A man as tormented as he was beloved, Oscar Wilde used his experiences to form brilliant, if controversial, literary works, including The Impor tance of Being Earnest. He is remembered as one of the most influential writers of the Victorian era.
William Morris (1834-1896), one of the most celebrated practitioners of the Arts and Crafts Movement, created woven and printed textile designs using the ancient technique of hand woodblock printing. As seen on this canvas bag, his evocations of the natural world have become design classics.
Plátená taška KARA-ORI s dizajnom japonského kimona s vnútorným vreckom uzatvárateľným na zips. Tento vzor hodvábneho kimona pretkaného zlatom, bol pôvodne navrhnutý pre japonské divadelné kostýmy a datuje sa obdobia Edo (1615–1868). Karaori je špecificky spätý s nádherne vyšívaným tradičným ženským kimonom, ktorým bolo divadlo Noh známe.
Plátená taška Cairo Atelier – Midnight Star. Dizajn 12-cípej hviezdy má na svedomí brilantná káhirská dielňa zo 16. storočia. Hoci nepoznáme presný názov ateliéru, ale detailný vzor a použité jemné materiály dokazujú, prečo boli knihy z tejto dielne tak vysoko cenené. Pôvodnú väzbu dnes možno nájsť v múzeu Kunstpalast v nemeckom Düsseldorfe.
Azulejos are painted, glazed ceramic tiles that date back to 13th-century Portugal. Today, we see these decorative tiles across a wide range of buildings. The design seen here is pulled from the traditional tiles gracing the facades of a variety of old houses in Porto, Portugal.
Featuring a lively contemporary work by Japanese American artist Yuko Shimizu, this design brings a touch of whimsy to the Paperblanks collection. Originally created for a 2012 magazine article on the Dutch pension system, the illustration reproduced here demonstrates Shimizu’s artistic conception of “leading by example.”
The Cockerell and Son Bindery is celebrated for their unique style of paper marbling, developed by the late Sydney (Sandy) M. Cockerell. He took the tradition of handmade marbled papers and found a way to produce the strikingly complex designs at high speeds and volumes. We have reproduced one of these iconic designs for this canvas bag.
Photographer Gérard Degeorge has travelled the world, capturing grand pieces of architectural design through the scope of his lens. Our Granada Turquoise design comes from his vast collection of photography. It is reminiscent of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Before Dutch still life painting developed, artists illuminated handwritten manuscripts to add emotional power to a written work. A celebrated practitioner of this style was Joris Hoefnagel. Reproduced here is a page he illuminated for the Mira calligraphiae monumenta, a mid-16th-century manuscript by Georg Bocskay.
The kimono pattern that inspired this design was originally a woodblock print created by Japanese art publishers for theatrical costumes. This genre of artwork, known as “ukiyo-e,” dates to the Edo period (1603–1868), and this particular design was created sometime during the early 1900s.
The eternal appeal of a floral design is captured in the work of Irish illustrator William Kilburn. The artist behind William Curtis’ book on botany, Flora Londinensis, Kilburn was also a designer and printer of calico. His seaweed motifs were so iconic that he presented a dress in the pattern to Queen Charlotte!
Rinpa is a leading historical school of Japanese painting, established in 17th-century Kyoto, whose artists were known for working in a range of formats. This design shows a section of a screen with various types of blooms often believed to follow the ancient Japanese language of flowers.
