The 47th Precinct

Coming from a solid liberal arts education, I like to look for inspiration with an interdisciplinary approach. Early adventures in sewing, obsession with Marimekko, and trolling at used bookstores for “pattern” dictionaries has fueled an obsession with all things textile design. This may be heredetary: my grandmother vivian was often spotted with a mug proclaiming, “she who dies with the most fabric wins.”

My most recent discovery in this arena is Florence Broadhurst. A social chameleon, Australian, shrouded in mystery (the rumor mill reports her to be nearly blind at the time that she was producing a huge body of work), and a case of unsolved murder (she may have been a victim of the “Granny Killer”). A spicy story all together, and her approach was all about “quotation”: she would take a clipping from a travel magazine, a swatch from a bathrobe, or a nightclub wallpaper, and would design a plethora of repeating patterns based on this fountain of ideas. Here are a few to look at:

turnabouts

kabuki

japanese bamboo

fingers

spotted floral

solar

tortoise shell stripe

japanese floral

circles and squares

You can see many more of her designs at the Signature prints site.

This entry was posted Saturday, September 1st, 2007 at 7:58 am and is filed under Inspiration, Patterns, Textiles. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.