“The Textile Blog”

LATELY, I’VE ENJOYED reading The Textile Blog: Design, Decoration and Craft, which, oddly enough, is only partly about textiles. Instead, the author, John Hopper, has a more catholic taste. Here are some articles that caught my eye:

Sicilian Decoration as seen by Matthew Digby WyattCeramic Mosaic Work from CairoThe Anatomy of Pattern by Lewis Foreman DaySleeping Beauty Tiles by Edward Burne-JonesBullerswood Carpet by William MorrisIslamic Geometric MosaicsThe Geometrical Framework of PatternThe Supremacy of Indian Decorative and Pattern WorkEducational Courts at the Crystal PalaceThe 1853 Dublin Exhibition of Art-IndustryA Celebration of Pugin's 200th AnniversaryThe Crocheted Lace D’OyleyDecorative Endpapers of the Early Twentieth CenturyArabic Calligraphy as DecorationThe Designer as a Cross-Discipline Artist

Hopper also shows Catholic interests:

Ceramic Tile Designs by A W N PuginFrench Stained Glass of the 13th CenturyAugustus Charles Pugin and Gothic OrnamentsEmbroidered Altar Cloths of the 1860sPattern Work and the Medieval MediterraneanDecorative Embroidery of Thomas BecketMedieval English Stained GlassEnglish Tile Pavement from 1340Vestment Decoration by A W N PuginDecoration of English Stone CrossesTessellated Pavement from Meaux AbbeyByzantine and Romanesque DecorationThe Stylised Medieval WorldMedieval Stained Glass Pattern WorkEmbroidered Robes of Thomas BecketDecorative Patterned Floors of Venice

The blog concentrates largely on Victorian England and the early Modern period. But rather than taking a starting point from the classical arts of Greece and Rome (which we now know was severely misinterpreted by the Renaissance and Enlightenment), it instead finds the full flowering of the decorative arts in the Medieval period, with roots extending across all of Europe and half of Asia.The blog’s author argues that artists ought to be multidisciplinary, and should not be mere specialists in one narrow field or another. We find this variety of in many of the biographies found on the blog, with single individuals designing textiles, wallpapers, floor tiles, furniture, ceramics, stained glass windows, and even entire buildings.The Textile Blog is both interesting in its own right and is inspirational as a sourcebook for design.