Talisman

Talisman draws on the idea of the symbol: simple shapes given meaning through repetition, placement and association. Decorative history is full of them, from protective marks and amulets to motifs woven into cloth or worked into architecture.

I wanted Talisman to carry a trace of that language without referring to one particular culture or tradition. Its forms have a certain familiarity, but their origin remains deliberately difficult to place. They could belong to a textile, a piece of jewellery, a carved screen or an old decorative border.

The 20 × 10 mm Milano mosaic lends itself particularly well to this kind of ambiguity. Its rectangular pieces can build surprisingly fluid shapes when viewed from a distance. Curves and lozenges emerge from a material that remains resolutely linear at close range. That contrast gives the pattern much of its character.

There is something compelling about symbols whose original meanings have become detached from them. We may no longer understand their significance, yet the shapes continue to appeal. They survive because decoration has its own memory, passing from one material and period to another.

Talisman plays with that continuity. The pattern feels as though it might have been discovered rather than newly drawn. However, the regularity of the mosaic gives it a distinctly contemporary precision.

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