‘Third Life’: Zoffany & QEST Second Life works for sale at Chiswick Auctions
12th November 2024
We’re delighted to announce that the pieces from the Second Life exhibition, in partnership with Zoffany, will be featured in Chiswick Auctions’ Design & Modern Contemporary Auction next month.
Nine QEST Scholars repurposed fabric from the Zoffany x Benedict Foley Entrance Hall at WOW!house, giving it new life. These pieces were revealed in September through the Second Life Exhibition at Voysey House, home of the Sanderson Design Group.
We now celebrate a ‘Third Life’ for the pieces which will go under the hammer during Chiswick Auctions’ wider sale on Thursday, 12 December.
The items can be previewed and bid for online via the Chiswick Auctions website.
Explore the creations below.
Reawaken by Alex Pengelly
Knit Designer
“I sought to celebrate the luxury and craftsmanship that Zoffany is renowned for. Putting sustainability at the front and centre of the process the knitted embellishments are crafted from deadstock ex inventory luxury yarns, reusing fibres in a zero waste method of make that would otherwise go to waste.”
Alex Pengelly transforms the Zoffany Long Gallery Brocade into an experimental ottoman. Adorned with a range of print and embellishment techniques, this ottoman integrates yarns from the original fabric alongside hand-dyed threads, silks, wools, and cording. Through this meticulous embellishment, Pengelly highlights the intricate process of textile transformation and craftsmanship.
Echoes of an Aristocratic Era by David and Alison Morrish
Digital Embroidery Artist and Upholsterer
David Morrish, a digital embroidery artist, and Alison Morrish, an upholsterer, have created a king-size headboard that embodies 18th-century elegance. Upholstered in Zoffany’s Long Gallery Brocade, the headboard features a distinctive dome and arc shape.
Adorned with intricate embroidery, it showcases ornamental motifs such as pineapples, peacocks, and florals, referencing the symbolic history of Temple Newsam. A herringbone detail at the base draws inspiration from the 1963 film The Leopard, which also influenced Benedict Foley’s Entrance Hall at WOW!House.
Ring for Champagne by Elizabeth Ashdown
Passementerie Artist
Elizabeth Ashdown is one of the few remaining passementerie artists in the UK, renowned for her contemporary and imaginative take on this historic craft of tasselling and fringing. Inspired by 18th and 19th-century horse-drawn carriage tassels and bell-pull tassels found in stately homes like Temple Newsam and found in The Leopard, Ashdown has crafted a pull tassel. Featuring a cartisan rosette, ‘ric-rac’ edging with bows, and a bullion skirt adorned with pom poms, each motif pays homage to the fabric’s first life at Benedict Foley’s whimsical Entrance Hall at WOW!House.
Tiger Eye Shadow by Hannah White
Sculptural textile artist and Weaver
“Working with Zoffany’s beautiful Tiger Eye wool satin has been a joy. The drape of the weave, the jewel-like colour and the way that the light reflects from the cloth, all highlight my three-dimensional sculptural forms in a dramatic way.”
Inspired by the sheen, folds, and shadows of Zoffany Tigers Eye Wool Satin fabric at WOW!House, White created this pleated piece by drawing on the dramatically draped fabrics of four-poster beds at Temple Newsam. Through meticulous pleating and hand-stitching, she accentuates and explores the material’s play with light and shadow.
The Lost Pearls by Isabel Nellie Walters
Costume and Historic Dress Designer, Sculptor, and Props Creator
A venetian mask appears before us in a state of sorrow. It is a woodland nymph. With leaves wrought in Long Gallery Brocade and tear like pearls strewn down her eyes, Walters tells the 1652 tragedy of Mary Ingram. Mary lived in the Jacobean manor, Temple Newsam (the home of Zoffany). On the way back from a ball, a highwayman violently attacked her, robbing Mary’s pearls. After finding her way back on foot through the woods, Mary suffered from hysteria, frantically searching for the precious stones. She later died of starvation by her refusal to eat or drink because of her declining mental health from the incident. It’s said her ghost, The Blue Lady, remains at Temple Newsam today. Walters interprets this tale from the perspective of the woodland nymph, still searching for the pearls for eternity.
I think the concept of repurposing materials and giving life to a second reimagined art piece has been inspiring. I have thoroughly enjoyed researching into Temple Newsam, finding the tragic tale of the Blue Lady and working with such wonderful fabric which has given a sculptural quality and weight to my piece called The Lost Pearls.
— Isabel Nellie Walters
Tri-axle Panel by Juliet Bailey & Franki Brewer
Textile Designers and Weavers
Using strips of Zoffany’s Long Gallery Brocade and Wool Satin, Bailey and Brewer have created a hand-woven tri-axle panel. To achieve this, the fabrics were sewn into strips, turned out and pressed, and then hand-woven into the panel using a tri-axis weaving technique.
The Suffolk Sofa by Lora Avedian
Embroidery Designer
Avedian reimagines the motifs from Zoffany’s Long Gallery Brocade by threading a cascade of florals onto a sofa upholstered in Wool Satin Tiger’s Eye. The design features a central embroidered floral motif with leaves decorating the base of the sofa. This detailed pattern is created through a combination of hand and free-motion machine embroidery techniques.
Mottainai (The Art of Not Wasting) by Marina Hughes
Decorative Artist
Hughes reimagines Zoffany’s Venetian Red fabric with a chinoiserie design inspired by a watercolour illustration at the V&A. The artwork is adorned with raised gesso, gilding, and paint, while the frame features a faux age distressed gold lacquer finish. These elements reflect Hughes’ practice in trompe l’oeil and mural art.
Twisted Perspective by Virna Pasquinelli
Milliner
Using advanced wire forming techniques, Pasquinelli has created a sculptural hat that loosely circles into a spiral. Using Zoffany’s Wool Satin in Tabac, and the Long Gallery Brocade for the lining, the hat is adorned with a brass metal trim, fringing, and intricate embroidery, threaded by a new graduate student from The Royal School of Needlework.
