Celia Birtwell - Fab Design Book
Celia Birtwell is a fascinating lady. One of the most inspiring books I have read in a long time is the fabulous biography Celia Birtwell by Dominic Lutyens. The book is beautifully written, curated, designed and printed. It is full of bright reproductions of Birtwell’s patterns and work, with close-ups of designs, sketches of ideas and original fashion photography.
It is wonderful to see Celia's journey through her illustrative style, from early drawings of her and her sisters, through to interiors fabric designs and celebrated fashion sketches.
I particularly enjoyed seeing Celia Birtwell’s fashion illustrations, which all begin with one of her distinctive face illustrations. Celia says “I’d invariably start with the face and then work down. If the face didn’t have the right expression, I didn’t carry on.”
I have always instinctively liked Celia’s work, but I confess I didn’t know a great deal about it or her – a situation now happily remedied! This book is a wonderful exploration of Celia’s life, creativity, work, history and connections. It paints a picture of a warm, open-hearted and fun artist, who explores her creativity in lots of different ways – not just through her prints and drawings, but with her home, clothes and even relationships.
As a reader I felt really inspired by the way Celia lives her life, her approach to design and to business. She wasn’t driven to build a global brand or run an uber-efficient business. Instead she was driven to create, to draw, design, print and make. I felt that the whole way she lived her life was a part of her creativity and that really spoke to me.
I loved hearing stories of her Interiors shop on Westbourne Park Road in London, where she would welcome in all the eccentric characters our capital city has to offer – regardless of whether they made the shop smell like pee! I also loved reading the interviews with Celia Birtwell and David Hockney which gave a great insight into their unique relationship.
This book appealed to me personally as a Northern girl with a love of art, design, print and pattern, like these on the cushion range I make for Pretty Dandy:
and on lots of the other items on the site. I can't get enough of a bold print!
I felt a small connection with the Celia I read about, who would take inspiration from Jacobean tapestries one minute and Kew Gardens the next. I loved her open, accepting spirit and the descriptions of living in London in the 60’s.
It’s rare that a design book or biography makes you feel like you’ve shared a long lunch and lots of laughs with the subject – or makes you wish that you had at any rate! I am now going to keep a keen eye out for any of the original Celia Birtwell /Ossie Clark dresses and will be investigating some fabrics for my home in her gorgeous new interiors prints!
I'll post a selection of images below to try and illustrate how beautiful this lovely book is... enjoy!
Becky
p.s. Dominic Lutyens is responsible for another rather fabulous-looking book that I'm going to have to purchase soon!
70s Style & Design by Dominic Lutyens and Kirsty Hislop (Thames & Hudson); www.70sstyleanddesign.com
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It is wonderful to see Celia's journey through her illustrative style, from early drawings of her and her sisters, through to interiors fabric designs and celebrated fashion sketches.
I particularly enjoyed seeing Celia Birtwell’s fashion illustrations, which all begin with one of her distinctive face illustrations. Celia says “I’d invariably start with the face and then work down. If the face didn’t have the right expression, I didn’t carry on.”
I have always instinctively liked Celia’s work, but I confess I didn’t know a great deal about it or her – a situation now happily remedied! This book is a wonderful exploration of Celia’s life, creativity, work, history and connections. It paints a picture of a warm, open-hearted and fun artist, who explores her creativity in lots of different ways – not just through her prints and drawings, but with her home, clothes and even relationships.
As a reader I felt really inspired by the way Celia lives her life, her approach to design and to business. She wasn’t driven to build a global brand or run an uber-efficient business. Instead she was driven to create, to draw, design, print and make. I felt that the whole way she lived her life was a part of her creativity and that really spoke to me.
I loved hearing stories of her Interiors shop on Westbourne Park Road in London, where she would welcome in all the eccentric characters our capital city has to offer – regardless of whether they made the shop smell like pee! I also loved reading the interviews with Celia Birtwell and David Hockney which gave a great insight into their unique relationship.
This book appealed to me personally as a Northern girl with a love of art, design, print and pattern, like these on the cushion range I make for Pretty Dandy:
and on lots of the other items on the site. I can't get enough of a bold print!I felt a small connection with the Celia I read about, who would take inspiration from Jacobean tapestries one minute and Kew Gardens the next. I loved her open, accepting spirit and the descriptions of living in London in the 60’s.
It’s rare that a design book or biography makes you feel like you’ve shared a long lunch and lots of laughs with the subject – or makes you wish that you had at any rate! I am now going to keep a keen eye out for any of the original Celia Birtwell /Ossie Clark dresses and will be investigating some fabrics for my home in her gorgeous new interiors prints!
I'll post a selection of images below to try and illustrate how beautiful this lovely book is... enjoy!
Becky
p.s. Dominic Lutyens is responsible for another rather fabulous-looking book that I'm going to have to purchase soon!
70s Style & Design by Dominic Lutyens and Kirsty Hislop (Thames & Hudson); www.70sstyleanddesign.com