FOREWORD

London, May 2001. This Year 'Christopher Farr' celebrates 10 years of designing and producing contemporary rug collections, often with some of the most renowned artists and designers in the world. During this time Kate Blee is the only designer we have consistently collaborated with and indeed was the first designer we ever commissioned.

It is fitting therefore that we show her latest collection 'Flood' in 2001. The rugs in this exhibition represent the latest phase in the continuum of Kate's career as a rug designer. Exclusively in a large 'room size' format they are, at the same time 'edgy' and sophisticated. Kate makes use of the high quality of materials, leaving plain fields of colour, thus allowing the iridescent nature of the hand-dyed, hand-spun wool to make it's own statement.

It is clear from the biography in this catalogue and the general whisper in and around the design world over the last few years that Kate Blee is top of many peoples 'favourite designer' list. Over the last 100 or so years the roll call of British textile designers who have made their mark is a small but select group; Kate Blee is well on her way to joining that list. In the years to come, whether it be for floor, bed, wall or body, Kate's acute vision, uniting colour, form, texture and proportion, will continue to engage and move our senses.

Christopher Farr, Matthew Bourne

DEDICATION

"I have always enjoyed Kate's work and in fact I worked with her on a project for one of my collections, which was very successful.
I have followed her career and admire especially her designs for rugs which always have strong impact!"

Paul Smith
London, May 2001

THE DESIGNER'S WORDS

Designing rugs, with the complicated process of hand knotting in mid has, in the past, let me to adopt a more formal approach to image making than that used for my painting. This show however marks the first real convergence of ideas for my paintings on cloth and my designs for rugs.
The first drawings for this collection were make after visiting my parents remote home in the mountains of south eastern France a few weeks after the area had been hit by the greatest floods in a hundred years. The landscape was dramatically altered in almost every aspect and although devastating, created a new environment, that provided the inspiration for these rugs:

The rock fall on the sheer screed slopes inspired 'Draw'. 'Cast'; the new shapes revealed as the slate blocks sheered away from the rock face. 'Etch', where the river burst its banks and widened, spreading horizontally. 'Brush', from the tangle of broken branches worn by the force of the water into great nests. 'Chalk', the swirl and energy of the turbulent water.

Kate Blee
London, 2001

AFTERWORD

< As part of this exhibition Kate has designed a flatweave for the wall. This has been stretched like a canvas onto a wooden stretcher. The taut surface absorbs the light beautifully like a tapestry, warm and glowing. Title The River the design was developed from a series of ink drawings made by following the 'rivers' of ink to journey independently across a sheet of absorbent paper.

This peace follows a successful commission for a series of very large woven wall pieces for the new Parliamentary buildings in London, and marks the beginning of new phase for Kate's work with Christopher Farr.