very sanderson indeed

i have been enjoying lots of printing in the studio for the past few weeks but last thursday i was lucky to have a day off and visit the fashion and textiles museum to see very sanderson: 150 years of english decoration. the exhibition was packed full of printed and woven textile and paper designs from across the years of sanderson. iconic designs and real technical innovation are great to see up close and in brilliant colour. my personal highlights included the heavily embossed wallpapers from the 1860's, a stunning hand painted early wall frieze with peacocks, william morris flocked wallpaper designed for queen victoria and flocked with merino wool, the slightly creepy disney collaborations of the 20's and 30's and headache inducing 80's chintz (i am sure we all experienced that trend). i just wish i had photos of it all:

(from t: embossed leather paper 1860's, block printed paper 1875, original 'chintz' machine printed paper 1905 and a current design 'dandelion clocks' by fiona howard 2009)