This May, Dovecot Studios will be home to Ptolemy Mann’s Architecture of Cloth, Colour and Space exhibition. The show, Mann’s first solo retrospective exhibition which was initiated by the Ruthin Craft Centre in Wales, will be in Dovecot’s North Gallery from the 4th – 26th May.
A powerful colour saturated experience showing off Mann’s fantastic skill and her inventive approach to design practice, the exhibition will shed light on how her technical expertise informs her work and use of colour. Full scale pieces of furniture and woven artworks will be displayed alongside architectural commissions.
A graduate of The Royal College of Art in London in 1997,. Mann’s collections include both works of art and bespoke textile designs, many of which explore her fascination with the transition from one colour to another through the IKAT dye technique.
Using an upright ‘Dobby’ loom she creates carefully stretched, three dimensional panels that bring dynamic colour and geometric form to interior spaces. Her designs are inspired by colour theory and are reminiscent of the Bauhaus school where colours become three dimensional and vibrate next to one another.
The show will feature work from her diverse studio practice including rugs designed for Christopher Farr, printed and woven lengths of fabric, collaborative projects with John Lewis and furniture designer Kristian Stringer, a tapestry woven chair by Marina Dragomirova as well as exquisite Ikat dresses by Eloise Grey . In addition to these collaborations Mann has worked closely with architects such as Stanton Williams, on their use of colour on building facades advising them on how to weave colour into architecture, seeing buildings as looms, but on a monumental scale. Architecture of Cloth, Colour and Space will also feature a selection of these architectural facade drawings.
