Textile, London Toile

London Toile is patterned after late 18th- and early 19th-century copperplate printed toiles de Jouy, which often depicted picturesque scenes or points of interest around various cities. The museum has, for example, the designs Monuments of Rome and Monuments of Paris. But, a closer inspection of London Toile reveals a very contemporary London skyline, including the Swiss Re Tower and the London Eye, along with contemporary social woes such as homelessness and street violence. The Glasgow design firm, Timorous Beasties, has been of great interest to both the Textiles and Wallcoverings departments since its founding in 1990. The museum acquired three Timorous Beasties textiles that same year. The founders of the group, Paul Simmons and Alistair MacAuley, met as students of textile design at Glasgow School of Art. As Timorous Beasties, they have consistently produced exceptionally innovative work in the field of surface design. Depicting uncompromisingly contemporary images on traditional textiles and wallpapers, their provocative style was once described as “William Morris on acid.” In 2005, Timorous Beasties was the recipient of the Scottish Style Award for Outstanding Contribution and, in 2006, received the Elle Decoration Award for both Best Textiles and Best Carpet. London Toile is a wonderful update to our excellent collection of 18th- and 19th-century copperplate prints, which includes a textile printed on the very first plate press in Ireland in 1752.