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wallpaper

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style

May 3, 2018 by Eleanor Rowlands

Spanning across 8 rooms the V&A museum’s exhibition, Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, takes us back to an era of opulence and lifestyle travel. Walls painted in moody grey tones, wooden floors, all paired with ocean sounds create an atmosphere of warmth and comfort.

 

Starting off with a brief history of ocean liners and their links to immigration they quickly move forward to when immigration quotas were introduced,and the start of the liners we came to know today. Bold display of large posters and magazines advertising trips and destinations adorned the walls, these originally were to entice the people with money, advertising this lifestyle of travel and luxury that previously they had turned their noses up at. All of the posters touched on a feeling of brightness and a new modern age.

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

 

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

As you walk around the first room there are models of ships and detailed drawings of the impressive building these companies invested in to further enhance this idyllic way of travel.

Moving on through, the exhibition touches more upon the furniture and interior design of these magnificent ships many of which were inspired by the arts and craft movement and often a showcase of the country’s goods, such as the British Queen Mary was a showcase of British woods. Wall panels and furniture, mainly chairs, continued through the exhibition as these are a good way of tracking style change within eras. There was a sense of nostalgia in each of the rooms, as videos of life on these ships are played throughout.

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

 

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

 

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Further on through they discuss the importance of liners throughout World War 1 and 2 as troop transport and delivering supplies and the addition of new engineering advancements to the liners as aircraft travel superseded them. There is also a Wooden panel fragment from an over-door in the first-class lounge on Titanic.

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Embroidery and craftsmanship were very apparent throughout, even more so when it came to the last section which focused more on the liners as they became a vacation/leisure activity. This is when deck chairs were being introduced, lounging by the pool became popular and games such a deck curling were installed on deck.

Amongst the collection of swimwear, and Louis Vuitton luggage cases are outfits and objects from Miss Emilie Grigsby, a well travelled American socialite, who’s wardrobe is not only stunning but ahead of the times in many aspects.

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

 

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney goes to Ocean Liners: Speed and Style London Hand Embroidery

Overall the exhibition is nostalgic and beautiful with a large mix of tastes and periods, taking influence from various cultures. We would definitely say this is one not to miss as it is a masterclass in style.

The Ocean Liners: Speed and Style will be running at the V&A until Sunday 17th June. Prices are £18.00 for an adult and £15.00 for a student with concession tickets available.

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery, Embroidery, Fashion, Interior Design, London Tagged With: british, chair, craftmanship, deck, drawings, eras, fashion, furniture, history, interior design, interiors, leisure, light, lighting, Louis Vuitton, models, pool, poster, Queen Mary, sailor, ships, speed, style, titanic, travel, vacation, wallpaper, world war 1, world war 2, ww1, ww2

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors

July 17, 2014 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney has had lots of request over the years to direct our embroidery expertise to apply some of our embroidery techniques to interiors. Occasionally we have dipped our toes into the interiors world, applying goldwork techniques and monograms to cushions and footstools for example but we thought we would also show you some of the inspiring work we have come across recently:

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

We also came across this lovely combination where wall covering meet embroidery as Custhom have incorporated embroidered stitches into the graphic design of this paper to add an usual relief element to your feature wall.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Within the same theme we also came across this inventive floor design by Lin Wei Ling Victoria who drilled and then embroidered into these floorboards.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Timorous beasties is a design studio up in Glasgow, founded by two friends, Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons who met and Glasgow school of art. They create fabrics and wallpapers in traditional arrangements but insert unexpected themes, mostly inspired by nature. Their work often has a reflective quality as they explore the relationship between, plants, animals and society, a theme that runs throughout their designs.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Barnaby Gates is another create duo, Vanessa Barnaby and Alice Gates who create really luxurious wall coverings using specially selected, traditional printing processes for each design. There is a quintessential Britishness to the brand as they choose to print in one of the last remaining print works in the Midlands and it provides the inspiration for most of their works.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

In response to this, we thought we tun our hand to apply some of our embroidery expertise to interior design so working with a variety of brocades, this is what we produced:

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Interiors London Hand Embroidery

If you have a special project in mind and are looking for a way to make it unique, get in touch.

 

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery, London Tagged With: cushions, drafting, embroidery, floorboards, foot stool, goldwork, Initials, interiors, lampshade, Monogram, silk shading, upholstery fabric, wall covering, wallpaper

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