A passion for pattern
Among the highlights of London Craft week are Natasha Mann’s decorative designs, on show at the Artefact fair at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, says Eleanor Doughty
AFTER studying Arabic at Cambridge and Moroccan Medieval Art at the Courtauld, Natasha Mann spent a year as an apprentice to a decorative painter in Fez, Morocco. He taught her how to make her own paintbrushes from cedar wood and donkey hair, an experience that sparked her enthusiasm for traditional painting methods. Keen to explore the use of natural pigments, she enrolled at The Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, where students are encouraged to use natural materials and make everything themselves. ‘I did a masters degree there and learnt about natural pigments and different binders. Since then, I have made everything I use.’
These pigments dictate how they want to be used. ‘Egg tempera can last two or three days in the fridge. You become aware of how much you need, so waste is limited,’ explains Miss
In her own home, patterns abound– including in her bathroom–and “it feels quite natural”
Mann. The minerals and earths play different roles in the art, too. ‘The earths are easy to mix and you can paint large surfaces with them, whereas minerals are harder to grind, so they make smaller quantities,’ she explains. ‘Their character informs you how to use them: you should use earths as your main colours, and the minerals to add embellishment. You have to be in touch with how easy it is to make a pigment and that should dictate how you use it in your painting.’
Miss Mann’s designs can be allencompassing—on the ceiling, walls, and in alcoves, and why not? ‘You expect sacred spaces—palaces, churches, mosques—to be richly decorated,’ says the artist, ‘but I love the thought of a humble house being richly decorated, too. In the Tudor period, it was standard, even if you were quite poor, to have your entire house painted with geometric patterns. There was a revival during the Arts-and-crafts period, but it’s died out again since then.’ Nowadays, she says, this kind of decoration is seen as ‘quite zany’, but, in her own home, patterns abound—including on her bathroom ceiling—and ‘it feels quite natural. We have definitely been affected by this long period of neutral walls’.
For those too shy for a whole ceiling, ‘a border around the top of a room is a good way to change a space without being too dramatic,’ says the designer. She paints onto wood panels that can be screwed into place, as they are in Morocco. This has the benefit of being portable—‘you can take your ceiling with you if you move, and, in theory, I could add new panels’—as well as being more amenable to the pigments themselves, which adhere better to untreated wood. She adds: ‘I can paint in my studio and don’t have to spend days in someone’s house on scaffolding.’
Decorative door panels are another pleasing way to incorporate these designs, as are panels around doors or even radiator covers. Miss Mann makes lamps, too; at Artefact, she will be painting lampshades for Vaughan Designs. ‘Engagement in decorative arts is absolutely on the rise,’ she believes. ‘I constantly get people messaging me to ask about teaching; it feels as if there’s been an explosion of people being interested.’ London Craft Week runs from May 9–15 (www.londoncraftweek.com). Natasha Mann (www.natasha-mann.com) will be painting in the Vaughan Designs showroom at Artefact, the contemporary craft fair, Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, SW3, from May 10–15 (www.dcch.co.uk)