Common Threads was originally conceived as a joint project between Packwood House and Selly Manor Museum, to reunite two fragments of tapestry, one from each venue, believed to be part of the same original artwork. Once side by side, it became apparent that they weren’t! Instead, what resulted was new research about the two collectors, that had purchased the tapestries and their common interests, connections and collecting habits.
We were asked to design and produce the graphics to support the display at Packwood House. Both tapestries were displayed side by side as originally planned, with the interpretation exploring the common connections between collectors Baron Ash (Packwood) and Laurence Cadbury (Selly Manor) as well as the story of the tapestry connection being dis-proved and yet still celebrated.
Throughout this project we kept to a clear, recycle, reuse and repurpose ethos. We opted to use card that could easily be recycled and provided floor fins and sign holders that could be re-purposed for future projects. We created an interactive map that visitors could use to identify where some of the items from both collections were acquired from, this also could be re-used for other projects. As the display was to be in the parlour of Packwood that had chairs, we created cushions with quotes from both collectors, printed in an embroidery style font. These too could become part of a future or regular display, especially as the background detail came from the tapestry that hangs in the same space.
Design wise, we used the tapestry as inspiration for backgrounds and colours, whilst following the National Trust brand guidelines for fonts and shapes. We re-created a hanging sign for the antiques shop, originally based in Henley Street in Stratford upon Avon (many research rabbit-holes!), which hung below one the main interpretation panels.
Photographs courtesy of the team at Packwood House
