This wallpaper illustration of the crystal palace, based in Hyde Park, England, was originally selected and popularised through its display in 1853 at the Museum of Ornamental Art. A critic of design, Henry Cole, had chosen this piece in the hopes of teaching and developing societies’ outlooks and tastes on what not to do in design terms. He displays the worst examples in forms of artwork through its faults. Thus he encompasses all that represents the “false principles of design”(D.Scudder, personal communication, March 21, 2018), in this one image. He shows these through illustrating the falsehoods of illusions of perspective, scale, accuracy towards reality in displaying architecture and human construction.
Significantly influencing my image through conversing and referencing Owen Jones 17th century patterned design, I was able to take the “true principles of design" and incorporated it into my own. Owen Jones ideologies as a designer and architecture have known to be a significant influence from his age to modern society today. Many of his influencing ideas being found in his publishment “The Grammar of Ornament” (Jones, O. 1856). Researching Jones’ design attributes taken from his view of the “True Principle of Design” (D.Scudder, personal communication, March 21, 2018)
Researching Utilising my own heritage and culture of my English blood influenced me to reference an English classic Britannia tale of “The Tudor Rose” (M.Griffith, Root of the Tudor Rose, Access Print LTD, 01 July 2015, United Kingdom). This incorporated into my work is a positive work as it represents two bodies of people coming closer together. In the context of the book, it is of the House of Lancaster and House of York coming together in unity. In this context, this display of union is also seen through the gap between class statures, as middle class and higher class are both exposed the education of these new ideas and “Principles of Design”, making it accessible to all. In this prospect, this is why the “Crystal Palace” was shaped, making this monumental building an important influence on my work (J.Paxton, Crystal Palace, Oxford University Press, 2009, UK). Using the presentations of Flowers, creating symmetrical forms with the petals in my work and in abstracting the form of the “Tudor Rose” in a repetitional method, it embodies more ideas of organics, abandoning inanimate presets/ornamentation. The representations and symbolism of flowers wasn’t strongly viewed until the beginning on the 19th century to begin with (Posted By:English Heritage, 13 February 2017 ). This aspect of Floriography can easily be perceived in Jones’ design works from his sharp vertices, shapes, idealistic colours and curved forms. Owen Jones’ use of “The True Principles” employing nature and its embodiment as ornamentation in his wallpapers, which meant that in contrast he highly frowned upon “The false Principles” of cheap, interpretations in return (D.Scudder, personal communication, March 21, 2018). I made sure to stay far away from these false aspects, making sure there was no use of untrue perspective, illusion, architecture, fake material display and things that would lie to the human eye (G.Dodd, 1852). A similar flat colour pallet, geometrical forms and repeating composition to Jones’ helped me reinforce the correct principles (Jones, 1856). In summary, focusing on “the true principles” with the combination of contextual research into the societies backstories in its developments of the time, such as flower ornamentations, and the use of Jones’ laws. All the while making sure to stray away from “the false principles” to reinforce my wallpaper designs true purpose of the appropriate, correct principles (Jones, 1856).
