Product Details
Was £690 - Now £475
Framed original, oil on paper, signed.
Painting Size: 42 x 59 cm (16.5" x 23.5”)
Frame size: 54 X 72 CM
Frame options:
Oak with mount
Black wood with mount
White wood with mount
Read more about our Framing Workshop here
THE STORY
A new collection of eight original oil paintings by Raphael Balme.
At The Shop Floor Project one of the most exciting roles is to commission new work from our stable of artists and makers at the beginning of each year. Inspiration for new collections come from a multitude of places. Often overlapping with things we’ve seen, read or even made ourselves, these beautiful paintings by Raphael Balme have a thread of references as exciting as the paintings themselves.
It started with a film called Gabbeh, an Iranian folk tale which follows an elderly married couple as they head to the river to wash their gabbeh; a traditional Persian carpet with a colourful illustration of a young woman woven into it. Suddenly, the figure in the design springs miraculously to life, declares herself to be called Gabbeh, and then spins a story about her history, her family and the man she loved but was forbidden to marry.
Together with Raphael Balme we explored the ideas of the film and headed to the V&A Museum archive to look at the watercolour designs for rugs and carpets by William Morris, Eileen Hunter and Duncan Grant.
Design for a Carpet, William Morris, V&A Museum E.296-1939
Design for a rug, Eileen Hunter , V&A Museum E.723-1955 E.169-1998
Design for a Carpet, Duncan Grant, V&A Museum E.723-1955
The brief developed and we tasked Balme to create a collection of oil paintings in response to the title “Studies for Rugs” which would form the basis of her next Artist Cushion collection (to launch in September).
The final result is a series of paintings which are rich with colour, imagery and symbols and, just like the film Gabbeh, ask you to look closely and see the details within a broader composition.