Nigerian football squad’s wildly popular green, black, and white team kit for the World Cup in Russia is now on exhibition at the Design Museum in Kensington. The licensed versions of the strip got sold out in a few minutes in London during summer’s tournament.
The part of the appeal was exuberant zig-zag design patterns, which have seeped into the cultures across the world. Today, you will find it woven into fabrics, rugs, and baskets, and even painted on pottery. A simple “V” is man’s earliest symbol, dating back 75,000 years.
The V shape has since evolved into triangles, diamond forms, and chevrons.
Discerning decorators now crave “tribal” furnishings brought to the United Kingdom by entrepreneurs, such as Jim Gaffney and Diane of Textile Traders. They have been sourcing handmade Asian fabrics since 1984, while Bob Irwin and Magie Relph scour Africa for their website, “The African Fabric Shop”. Prices at this store are modest.
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Martin Waller travels to the South Kensington store. Martin Waller also adjusts kelim motifs and angular ikat for chic modern fabrics, from £35 for a linen blend-up to £120 for a printed velvet.
Saffron Hare, a creative director at designer fabrics, explains that you only need a simple loom to create a V or diamond. These basic geometrics are decorative without being too specific and are great for floral layering purposes when updated into the Western design.
On a large scale, Angular geometric wallpapers for new London caves, when presented flat on walls, deliver a powerful slug of the pattern. Sophia Leppard of Yonder living says that triangles are symbols of protection in Berber culture, and early modernists like Le Corbusier, Charles, and Ray Eames loved them.
West London based Bethan Gray says, “my travels and research inspired my designs”. Bethan Gray’s new furniture, which is now at Anthropologie in Regent Street, draws on V motifs, interpreted in excellent materials and pretty colors.
Bold angular geometrics that is stripped down to Vs, diamonds, triangles, and chevrons are a stylish foil to the season’s lush green leaves, splashy florals, and printed velvets. Martha Coates, design head at Habitat, says, “I design tribal sources but also add a contemporary palette, and we are using triangles for furniture. It is a modern take on a tribal look”.
A Scottish embroiderer, Laura Lees, trading as The Might Stitch, is updating triangles with her confident collage, piecing together felted wood, leather, and even silk for furniture. Claire O’ Brien, design head at British Ceramic Tiles, says, “Just use simple tiles and make your V-chevrons on the wall or floor. Play around with different sizes”.
