Tibor Reich
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Tibor Reich | |
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Born | Tibor Reich October 1, 1916 Budapest, Hungary |
Died | February 3, 1996 | (aged 79)
Nationality | British-Hungarian |
Alma mater | University of Leeds |
Occupation | Textile Designer |
Spouse | Freda Caplan |
Tibor Reich ATI,[
Early life and university
Reich was born in
Reich achieved the first-class result in the
Tibor Ltd
In 1946 Reich moved to
In 1947, Reich submitted one of his first hand woven furnishing fabric designs for selection by Princess Elizabeth. It was chosen as a wedding gift presented by the International Wool Secretariat.[5]
By 1948, Reich was employing over 50 staff and had won a $100,000 order from Hambro House of Design in New York.[6] In 1951, he was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the American Institute of Decorators.
Deep textured weaves
Up until the early 1950s,
Michael Farr stated in 1954 that Reich had started a 'new phase in the development of British modern design for woven textiles.'[8] Terrance Conran stated in 1957 "Tibor Reich is internationally known for his woven and printed textiles. The texture and weave of the cloth to be printed on are especially considered in his designs'[9]
Reich designed deep textures for the Festival of Britain including the Southbank Festival Pavilions, Fairway Café, the Press Room, and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, where he draped and upholstered the entire building. Major furniture manufacturers upholstered using Tibor fabrics including Ernest Race, Gordon Russell, Robin Day, Howard Keith, G Plan and Ercol.[10]
In 1952, Reich had his first solo major show named 'Deep Textures with Rayon' at the Rayon Industry Design Centre designed by Hulme Chadwick. In 1954, Liberty and the
Reich was commissioned to drape many projects in the 1950s. In 1954,
Tibor fabrics were also commissioned by
Tigo-Ware
In 1952, Reich designed his own studio pottery range called Tigo-Ware to create pottery to coordinate with his deep textured fabric. He originally created the pottery from the back shed at his cottage. Demand soon outgrew their facilities and was by 1954, the pottery was produced in
As a range it had a style that was sophisticated, highlighted by flashes of gentle humour.[13] Pieces ranged from utilitarian to sculptural. The expressing curving lines were scratched using the scraffito technique to expose the white earthenware body beneath.[14] Pieces were often inspired by Hungarian folk art, and re-interpreted in a modern 1950s style.[15]
Fotextur
During the 1950s Reich, began experimenting with patterns deriving from photography, instead of using a brush to imitate nature. Whilst looking at a snapshot of his wife he noticed the light and shade patterns on a section of an old stone wall. In his dark room, he set about distilling the pattern from the wall and developed his patented process 'Fotextur.' This process produced a pattern by taking a photograph of a natural object or feature, making positive and negative prints from the photograph, and then re-arranging to make a design.
In 1957, the Fotextur fabric Flamingo was awarded a
Fotextur was used on textiles, carpets, tiles, bags and pottery.[19]
Colotomic
Launched at the Design Centre, Haymarket Colotomic was an evolution of the Fotextur process. It featured a print named Atomic that derived pattern from one of the first photographs ever taken of an atom-splitting experiment.[20]
It was unique for its use of colour. In 1953 Reich had trademarked a pre-pantone idea of systematic colour charting called Collingo. Atomic came in fourteen colourways each colourway contained four tones of a single colour.[21] There were three principle colour groups and each tone within each group of colour contrasted and worked together. The range was intended to allow the consumer to mix colourways in one setting. In a three-page article for Design magazine Stephen Garrett stated 'By careful selection of the colourways, it should be possible to get the exact overall colour effect that is wanted.' [22]
Tibor House
Having trained in architecture in pre-war Vienna, by 1956 Reich set to work on his own house. Drawing on Bauhaus ideas of functionality and movement, the house was used as both laboratory and show-room where textiles, furniture, floor and wall coverings, paint-work and lighting were tested and shown from a practical as well as an aesthetic point of view.[23]
The 1950s house includes concrete, steel and atomic structures, indoor gardens and sliding doors. It also has a free standing mosaic fireplace dubbed the 'flaming onion,'
1960s
In the 1960s, Tibor Ltd was commissioned to design the first sets of upholstery and curtain fabrics for the Anglo-French Concorde. Five Jacquard upholstery cloths in natural and gold were used as curtaining fabrics along with two carpet designs.[26]
During the 1960s, Tibor fabrics were also on the QE2 and in embassies, royal palaces, hotels, Nos.
During the 1960s, Reich was commissioned to create works for major British institutions. These often took the form of richly coloured glowing tapestries and included designs for Coventry Cathedral,
Shakespeare
Reich and
In 1964, in celebration of Shakespeare's 400th Anniversary, Reich was commissioned by the Shakespeare Council to design and print a commemorative tapestry. He was also responsible for designing and weaving the fabrics and tapestries for the new Shakespeare Centre, which was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. His most famous tapestry was 'Age of Kings' which is now featured in the
Tiatsa Model Car Museum
Set up for his two sons, the museum was opened by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu in 1963.[31] By the mid-1970s, Tiatsa was the largest model car collection in Europe. It is now on display at Coventry Transport Museum and totals over 30,000 models.[32] In 1984, the entire collection was showcased on BBC's Blue Peter programme.
Later life
Tibor Reich died in 1996 aged 79 in Stratford Upon Avon. He was survived by his wife Freda Caplan, a concert pianist who was a pupil of Frederic Lamond[33] and his four children.
Museums
Tibor Reich's works are included in the archives of:
- V&A, London
- Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
- Geffrye Museum, London
- Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
- National Museum of Stockholm
- VADS, University of Brighton Design Archives
- Shakespeare Centre, Stratford upon Avon
References
- ^ "Medals and Awards". The Textile Institute. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
- ISBN 9781568987125.
- ^ Woodham, Jonathan. A Dictionary of Modern Design. Oxford University Press.
- S2CID 110032571.
- St Petersburg Times. 1947.
- Miami Daily News. 1950.
- .
- ^ Farr, Michael (1954). "Design Magazine".
- ^ Conran, Terrance (1957). Printed Textile Design. The Studio Limited, London. pp. 48–49.
- ^ "Resource for Visual Arts".
- ^ "Private Venture in Milan". Art and Industry. 1954.
- ^ "Design Council Slide Collection".
- ^ Hopwood, Irene, Gordon (1997). Denby Pottery 1809-1997: Dynasties and Designers.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ISBN 9780747803362.
- ^ Wykes-Joyce, Max (1958). 7000 years of pottery and porcelain. Philosophical Library.
- ^ "V&A Archive, Winner of CoID Design of the Year award, 1957".
- ^ Farr, Michael (April 1957). "Fotexur, Pattern making based on photographs". Design, The Council of Industrial Design.
- British Pathe News1957.
- ^ "Design Council Archive". VADs.
- ISBN 9780955374111.
- ^ "X-Ray Marks the Spot: William Astbury and the Birth of Molecular Biology at Leeds".
- ^ Garrett, Stephen (1960). "Design Magazine. Council of Industrial Design".
- ^ "A House on Show". House and Garden. 1957.
- ^ "English House on Two Levels". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1958.
- ^ "Mr Reich's Flaming Onion Starts a Heated Argument". Sunday Dispatch. 1958.
- ^ "Assembling the Concorde". Editoriale Domus . March 10, 2012. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
- ^ Margot, Coatts (February 1996). "Obituary:Tibor Reich". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07.
- ^ Golding, Robert (1973). "If you want something you believe in - you have to do it yourself". The Birmingham Post.
- ^ Pringle, Marian. "I would I were a weaver. Fabric Designs of Tibor Reich at the Shakespeare Centre".
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: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ "V&A Collection". V&A.
- ^ Tiatsa Model Car Museum Opening Speeches by Lord Montagu and Tibor Reich in 1963.
- ISBN 9781859284209.
- The Glasgow Herald. 1942.