Style combination · Contrasts

Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints × NK Textilkammare Geometric Print

The other Stockholm house of printed linen in the same decades: Frank fills the cloth with many-coloured invented plants, NK's geometric prints with a few lines in black, white and one accent.

From the research on NK Textilkammare Geometric Print (Astrid Sampe, Signerad Textil)

Mix them and make something Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints NK Textilkammare Geometric Print

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from NK Textilkammare Geometric Print, their arrangement from Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints, the finish from Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints NK Textilkammare Geometric Print (Astrid Sampe, Signerad Textil)

Type from Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints
Colour from NK Textilkammare Geometric Print: Monochrome
Limited spot colours

Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints avoids monochrome and limited spot colours: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Form from NK Textilkammare Geometric Print: Rectilinear
Non-representational

Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints avoids rectilinear and non-representational: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Composition from Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints: All-over field
Horror vacui

NK Textilkammare Geometric Print avoids horror vacui: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Surface from Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints: Flat

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints

Index

Londrina Solid; Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints used Lettering drawn inside the repeat, such as the grey banners naming 'MANHATTAN' that run through the Manhattan print and The printed selvedge mark naming pattern, designer and maker, such as 'La Plata Komp. Av Josef Frank Svenskt Tenn Stockholm'

Text · NK Textilkammare Geometric Print

The reduced, geometric household textiles of NK's textile department in Stockholm under Astrid Sampe: small ruled units, stripes, checks, arrows and thin outlines repeated evenly, mostly on screen-printed linen and cotton, some on woven linen, in black and white with a few flat accents of red, blue or yellow. Sampe's late-1940s fabrics followed Mondrian; the 1954 Signerad Textil collection put artists' names, Aalto's among them, on industrially printed cloth. Quiet, rational cloth with no focal point and no type in the repeat.

Jost; NK Textilkammare Geometric Print used No lettering in the repeat and The printed selvedge mark naming maker, pattern and designer in capitals, such as 'TEXTILKAMMARE MADE IN SWEDEN "14/6" ALVAR AALTO DESIGN' on Aalto's 14/6 (MFA Boston 2012.847)

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from NK Textilkammare Geometric Print, with a counter-accent from Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints NK Textilkammare Geometric Print (Astrid Sampe, Signerad Textil)

#f2eee4 ground · 36%
#161616 ink · 14%
#e5b51f accent · 18%
#c62a20 accent · 14%
#1f4f9a accent · 10%
#8f8b82 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2eee4;
  --ink: #161616;
  --accent-1: #e5b51f;
  --accent-2: #c62a20;
  --accent-3: #1f4f9a;
  --accent-4: #8f8b82;
  --font-display: "Londrina Solid", cursive;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

The two styles

A cream-ground illustrated poster is densely filled with winding green foliage, colorful flowers, lemons, berries, birds, spotted animals, and people relaxing in summer clothes. Red lettering reading “Sunny Days” appears near the upper right, above a small blue table with a pitcher and fruit beside a red chair.

1934–present · Northern Europe Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints The linens Josef Frank drew for Svenskt Tenn, which still prints them: invented trees, flowers, fruit and birds, even a map of Manhattan, packed edge to edge in long repeats and many clear colours, mostly on white or natural linen. The plants are outlined, stylised but recognisable, loose and asymmetric. Frank meant different patterns to be mixed in one room, against the cold purity of functionalism; his 1958 essay "Accidentism" later named the idea: rooms should look as if they had come about by chance. Unlike Marimekko's single enlarged motif, Frank keeps many small motifs and colours.

An edge-to-edge geometric pattern alternates red and blue blocks with narrow black vertical bars, broad black horizontal bars, and small yellow squares on a cream background. The word “RUTNÄT” occupies a gap in the pattern near the upper right.

1937–1971 · Northern Europe NK Textilkammare Geometric Print (Astrid Sampe, Signerad Textil) The reduced, geometric household textiles of NK's textile department in Stockholm under Astrid Sampe: small ruled units, stripes, checks, arrows and thin outlines repeated evenly, mostly on screen-printed linen and cotton, some on woven linen, in black and white with a few flat accents of red, blue or yellow. Sampe's late-1940s fabrics followed Mondrian; the 1954 Signerad Textil collection put artists' names, Aalto's among them, on industrially printed cloth. Quiet, rational cloth with no focal point and no type in the repeat.

More combinations

With Josef Frank and Svenskt Tenn Botanical Prints

With NK Textilkammare Geometric Print

Every style combination