TEXTILES OF THE ELIZABETH LINE BY WALLACE SEWELL
Image: Transport For London, Artwork for the Elizabeth Line by Wallace Sewell
Following in the footsteps of design pioneers such as Enid Marx and Marianne Straub, Wallace Sewell have worked with Transport for London (TFL) designing a number of moquette seating fabrics. These include designs for the London Underground, which depict various London landmarks, the Tramlink route, the Overground and most recently the new Crossrail route, known as the Elizabeth line.
The Elizabeth Line moquette evolved from the interim Crossrail moquette design created for TFL, inspired by riding the route from Liverpool Street to Shenfield, and taking the motif for the grid from a building on Stratford Station. Wallace Sewell overlaid this with stripes representing other lines in the TFL network and then used the same grid and overlaid stripes, developing the palette into a range of purple and mauve hues, adding the pinstripe motif to give the sense of speed and fluidity, whilst allowing the integration of lighter tones into the design, so that it tonally contrasts with the grab rails.
Image: Transport For London Artwork for the Elizabeth line by Wallace Sewell
Taking the grid and underlying composition from the TFL rail design and the royal purple as the starting point for the colour palette, Wallace Sewell looked at different options to work these elements together. Purple can be a challenging colour to work with for some designers, but the team like to think that they can design with any colour and make it work in a design, balancing it in proportion with other shades.
The Elizabeth Line moquette evolved from the interim Crossrail moquette design created for TFL, inspired by riding the route from Liverpool Street to Shenfield, and taking the motif for the grid from a building on Stratford Station. Wallace Sewell overlaid this with stripes representing other lines in the TFL network and then used the same grid and overlaid stripes, developing the palette into a range of purple and mauve hues, adding the pinstripe motif to give the sense of speed and fluidity, whilst allowing the integration of lighter tones into the design, so that it tonally contrasts with the grab rails.
Image: Transport For London Artwork for the Elizabeth line by Wallace Sewell
Taking the grid and underlying composition from the TFL rail design and the royal purple as the starting point for the colour palette, Wallace Sewell looked at different options to work these elements together. Purple can be a challenging colour to work with for some designers, but the team like to think that they can design with any colour and make it work in a design, balancing it in proportion with other shades.
For the Elizabeth Line design, Wallace Sewell added greyer mauves and warm stone shades to the palette to ground the royal purple, plus tarmac grey to broaden the tonal range and then worked in as much white as we could to the design, to create the overall contrast with the grab rails. The white was broken up by the pinstripe motifs and the contrasting accents of the overlaid stripes, to disguise the inevitable wear and tear of daily use.
Once the design was signed off, it was adjusted to fit the parameters of the looms at manufacturers (Camira) and selected the yarn colours for the moquette to be woven in.
Image: Transport For London Moquette for the Elizabeth Line by Wallace Sewell
The Ellizabeth Line design, moves beyond the familiar simple abstract styles of many other moquettes, through the complexity of the patterning and the richness of the colouring.
Once the design was signed off, it was adjusted to fit the parameters of the looms at manufacturers (Camira) and selected the yarn colours for the moquette to be woven in.
Image: Transport For London Moquette for the Elizabeth Line by Wallace Sewell
The Ellizabeth Line design, moves beyond the familiar simple abstract styles of many other moquettes, through the complexity of the patterning and the richness of the colouring.