SILK STRIPE By C.F.A Voysey

Overview
Our Silk Stripe wallpaper is from a 1918 design for a woven silk by C.F.A Voysey found in the V&A Museum archives. The story of silk is both of splendor and the everyday: its origins are in ancient China, where it was initially reserved for the Emperor but later was used for items including paper, fishing lines and canvas for painting. It was kept a precious secret before being smuggled out and subsequently traded on the infamous Silk Road. What was once a functional material became a commodity coveted the world over.

Voysey’s hand-painted watercolor washes give the feel of a fine textile, but the flat, simplified Arts & Crafts motifs ground it in something more modest. Indeed, the movement aimed to raise the profile of decorative artists whose work had historically been given less exposure than painters and sculptors. Designers pleaded for ‘fitness in the ornament to the thing ornamented.’

Silk Stripe captures the opulence of silk whilst still offering a utilitarian Arts & Crafts sensibility: as it was in ancient China, this silk is both practical and precious.

Measurements
• Each roll is 20.5″ wide x 11 yards long
• Repeat: 25.44″, straight

Additional Notes
• 4-5 week lead time
• Digital print, Non-woven
• Made in Britain

Color Description
Multi colored illustration on a soft white background

Additional Info
Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857–1941) was an English architect, furniture and textile designer, perhaps perfectly described as ‘an architect of individuality’.

Awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1940, at the age of 83 and some years since his last architectural project, Voysey was one of the leading figures of the Arts and Crafts movement and, some say, a forerunner in Modern Architecture, although he resented attempts to characterize his work and willfully rejected those that were made. His architectural work was distinctive and memorable, as is the furniture, wallpaper, fabric and domestic fittings he fastidiously designed, with influences drawn from Arthur Mackmurdo to William Morris.

Voysey’s 1918 designs Lioness & Palms and Silk Stripe are exclusively available at CommonRoom.