If you want to skip all this and just go to the winner of my charm pack giveaway then feel free to just scroll on down … like I could stop you!
Anyway, I decided to try to balance the grimness of being prodded let's just say I've had more socially and physically comfortable days with a little loveliness, so I went up to London early to the Fashion & Textile Museum in Bermondsey, 10 mins walk from London Bridge station … to catch the Designing Women exhibition.
I was born, lived and worked in London for over 30 years but the London I visit now is hardly recognisable from the one I left just 15 years ago.
There are so many huge buildings going up all over the place … this one was just as dizzying as the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (you get vertigo looking UP at this big boy)
The museum itself is in
and jolly lovely looking it is, too.
Here's the blurb from their website …
DESIGNING WOMEN: POST-WAR BRITISH TEXTILES
16 March 2012 - 16 June 2012
Britain was at the forefront of international textile design in the 1950s and 1960s. The art of textile design radically changed after the Second World War and three women artists working in England in the 1950s were pivotal in this artistic revolution. The drab days of the War were transformed by the fresh, progressive designs of Lucienne Day (1917–2010), Jacqueline Groag (1903–86) and Marian Mahler (1911– 83). Designing Women: Post-war British textiles showcases their work beginning with Lucienne Day’s ‘Calyx’ pattern of 1951, featured at the Festival of Britain, and moving through textile commissions of the 1960s and 70s. The exhibition features more than 100 works.
Original artist designs with bold abstract pattern, as well as the use of saturated colour, marked a dramatic departure from conventional furnishing fabrics. This new wave of bold textile designs, helped to bring the influences of the art world, in its most recent, refreshing, and largely abstract forms, into the contemporary home.
Exhibition Dates: 16 March - 16 June 2012
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am - 6pm
Last Admissions 5.15pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
Ticket Price: £7 / £5 for eligible concessions
Includes entry to FTM displays
I'm so pleased I did … although be warned that it's not a huge place - I had a very leisurely hour there, but could have whizzed it in 30 mins really. I think it was just wonderful to see such a lovely body of work all together.
There is much inspiration to be had … shapes, colour palettes, symmetrical asymmetry … you name it … you can feast your eyes on it …
I am sooooo going to try foundation piecing the sunburst triangles on the left! … That is one quilt singing at me to be made!
So, ahem ... thanks for staying with me, so far … or if you just scrolled down to get to the nitty gritty …
hello.
SPOTTON DOTTON COTTON CHARMPACK GIVEAWAY WINNER …
Without further whatnot … mr random generator (mmmm …is that new aftershave?) has picked …
…. parpapaparpapapaaarrr …
Lucky Number 7! Gill Watson!
