'Colour' and 'Fabric' with Victoria Finlay

Join the BIID for a journey through colours and fabrics with acclaimed author, Victoria Finlay in conversation with interior designer Amanda Ransom.   

In Fabric, Victoria spins readers round the globe, weaving stories of our relationship with cloth, and asking questions about how and why people through the ages have made it, worn it, invented it, and made symbols out of it. And sometimes, why they have fought for it. She unearths tales of how the unexplained deaths of silkworms in France led to the rapid militarisation of Japan; how a handmade fabric in Papua New Guinea is helping to save an ancient forest; why Paisley, a fabric pattern from Central Asia, is best known by the name of a Scottish town; and how an insect specialist in California ended up inventing a new strain of naturally green (and pink) organic cotton (“I cried,” she said).  

In Colour, Victoria discovered tantalising true stories behind pigments and dyes. She visited the mountain in Afghanistan where Michelangelo’s rare blue paint was found – so expensive he couldn't afford to buy it himself. In a desert in Chile, she saw the bugs that are still ground up to make the red cochineal dye that transformed European fashions in the sixteenth century and is still used in lipstick. She learned how George Washington became obsessed, even whilst on the battlefield, with the particular green paint to be used on the walls of his dining room. And how Cleopatra used purple sofas (and walls and clothes) for seduction. 

WHAT TO EXPECT

Listen in as Amanda interviews Victoria about the lively origins of both colours and cloth, and the mysteries she uncovered while meeting people who have dedicated their lives to making both.  

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This talk is for anyone interested in how an author creates a book about the thing that fascinates them, the magic that happens when you go to places for research, the importance of sourcing fabrics, and where colours (dyes and pigments) used to come from.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Victoria Finlay is the critically acclaimed author of Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox, Jewels: A Secret History, A Brilliant History of Color in Art and most recently, Fabric, the Hidden History of the Material World. She is a former arts editor of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she worked as a journalist for 12 years. She studied social anthropology and as well as travelling around the world in search of stories about her subjects, from colour to jewels to art to fabric, she also spent 15 years working as communications director for an international environment charity. She lives near Bath.  

To purchase Victoria’s titles, please click here.

Amanda Ransom is a BIID Associate Member, and heads up her eponymous company Amanda Ransom Design, whose work embraces both historic and classic contemporary interiors. Her extensive understanding of period detail and her carefully curated approach allows her to create sympathetic interiors, full of interest and atmosphere. After reading History of Art at university, Amanda was a City stockbroker for 15 years before a change of career allowed her to pursue a long-standing interest and passion for classical architecture and interiors. She graduated from the Inchbald School of Design in 2008 and, having honed her skills working for several leading firms of traditional interior designers including Soane and Melissa Wyndham, she established her own practice in 2015.  Recent projects have included complete refurbishment of a large Grade I Listed estate in the West Country, restoration of an Art Deco bathroom by the 1920s designer Syrie Maugham, a large townhouse in Mayfair, and an estate in the Home Counties.  Amanda works consistently to further her design knowledge and has given talks on various aspects of historical interiors. 

www.amandaransom.com 

Welcome to the BIID Book Club  

The BIID Book Club is a series of evening lectures introducing interior designers to interesting and relevant subject matter through presentations and in-conversations from industry expert authors. Join us for a peek inside the creativity, creation, curation, and content of exciting titles focussing on the principles and practice of our field, interior design.  

Additional Information

Advertised price does not include VAT

Once you have registered for this event and your purchase has been verified, you will be emailed the Zoom meeting link the day before the session.  If this event is fully booked, please join the waiting list. If you are no longer able to attend, please inform the office so that we can give your spot to someone else. 

Registered guests will receive a recording of the webinar post event, which will be available for three months.

Attendance to this event equals 1 hour of Structured CPD

If you have any queries, please email the office at info@biid.org.uk or call 020 7628 0255.

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