Inspiration
'Seascape I & II' are dominated by ink drawings of large herring gulls, suspended before an abstract space. The space is represented by a hand drawn two-point perspective grid, containing a silhouette of the destroyed Brighton pier as it stands today.
The somewhat threatening large birds and the a dark skeleton in the imaginary sea play with ideas of dystopia, uncertainty and the void.
Further inspiration to the design is the idea of the sea as a metaphor of open-ended and mysterious space, or of our subconscious mind. My own memories of Brighton beach are dominated by the noisy and threatening herring gulls, which somehow seem to be a link between two worlds, the sea and the land.
This scarf was designed together with 'Seascape II' for the exhibition 'Vera Chapter Two' in connection with the London Design Festival, September 2012.
Vera is a fictional character imagined from found photographs in a charity shop in Brighton (UK), and a small group of designers were invited to create pieces relating to Vera and her imaginary adventures.
You can find out more about Vera and the stories behind the designs on www.verachapter.com.
Description
'Seascape II' features ink drawings of younger herring gulls which have speckled plumage, suspended before an abstract space defined by a hand-drawn perspective grid. The birds overwhelm the space and create an agitated web of interacting bodies, half obscuring the large black skeleton of the destroyed Brighton pier seen at an angle. The background is a black grid on a slate green colour, a colour the sea can take on a darker, overcast day.
In size it is a bit bigger than the common 90x90cm size for silk squares.
Depending on how it is worn this design breaks up into areas of monochrome speckled feathers, broken up by the slate green background. Often the visible seagull bits look like parts of wild animals, but together with the muted green it remains a subtle colour scheme which is not hard to combine with other colours or neutrals.
Please note this piece is made to order and will take 4 weeks to ship.
Dimension/Size
ca. 100cm x 100cm
Material Used
Highest-quality acid-dye digital print on 100% silk crepe, printed in the UK
Acid dyes produce the most vibrant and intense colours on silk. They also penetrate the fabric well so the design shows on both sides of the fabric (not with the same intensity, but the scarf looks beautiful on the reverse side too).
Hem hand-rolled in the UK