I had bought this, the 1988 edition of the Habitat catalogue, because I was looking for the Arts and Crafts fabric range that Habitat produced in that year in collaboration with the V&A. The aptly named V&A Collection. I'm really intrigued by this collection (which also I have discovered, as of 7.10.24, also included ceramics) as it revived designs by Arts and Crafts masters such as Voysey. Images of these designs are available on the V&A website but information is quite scarce. There are any number of Habitat fabrics dating from 1988 on the museum website which therefore, I presume, formed part of the collaboration but only about half a dozen are obviously 'Arts and Crafts'. If sales of second hand curtains on eBay are anything to go by, the designs 'Madura Tree' and 'Madura Leaf' were the most popular patterns. The two Voysey fabrics, 'The House that Jack built' and 'Alice' both designed for children, included in the collection are almost as popular, but other designs such as 'Hemlock' are yet to appear. Maybe the name was off putting.
The first sentence I typed here when thinking about writing this post was: 'It is as though something has crawled into a corner and quietly died', and there is no ignoring the act that looking through this catalogue in the days after it arrived was a disappointing experience. Not only were the hoped for Arts and Crafts fabrics not featured, but something quite vital had indeed died. Images too small, the submergence of everything in a gloop of sleekness. Everything is bland and just a little corporate - I'm not sure whether this just a reflection of the wider culture, or of the internal machinations of the company. Then there is the absence of texture. Gone too are those little articles that, perhaps, set the Habitat catalogue apart from its competitors. There is an almost unnerving sense of claustrophobia - the 1988 catalogue is a very introverted product caught up in its own 'materiality'; the room sets more enclosed, arid; there are less items on view that are unavailable to but at Habitat. The items that suggested the life of owner of the room. In addition all the photographs are far too small, and to be honest, I found it difficult to find suitable content to photograph for this blog. Looking back at the distance of a fortnight, however, most telling thing, and not a first glance that noticeable, is the absence of the introductory letter from Terence Conran himself.
Since then I have somewhat modified my attitude. The older Habitat is still there. There are some good design to be found - lovely glass wear, cutlery and kitchenware. There is a whole plethora of good fabrics designed by Collier Campbell, some of which may have been designed back in the 1970s. Yet because of the design of the catalogue all these good things have to be actively searched for.
(All the pattern fabric below is, I believe, by Collier Campbell.)
