I have a lovely book called 20th Century Pattern Design by Lesley Jackson. It takes a good look at textile and wallpaper designers who broke new ground. All of my examples, except the last one, are from this book.
Just now I am interested in stripes and variations of stripes and I've selected ones I really like and that show the immense variety of stripes. I've also tried to consider the means of printing and chosen a selection of processes. I was surprised to realise that whilst not technically stripes many pictorial patterns are very stripe like.
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| Block printed wallpaper frieze by Maurice Dufrene 1900 p25 |
Cubism had a dramatic affect on pattern design during the 1920's and forms were deconstructed and reassembled in vibrant colours and compositions. This one is wallpaper designed by Henri Stephany in 1929. I love it.
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| Wallpaper designed by Henri Stephany 1929 p34 |
This woven wall hanging was designed and made by Anni Albers at the Bauhaus in 1925. I'm not sure how much I actually like it but I admire it for its use of a limited colour scheme and the dynamic impact it has.
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| Anni Albers 1925 p 46 |
Sonia Delaunay was a Jewish-French artist who, with her husband Robert Delaunay was instrumental in founding the Orphism art movement, which advocated use of strong colours and geometric shapes. Delaunay thought that dress fabrics should be designed with a particular dress in mind.
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| Printed silk dress fabric by Sonia Delaunay1927 p55 |
In 1921 Constance Irving designed this cotton furnishing fabric. The background is black and the ribbons of colour are heavily patterned.
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| Roller printed cotton furnishing fabric by Constance Irving 1921 p59 |
I'm very attracted to this block printed linen furnishing fabric. It's called Pointed Pip and it was designed and printed by Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Karcher from 1930-38. Barron and Karcher worked independently cutting their own blocks and handprinting the fabric themselves using natural dyes.
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| Barron and Karcher handprinted linen 1930-38 p69 |
There's a bit of a jump now to 1957 and a fabric designed by Tibor Reich. Flamingo is screen printed on cotton and was created using a process known as Fotexur where a small detail from a photo was used as a template for a repeat pattern. Familiar?
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| Tibor Reich screen printed cotton furnishing fabric 1957 p105 |
This very pared down wallpaper pattern is by Cliffe Holden and was designed in 1960. It feels very modern and I like it a lot.
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| Reed Screen wallpaper by Cliffe Holden 1960 p108 |
I simply can't imagine having this next pattern on my walls. It is Concord screen printed wallpaper designed by Michael Hatjoullis in 1966. I include it not because I particularly like it but because I remember Op Art very well.
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| Screen printed wallpaper by Michael Hatjoullis 1966 p158 |
Ann White used stripes in an amusing way depicting them as crumpled silk. The fabric is called Panache and was designed in 1984. It came in 7 colourways and was screen printed on plain weave cotton.
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| Ann White Panache 1984 p207 https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18635417/ |
This screen printed cotton furnishing fabric is called Tabasco and it was designed by Bernice Christoph in 1987. I love the way it looks like ribbons thrown haphazardly down and the colours are delightful.
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| Tabasco by Bernice Christoph 1987 p197 |
My last selection is in stark contrast to the one above. It is from 1992 and called Tracer. Designed by Michael Heindorff it is screen printed furnishing fabric which is delicate and ethereal. It almost looks like a watercolour.
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| Tracer by Micael Heindorff 1992 p204 |
After many years of using every combination of
simple stripes Paul Smith created the stripe that has become synonymous with his
name. He used 28 different colours in his woven stripe but reduced it to
14 for printing. The stripes are of varying widths and flat colour -
there's no apparent texture but the way the varying width of the stripes and the way the colours play with each other is
where the interest lies. Some seem to jump out and others melt into the
background. The definition of "stripes" I have used previously
refers to a contrasting backdrop but Smith's stripes don't seem to follow this
rule; there is no constant colour in the background.
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If you Google "Paul Smith stripes" you will find everything
from a Mini to a dog bowl and everything in between.
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You can find not only vertical lines but wavy ones as well.
There are so many colour combinations yet however it is presented the stripe is instantly recognisable.
As a student in Nottingham in 1970 I witnessed the opening of Smith's
first shop (very tiny) but try as I might it fell into the same unattainable
bracket as Zandra Rhodes and my partner just had to do without.
Born in 1946 Smith started his working life as an errand boy in a
clothing warehouse. Whilst recuperating from a serious accident he met
folk from the local art college who introduced him to the world of fashion.
He soon became menswear buyer for the warehouse and the rest as they say
is history.
He has many accolades and awards including a knighthood but he remains
grounded in a work ethic and a basic morality that I admire:
The obsessive pursuit
of status, wealth and power has done much to drag ambition's reputation into
the mud," Smith asserted to VOGUE.COM in 2010."And nowhere has this
been truer than in the banking industry, where ambition has curdled into
greed."
Looking through my book in this way has given me a good appreciation of the way stripes were used
and how they were developed during the 20th century. It seems to me that any perceived restriction can be dismissed because the only limit is self imposed.
Jackson, L. 2011, 20th Century Pattern Design. Mitchell Beazley. London
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