Product Details
These large cushion covers feature a series of paintings by Raphael Balme. Each cushion cover is signed and comes with an artist's information tag.
Printed onto organic cotton/sateen
Backed and piped in cotton drill with contrasting tassels
Zip fastening
Dry clean only.
60 x 45 CM
Please note: If purchasing cushion cover only the cushion fill/pad required would be: 61 x 45cm (24 x 18in)
THE STORY
A new collection of cushions featuring the paintings of 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 cushions 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.
