Wallace Sewell decks out train upholstery for TfL

by Susan Billinge, Brand Republic 17-Jun-08, 14:20

LONDON - Wallace Sewell has unveiled two new textile designs for Transport for London and the London Transport Museum.

The work will be used on the seating of the new London Overground railway network and Croydon Tramlink.

Characterised by Wallace Sewell's signature geometric colour combinations, the patterns will also appear on a range of merchandise sold at the London Transport Museum Shop, including mugs, notebooks and cards.

London-based designers Emma Sewell and Harriet Wallace-Jones were inspired by Transport for London's design archives. Elements were taken from the original roundel for the London Underground and merged with Wallace Sewell's luxury interiors designs.

Wallace-Jones said: "Our work naturally lent itself to this commission, but we were limited to a very tight brief with only four colours in each design, based on the individual networks's identity and branding.

"We tried to confuse the eye, so that there seems to be more colour in the work than just the actual four colours, creating designs that seem random through repetition, almost like a flowerbed or landscape effect."

Wallace Sewell's work sells at shops around the world, including Liberty and Barneys.

The new moquette designs will be woven by Holdsworth in Halifax, a British company spanning six generations.