Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Ancient Savoir faire

I remember as a youngster my grandmother giving my sister the most wonderful gold bracelet. What struck me most about it was the amazing simplicity of the piece. A continuous band of gold with the Greek key design cut out. Unfortunately I haven’t got a photo, but you will get the general idea from the bracelet below.


The Greek Key design/motif is one of those timeless almost iconic representations of a classic design which has become an integral part of architecture through to fashion. Originally used by the Greeks as a border on many architectural friezes, it has been used through the ages without overkill and still remains elegant.




The design itself is stark and intensely graphic. (Maybe that is why I like it so much).









Perhaps we can see the complete evolution of the design in the Givenchy logo, where the signature G, has been used 4 times in different rotations to form the logo.

6 comments:

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  2. All great examples -
    truly timeless.
    Love the detail on the chair arm -

    Jjj

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  3. I can honestly say that while I do understand the fact that Greek Key design lives beyond time, I personally never found it interesting nor attractive. I think that it is a bit overused in so many different ways that it has lost all its uniqueness. I did enjoy reading this post!

    So sorry for being absent fo a while and being such a terrible Blog friend. Past few weeks were simply crazy between racing to Texas to get fabrics for upcoming collection, renovation of my house and day to day things in Atelier. It feels so wonderful to have a moment to visit my favorite Blogsa and read fabulous posts just like this one. Have a very beautiful the rest of the week. :-)

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  4. Love the chair and the sofa...oh, and the shoes!

    Now, show us a good rep of a klismos and I'll be a happy girl!

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  5. Hey Jill, I did do a post on the Klismos.

    http://david-toms.blogspot.com/search/label/Klismos%20Chair

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  6. Anya, what a busy life you are leading!Racing to Texas for fabric sounds oh so chic, however reality probably says different. I love angles so the key design is just perfect, however I am really waiting for something spectacular to be done with it! Have a wonderful week!

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