The London Toile - Essay Example

The London Toile The London toile is the second Toile that Timorous Beasties have produced, the first being the "Glasgow Toile". The London Toile is different aesthetically and its reference is from the "islands" of images that are often found in the original Toiles. The London Toile was designed from a love of London and a love of the old toile’s that were produced in a pre revolutionary and post industrial France, in the small town of Jouey in the 1770’s. The London Toile was designed using the same techniques as the original Toile’s by separating the drawings, producing extra depth and texture by overlapping and leaving gaps in the artwork to create more tones when the inks overlap one another.

The imagery in the original Toile’s was quite sinister, they depicted scenes that were then "contemporary", but we now see as looking traditional. Some scenes showed the factory at Jouey, and others rural scenes of workers relaxing drinking dancing, and womanising. Timorous Beasties have not actually changed much in the Toile concept, but have updated the references from the contemporary urban. The urban landscape in many UK cities seems to be changing all the time, modern buildings have become icons that give us a strong sense of identity, and there fore the London Toile seemed a perfect expression of where we were coming from.

I could go on and on, but to sum things up we do love some of the traditional designs from the past, but its great fun to give them a new angle, to make them speak to us in the present. This fabric speaks so much about the lifestyle of the romantic, peaceful and carefree London. Printed in the fabric, were green different images of the romantic and carefree lifestyles in contrast to a cream linen which made it more beautiful and attractive. There are 8 images injected to a bright cream fabric, showered with flying and feeding doves were a images of lovers overlooking the Great London Bridge across the lake under the tree infront of bench.

It is such a very romantic site which made this fabric perfectly ideal for lovers, designed to fit on sofa sets, love rests or even curtains in a lovers bedroom. Next to this image is the city itself, overlooked across the ocean with a lone man walking away from it. This peaceful and solemn serenity of the scene depicts the mood of the sunset, being ready for a relaxing dinner and sleep on your way to your home. Having this fabric hanged in your living room makes you feel that you are glad to be home with your family, celebrating the union before the end of the day.

REFERENCES London Toile Fabric. Retrieved from: http://www.timorousbeasties.com