Tafellaken met zwanen en fruitbomen c. 1900 - 1905

This is a tablecloth made by John Wilson's Successors Ltd. It's got swans and fruit trees on it, how cool is that? The design’s repeating motifs have got this cool, rhythmic quality like a song. Each image feels carefully placed, almost like a dance across the fabric, a dance that repeats, a dance that has variations. I imagine the person who designed this, and what it must have been like to keep this rhythm in their head. It reminds me of the work of artists like Anni Albers, who explored the intersection of art and craft. Albers was thinking about the grid as a site of pattern and variation, and I think the artist is doing something similar here. The tablecloth transforms a utilitarian object into something beautiful and thought-provoking. It's a reminder that art is everywhere, influencing the way we engage with everyday life.