The Dyers’ Company and Dyeing

This frieze is designed to represent the history and development of natural dyes. The complex
layered style is intended to evoke a sense of the passing of time, evolution and change. A colour
palette of red madder, indigo blue, cochineal, Tyrian purple, woad blue and a variety of earth tones
derived from logwood and kermes reflect the variety, vibrancy and richness of coloured dyes derived
from the natural world.

Inspired by Richard Haklut’s Principle of Navigations, London 1599, and referencing the East India Company’s promotion of Elizabethan overseas expansion, a backdrop of an antique world map suggests the global connections and discoveries involved in the dying industry.

The chronology of natural dyes commences from left to right with rich painterly washes of natural
dye colours, which provide a backdrop for a tangled web of madder roots. A delicate sketch of
Tutankhamen’s mask references the discovery of madder root in the Royal tomb, whilst the early
adoption of text is represented by a pattern of gold Roman numerals which overlay an example of
the early Worshipful Company of Dyers’ Charter document.

By contrast hand cut collages of English Blackletter represent the communication of trade and
development of dye recipes. An early illustration showing the vat dying process in action sits in the
midst of a flurry of Indigo leaves in the stunning shades of blue yielded by the alchemy of the natural
indigo dying process. A world map illustrates the location of species Rubia and of Turkey red dying
and a drawing of a tyrian shell sits in a collage of purples and crimson, contrasting with blue tones of
fragmented blocks of alum crystal, used as a mordent in the dying of cloth.

The magnificent Dyers’ Coat of Arms takes centre stage with two swans peeping out to the left, and
below scurry an army of kermes beetles which are used in the production of red dyes. To the right
of the frieze a resplendent Henry VIIIth wears a richly coloured and bejewelled doublet, in shades of
red and gold, which illustrates one of the Royal shipping vessels and represents the status and value
cloth during the powerful Tudor dynasty.

Archive architectural plans of Dyers’ Hall Dowgate Hill, London, provide a backdrop to the right-hand
side of the frieze, overlayed with a splash of cochineal red, a drawing of a brazil wood tree and a
boiling caldron from which spill a jumble of printed letters, in shades of logwood mauve. A classic
textile polka dot motive, in the shape of the wax Dyers’ Hall seal, is detailed with several of the Dyers’
Hall Freedom bearers of the 19th Century.

This frieze is designed to represent the history and development of synthetic dyes. This frieze is
created in a rich palette which aims to reflect the incredible variety of colour made possible with the
invention of synthetic dyes. A grid-like structure provides the backdrop to the collage which has
been layered with imagery to reflect the complexity of dye chemistry and the sense of reactivity
involved in its creation.

The chronology of synthetic dyes commences from left to right beginning with the city of London
skyline, which is a blur of movement and colour in swirling shades of violet and purple. William
Perkin looks wise and masterful surrounded by colour chips of mauvine, which he discovered in
1856. His eyeline gazes toward a world globe, tangled in the chemical formulas which represent azo
dyes. The hexagon shape represents both the symbols of dye chemistry and the classic honeycomb
motif used in Shibori dying.

A diagram of Sharp’s stencil printing machine in 1894 and structural and skeletal dye chemistry
formulas and graphs represent notable developments in dye chemistry such as; the first azo type
dyes in 1866 and the production of synthetic alizarin in 1868.

Modern industrial dying machinery and a dye lab provide the backdrop to the right-hand side of the
frieze. An early illustration shows a thermometer which was significant in the serendipitous
discovery of synthetic indigo dying, which due to its uses in dying denim, is the most widely used
commercial dye globally.

A hand cut typographical collage represents fonts from the digital era and the dawn of a new
millennium. A colour space diagram, computer circuit boards and a myriad of collar chips reflect the
seemingly limitless possibilities that digital textile design and production offer. To the far right of
the image a flash of neon appears in the silhouette of a technical line drawing of a high visibility
jacket.

Throughout the frieze half tone grain patterns, and blocks of colour reflect both the early adoption
of photography in image making as well as the more recent pixilation of images in the digital textile
printing process. A balance of informative, historical and technical images provides the narrative to
this piece which is in part an illustration whilst the arrangement of the composition, repetition of
motifs and decorative elements is also reminiscent of textiles design.