Tessellation Appreciation

Thank you to @AmyLouiseGuest for sending me a link to @Londonist ’Campaign To Re-Open Crystal Palace Subway’ 

Read the full article here: http://tiny.cc/woyciw

Tamasyn Gambell

With a belief that good design doesn’t have to be compromised for eco credentials, Tamasyn Gambell sources organic dyestuffs and water based inks for her bright, bold range of homewares and accessories. In addition, her company also supports a women’s relief project in Kerala, South India.

The collection features upholstered furniture at Førest, hand made cushions, organic cotton scarves and reclaimed paper notebooks - all with Tamasyn’s signature pattern prints; triangles, curves and stripes.

From Liberty London and MoMA New York, to get your hands on these stylish lifestyle accessories with a fun, retro feel, you can find your nearest stockist on Tamasyn’s website here.

Jennie Moncur at the ICA

As you head to the upstairs area at the ICA you are greeted with an impressive laser cut linoleum floor. The curatorial comment explains it’s by British tapestry artist, Jennie Moncur.

Inspired by the tapestries of the Loire castles in France, Moncur uses bold compositions and geometric shapes to create an eye catching design to lead visitors to the first floor galleries.

The flooring was originally installed in 1987 to celebrate the ICA’s fortieth anniversary. In 2008 Moncur was invited back to reinstate her original design to mark their sixtieth anniversary as the original work has been worn away by human traffic.

A delightful slideshow of her ICA flooring and plans can be viewed on Moncur’s website here.

Hazel Stark

Tessellation fun with a retro feel? Yes please.

London based surface designer, Hazel Stark, makes bold and bright prints, often using no more than three colours at a time. Triangles and squares are arranged to form repeat patterns which tessellate perfectly with each other and their negative space, often forming part of a larger repeat pattern, not unlike pixel art.

With prices starting at £30 for a cushion, Stark’s prints are the perfect way cheer up a plain, neutral space. 

The Vintage Festival 2011

A beautiful sunny weekend in July saw London’s Southbank lindy hop back in time to the 1951 Festival of Britain. The brainchild of Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway, the Vintage 2011 extravaganza included clubs, big bands, vintage fashion, art and design, film, shops, vintage retailers, dance lessons, makeovers and craft workshops.

Despite the intense heat and the overcrowding it was a great day. We tried on vintage dresses, learned to knit, made fascinators, watched hair being styled into Victory rolls and drank ice cold ginger beer. Simply spiffing.

I came across a number of vintage printed fabrics, wallpapers and cross stitched patterns on clothing and accessories, too many to capture on one blog post, but my favourites are shown above. If, like me, all of this floats your boat, I would suggest joining The Vintage Festival Facbook site to find out more and come along next year!

Toodle pip.

M. C. Escher

I first became aware of Escher when I recognised the impossible staircases from the final scene of Labyrinth [1986] (David Bowie’s finest acting foray) on a poster in a maths classroom at school. A feeble attempt to make maths seem like fun? Yes. But national curriculum aside, to omit this Dutch graphic artist from a blog about tessellation would be remiss.

Escher explored mathematical relationships among shapes, figures and space in his graphic art. Incorporated into his prints were all manor of geometric shapes; cones, spheres, cubes, rings, spirals and mirror images. Additionally, he explored complex interlocking and tessellating figures in monochrome palettes to enhance their different dimensions.

Escher’s Relativity series were inspired by a series of 16 prints by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720 - 1778) of prisons in Rome. Indeed the similarities are quite apparent, both sharing an element of Kafkaesque fantasy.

Carceri by Piranesi, 1745

Relativity by Escher, 1953

The final stair case scene from Labyrinth that is inspired so heavily by Escher’s Relativity series, together with more awesome Bowie, can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufrCIwNk1zc

Fun facts

• Maurits Cornelis Escher born in Leeuwarden (Netherlands) in 1898
• Escher failed his high school exams
• During his lifetime Escher made 448 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings and over 2000 drawings and sketches
• M.C. Escher was a graphic artist who also illustrated books, designed tapestries, murals and postage stamps
• He met his wife Jetta Umiker while travelling around Italy, they married in 1924
• Their son, Giorgio Arnaldo Escher, was born in Rome and named after Escher’s father
• Escher died in 1972 in Laren (Netherlands)

Truly the god father of tessellation, Escher’s work is enjoyed today by artists, scientists, mathematicians and anyone who ever spent their maths lessons colouring in the squared paper at the back of their exercise book.

Footnote: And or any Henson, Bowie or JenCon fans - you can enjoy the Dance Magic Dance here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjoYzLBp34o