Just like the two scarves to your right, these four so-called washi tapes come from the studio of British architect and designer Sam Jacob. Available for a relatively low purchase price in his online store, these ornamental tapes can be used in all kinds of ways . They were meant as a quick and easy way to incorporate decor into the homes of their buyers. The underside contains a peelable adhesive surface that allows the 10-meter tape to be applied different surfaces, including books and furnishings.
As with the scarf, the green and yellow ornament is a bead and reel that has already appeared several times throughout this exhibition. Instead of being carved and adorning furniture, cornices or decorative objects, the bead and reel here is merely printed. There has been much discussion about the origin of this motif. According to a common hypothesis, it is associated with the craft of woodturning in ancient Greece. It can be traced back to the sixth century B.C. and is subsequently found in Persia, Egypt and India.
The colourful ornamental bands make it clear that, despite all the design possibilities, classicism has hardly lost any of its appeal and still accompanies our everyday lives, whether in our own household or in the urban environment. Consciously or unconsciously, Jacob stimulates the question of what is necessary to create Classicism: is a simple adhesive tape enough? From its origins in the late eighteenth century to the present, artists and architects have explored this question. In this tradition of exploring the formal language of Antiquity, Jacob provides perhaps an equally bold and simple approach.
Text: Alexander Röstel