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What’s a Girl (With a Diploma in Asian Art) To Do?Art Historian creates unique range of silk scarves to combine her love of art with starting up in business By Estelle Plous
The answer, she finally decided (rather to the surprise of her friends), was silk scarves. No ordinary scarves, her Asian Art Scarves (www.tasaram.com) are beautiful and very wearable 100% silk adaptations of the traditional designs and colors of India and The Far East.
Scarves quickly became Lucy’s fashion ‘signature’, but looking around to add to her collection, she found that few modern scarves could match the creativity and timeless flair of the vintage designs. “What I saw was a sea of dull stripes and dots, far from the gorgeous ‘objects of desire’ that I was looking for. And that’s when I realized that Asian art was overflowing with designs that would look absolutely stunning combined with the drape and sheen of silk.”
While she readily admits that mastering painting techniques was a big challenge at first (“I really had to put myself through a crash course!”), selecting the designs presented her with few problems. “Traditionally, Asian artists believe that the design they are working on somehow already exists in its perfect form,” Lucy explains. “The artist’s skill is simply to uncover that design and bring it to life… and that is really what happened – I can honestly say the designs found me.”
Technically-minded Bodo wasn’t too enthusiastic about working on fashion accessories at first, Lucy recalls, “but once we saw the first design transformed into a scarf he was impressed and I had no trouble persuading him to work on the next one”. “There is something universally appealing about the best of Asian art,” she continues, “and interpreting these wonderful designs and adapting them to the scarves is something I find very creative and fulfilling.”
TASARAM Asian Art Scarves are available from www.tasaram.com. Continuing the art theme, several further scarf ranges are planned, including designs drawn from Celtic Art, Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Asian Art Scarves are 100% silk twill with hand-rolled edges, measure 34 x 34 inches (85 x 85 cm) and come in an attractive gift box. They retail at $75 (£49, Euro 75) and are shipped worldwide. About TASARAM:TASARAM was founded by Lucy and Bodo Hornberger in 2002. The name ‘tasaram’ comes from the Sanskrit word for “shuttle for weaving silk”. TASARAM’s ‘Map Scarves’ range is available from www.mapscarves.com. |
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Art Historian Lucy Hornberger faced
a dilemma. With a diploma in Asian Art History from London University’s
School of Oriental and African Studies, a career in a gallery or auction
house beckoned. However, Lucy was determined to find a way to combine her
love of art with her dream of running her own business.
The initial inspiration, Lucy
explains, came from her time as a teacher in the Far East. “In Japan a
woman, and particularly a ‘sensei’ (teacher), is expected to dress very
smartly but also conservatively, so to brighten up my wardrobe of sensible
suits I experimented with some of my grandmother’s collection of vintage
scarves. It took a bit of practice, but the effect was great – smart, yet
feminine and stylish too.”
Despite having no formal training as
an artist, Lucy set to work, painstakingly painting by hand a series of
designs selected and adapted from some of the great icons of Asian art –
from the classic blue and white vases of Ming Dynasty China to India’s
architectural masterpiece, the Taj Mahal.
Once each intricate, richly colored
design had taken shape on paper, it was handed over to Lucy’s husband Bodo,
an IT consultant, who transferred it to high resolution graphic files. These
were then sent to a specialist scarf printing workshop in the Far East where
each color is individually screen printed on to the silk.
And does she wear her own designs?
“Of course I do!” she smiles. “Scarves are so versatile that I wouldn’t want
to be without one. Fashions come and go, but a good silk scarf is the
ultimate classic accessory. It can be tied in so many ways – at the neck, as
a belt, as a headscarf or even as a top, and worn next to the face, a scarf
in the right color will lift and flatter the complexion as much as good make
up. And as for glamour… well just think of Grace Kelly or Katherine
Hepburn!”
With five designs and ten color
choices in the Asian Art Scarves range, there is the perfect scarf for every
outfit and every occasion.