SWAKARA

A pen and ink drawing of persian lamb fur. This particular fur is of South African origin and is called Swakara.

The fur is tightly curled but has a linear structure, the ridge in the middle of the drawing is on the back of the lamb.

I drew everything straight from a vintage fur coat I found in Paris, sourced specifically for this drawing.

The pen and ink technique automatically creates a strong degree of abstraction by reducing everything to dark lines on light background. I didn’t want to create an illusion of a realistic 3D image of fur, which would have been achievable in pencil or oil colour. I like the semi-abstract structure which conserves only the ‘bare bones’ of the original.

The pen and ink process took about two months to complete. The result is a delicate drawing with an otherworldly feel to it, the detailed structure seems familiar yet aethereal.

The fur drawings appear to me like images of a frozen process, a vision of something intangible.

The idea of turning it into wallpaper and fabric was to create a hybrid of something minimal which is figurative at the same time. I took care to draw it uniform enough to appear textural whilst clearly showing its subject.

I joined the finished drawing into a continuous seamless pattern. The repeat shows the subtle vertical ridges characteristic of the structure of the fur, which form the back of my fur coat original. It is impossible to see where the drawing was joined, because it was drawn specifically to repeat invisibly.

The wallpaper was exhibited at Clerkenwell Design Week in May 2016 and is available to order, please use the contact form for more information.