up Shop St john's square

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Aug

28

Costa Rica summer

I was lucky enough to go to Costa Rica this summer with my husband and daughter to tour around with a guide and another family from Los Angeles. Costa Rica has successfully managed to diminish deforestation from some of the worst rates in the world from 1973 to 1989, to almost zero by 2005. The country did this by encouraging eco-tourism with a large collection of national parks where you can both observe and preserve plants, animals and insects. Whether this is sustainable in the long run is open for discussion as they have more and more visitors. With my love of learning about plant forms, I had a lovely time...Here are some of my hipstamatic photos which are likely to be the starting point of my next textile collection.

Posted 28th August 2013 by Jo Angell

Labels: Costa Rica eco-tourism

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Jul

16

blink pop up gallery - Sat 20 July 2013

'blink' is an occasional pop up gallery event in North London featuring both artists and designers.

I will be there come rain or shine (more likely the latter!) this Saturday 20 July 10am - 6pm

Images show a selection of my original textile designs and products coming with me.

I specialise in digital textile designs, all made in the UK. I have also recently been experimenting with the ancient Japanese form of fold dying - Shibori, and will be showing a few examples of the soft cotton results which work perfectly as scarves or sarongs.

Hope to see you there!

Details:

blink Arts and Design Gallery

Will be back in Crouch End on

Saturday 20^th July 10am-6pm

Ahoy shipmates! We’re getting ready to sail back into St. George’s hall, Cranley Gardens with our blink summer exhibition for 1 day only, bringing with it a live mermaid installation!

As always we’re an eclectic mix of over 20 wildly original artists and creators will once again transform this much loved local church hall into a nautical themed gallery showing:

Art. Art Installation. Ceramics.Fashion. Floristry. Furniture.

Jewellery.Photography. Printmaking. Sculpture & Textiles.

So hoist your mainsail, set your compass for Cranley Gardens N10 3AH &

get on board for Sat 20^th July 10-6pm.

For more information see blinkpopuparts on Facebook and twitter

Posted 16th July 2013 by Jo Angell

Labels: blink Crouch End dyeing North London Pop up Shibori textile design

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Apr

8

Hornsey Town Hall

I'm usually in a hurry, with a list of things to do....

Today I had an hour to spend in Crouch End, and rather than sit drinking coffee, I decided to amble slowly and look around my locality to see what was going on and how it was faring.

I really like the town hall in the middle of Crouch End, built in 1935, now used mainly as a vintage film set (notable recently for 'The Hour') whilst people/council argue what to do with it.
How had I missed these gates before? They're very much of their period and they remind me of something I would have loved as a child. I would have stood there deciding which animal I liked the best.

The design appeals to my sense of order and symmetry with little compartments for one and all.

Happy to say the Crouch End Festival will be inhabiting this space for a Craft Fair on June 8th. I should be taking part showing my digital texiles. Stalls will be both inside and outside the building.

Seek and you shall find.

http://www.crouchendfestival.org/
http://www.hornsey-town-hall.org.uk/

Posted 8th April 2013 by Jo Angell

Labels: Crouch End Crouch End Festival Hornsey Town Hall

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Mar

15

Preparing to Show

So, I'm involved in this very local (to me) 1 Day Gallery tomorrow.

I've displayed my work in a range of temporary spaces. Somewhere to hang things is always useful - often unavailable. The curator of the show has encouraged all the exhibitors to embrace an industrial theme. St George's Hall has a lovely old fashioned atmosphere with a well worn fab wooden floor. I wanted to create a small area, almost like a small set. A eureka moment - how about a screen made from pegboard - now that would be flexible. The genius blokes in my local woodshsop knew exactly how to do it.

This is what I love. Fresh white walls, natural woods and bright colours.

Hmmm, it's hard to do minimalism when displaying a broad selection of work in different colourschemes. Your space can very quickly look a jumbled mess.

The traditional solution is to colour group....

or pattern group....

or a random sweetshop mixture....

back to minimalism....

We'll see...tomorrow's another day.

Come and see what I decide to do if you're in the area!

St Georges Hall, Cranley Gardens, Crouch End N10 3AH

10 - 4

Posted 15th March 2013 by Jo Angell

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