From the Archive: For Enid Marx

Enid Marx never received her diploma from the Royal College of Art. This was not for lack of talent nor work ethic, but because she was emboldened by abstractionism and this offended the tradition. She sought modernity in her work at a time before it was accepted in fine art, let alone in home or industrial furnishings. Unbeknownst to many of us, her designs have come to shape the language of applied pattern and textile design at large, and we’re fascinated by the course her career took.

The images included here first are from various stages of her career. It was one that endearingly began in a former-cowshed-turned-studio in Hampstead. She found herself there after working under the direction of Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, two renowned textile artists who pioneered block printing in the UK. The bold and energetic patterns reflect who she was described to be by so many of her peers: strong, opinionated, steadfast, and truly groundbreaking. She used everyday objects as inspiration to craft abstract patterns (see the first patterns, “Foot”, “Knife and Chip”, “Fishnet”, “Cable”, “Club”, respectively)"

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These patterns caught the attention of various industries. She was commissioned in the 1930s to develop fabrics for the London Transport System, and for Curwen Book Press. She carried into these industries the same abstractionist spirit she fostered in college, and went on to be appointed as the first female Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) in 1944. It’s always so interesting to engage with a designer’s full breadth of work because it becomes clear that a language is established at the beginning that carries through to all they do. The patterns on the books and on the underground metro were simply further developed branches of the ideas she had from the beginning.