Sunday Read: Labels of an Empire by Susan Meller

Long before logos became global and branding was flattened into a single mark, textile merchants relied on imagery that spoke directly to place. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, bolts of cotton leaving Manchester’s warehouses carried vividly printed tickets—small, carefully designed works of art intended to communicate with distant buyers through shared symbols, stories and visual language. Many Selvedge readers may remember encountering these same tickets during London Textile Month, through the MAP Academy talk Ticket Tika Chaap and its accompanying exhibition, which brought renewed attention to this remarkable visual archive.

Labels of Empire by Susan Meller

Susan Meller’s book offers a substantial contribution to the study of textile trademarks and the visual culture surrounding Manchester’s export trade. Drawing on extensive archival material, it brings attention to an area of textile history that has often been overlooked, presenting Indian textile tickets not only as commercial tools but as objects embedded in systems of design, trade and cultural exchange...

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Image Credits:

Lead: Mother India. c. 1920s-30s. Label, 5¾ x 41", 1. The Ahmedabad Spinning and Weaving Co., Ltd. [H], t. Uncho Maal (High Goods) [H], r. Ranchhodlal Chhotalal & Co. [H], b. Made in India Goods [H], inside: Hind Devi [H]. I

All further images as credited in photo captions.