Toile

The name Toile draws from the French fabric Toile de Jouy, whose printed scenes often served as a form of visual commentary on the world around them. For nearly eighty years, the workshops at Jouy produced designs that functioned almost like pictorial journalism—depicting historical events, global travel, imagined scenes of distant cultures, shifting fashions, technological inventions such as the hot‑air balloon, political life, courtly rituals, architecture, classical narratives, modern literature, and the arts. That tradition continues today, with each toile design still given its own distinct title.

My prints engage with this lineage, using the language of toile to reflect on contemporary events and social conditions. Every piece is hand‑printed in the studio using silk screens, making each work unique.

This repeat pattern draws inspiration from Spode’s iconic blue‑and‑white ceramic ware. Within its traditional tile-like structure, I embed imagery connected to the colonial history of West Cumbria, weaving together past and present. Motifs include a planter smoking a pipe—referencing the tobacco imported into Whitehaven from Virginia and Maryland—CCTV cameras that speak to the UK’s hostile environment policies, and sugar cane, once shipped into Whitehaven from Antigua. Through these layered symbols, the work situates contemporary Britain within its longer imperial narrative.