Pressed Fern Chambray

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In a small design studio in Manchester circa mid 1800’s, unknown designers painted small gouache artworks intended for Victorian lady’s dress fabrics. After the artworks had been engraved and printed these small insignificant pieces of paper were stored and forgotten. Fast forward to the 1950s, a master engraver who had been working there, managed to retrieve these discarded patterns from the dustbin. His name was Arthur. met Arthur in the late 1970s. He was one of the many master craftsmen I understudied during my training as a pattern designer. He gave me a whole book of these little archived documents. I was fascinated and cherished them with the intention to one day create a collection inspired by the patterns. Several years ago I had the documents authenticated by Dr Philip Sykas at the Manchester Metropolitan University and was surprised to find out their age, originally believing the designs were mid 20th century. Now to the present day, I have selected 4 designs. Specially curating, re interpreting and re-imagining the designs with todays contemporary interiors in mind. “I often wonder what the designer was dreaming of when painting these little patterns and where their inspiration came from …we may never know”.