The Astonishingly Detailed Srinagar Map From The V&A Inspires Lewis & Wood’s Latest Digital Fabric And Wallcoverings Collection
Image By Courtesy of LEWIS & WOOD
The V&A has many astonishing things in its collections, but few can be as utterly charming as the Srinagar Map.
Originally made in around 1870 and given as a gift to Queen Victoria, this embroidered goats-wool shawl minutely chronicles Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, and it seems like every street, every house and every mosque has been stitched onto its 250x160cm surface (with tiny inscriptions alongside each), with the expanse of Dal Lake and the river Jhelum providing contrasting planes of blue.
Lewis & Wood Has Taken This Extraordinary Historical Document, Thought To Have Taken 30 Years To Make, And Used It To Inspire A Collection Of Digital Fabrics And Wallcoverings.
The Srinagar Map collection reinterprets the shawl in a variety of ways, in different scales and colours, and adding and subtracting visual information to hone in on a particular detail.
‘The Map Maxi’ is a life-size print of the shawl, while ‘The Map Mini’ is the full map at quarter scale.
‘Utopia’ is a repeating version of the whole map, on a half-drop repeat.
Lewis & Wood’s designers have also more loosely and playfully reinterpreted the map’s many motifs, with ‘Ravi Ribbon’ (pictured on bench, above right), a wide stripe featuring houses, sprigs and trees edged with a trim of individual animals and tiny hills; and ‘Regatta’ , which draws out the detail of the original map’s rendering of Dal Lake, with abstract islands and houseboats surrounded by water birds and hyacinths.
Visit the showroom to see the collection in all its glorious, transporting detail.
About Lewis & Wood
Lewis & Wood specialises in world-class fabrics and wallpapers, printed at Woodchester Mill in Gloucestershire and on display in its showroom at the Design Centre.
The company has developed a nimble manufacturing model based on the advantages of digital printing, a vertical operation which allows them to design and make fabric and wallpaper all under one roof to a quality that was inconceivable 10 years ago.
Lewis & Wood will be launching its brand-new Sprigs & Twigs collection at London Design Week 2025.
Be the first to see the new designs before they go online in April. With a friendly team and a dedicated wallpaper studio, the showroom is well worth a visit.
