Archive, Artifice, Artifact

I curated this exhibition as part of a larger initiative, instigated by me, between the digital textile printing research centre at GSA, Stoddard Sekers archive, Warners archive and the National Trust, investigating applications for digital reproduction of archive textiles. I approached nine established textile designers who had not previously engaged with digital production and invited them to select a piece from an archive and make a response using the medium of digital print. A digital facsimile of the chosen piece, printed onto paper, was exhibited with each output. The exhibits involved a range of substrates including leather, silk, cotton and wool. My own piece was in response to a painted paisley design circa 1850, exploring scale and the contrasts to traditional rendering that digital technology makes possible. The exhibition aimed to explore the issues surrounding craft and its relationship with digital media, the appropriation and misappropriation of ideas, and further to understand how artefact research contributes to the development of contemporary design