2018-11-01_The_Simple_Things

THINK (^) | CREATIVITY
THE ART OF
DRYING UP
TEA TOWELS CAN TELL A STORY
ABOUT HOW WE LIVE, HOW WE
DECORATE AND OUR CHANGING
RELATIONSHIP TO OUR KITCHENS
T
he tea towel definitely has
designs above its status.
This small rectangle of fabric,
part of our everyday lives, also
doubles as a modern design
icon: injecting colour and
patternintoeventhedrabbestofkitchens.
They’repackedwithmemories:pull
outanolddesignfromadrawerandit
immediatelyevokesimagesofhome–even
ifit’ssquabblingoverwhoseturnitistodo
the washing up with your siblings.
Buttheteatowelhasspentarelatively
shorttimeinourhomes:theyemergedas
ma nufact ured a r tefact in t he Indust r ia l
Revolution, having evolved from the linen
cloth initially used to keep a tea pot warm.
By the late 19th and early to mid-20th
century, your glass towel or tea towel would
likely be striped or checked cloth.
That all changed with Astrid Sampe, in
1955, a Swedish-born designer, who became
the first to create commercially successful
designs. Taking note, Irish linen company
Thomas Somerset & Co of Belfast saw a way
to revive its f lagging trade and hired British
designer Lucienne Day. The timing was
spot on – developments in automatic screen
printing reduced the costs, while post-war
consumers craved some cheer.
Our kitchens haven’t been the same since.
As Day said, “It takes a woman to think up
a design idea that other women have been
wanting for years.” Since then, they’ve
ref lected the times and designs in which
we live: from 1960s poster art to 1970s
nosta lg ia. They rema in a n a f fordable way
to get a bit of art into your home – and still
add a much-appreciated degree of pleasure
into the dullest of kitchen chores.
1 1960s hippy patterns
begin to edge their way
into the kitchen. Candy
Jar was designed by Ian
Logan, whose fabric print
company JRM Design also
created prints for the likes
of fashion designers Mary
Quant and Jeff Banks.
2 A Lucienne Day design,
‘Batterie de Cuisine’,
commissioned for
Belfast firm Nova
Products, shows the
growing influence of
Elizabeth David and
her promotion of
Mediterranean cooking
in the 1960s.
(^3) The 1970s saw the birth
of a British tradition – the
National Trust tea towel.
Queen of the art was Pat
Albeck, who designed
more than 300 tea towels
for them from the 1970s
to the present day. Here
she turns her illustrative
hand to various Scottish
castles held by the Trust.
2
3
Compiled by: FRANCES AMBLER
LU C I EN N E DAY, BAT TER I E D E C U I S I N E; PAT A LB EC K , SCOT TI S H C A S
TLE S , B OTH PH OTO G R A PH ED BY A LL A N H U TC H I N G S
»