In spring 2012 The Aram Gallery opens The Architecture of Cloth, Colour and Space, a solo show of the work of Ptolemy Mann. This touring exhibition, initiated by Ruthin Craft Centre and which opened there in November 2011, is a powerful colour saturated experience showing off Mann’s fantastic skill and her inventive approach to design practice. The exhibition showed a collection of recent work paying particular attention to a new IKAT collection which maintains a hand dyed and hand woven quality but adapted for digital print.
It has been two years since Mann was both co-curator and exhibitor in The Aram Gallery exhibition Significant Colour. In that show the gallery touched the tip of the iceberg of Mann’s relationship with colour. Not adopting it as an afterthought but as intrinsic a cog as weaving in her design process; the two sit comfortably alongside one another at the core of her making.
Since that show Mann has branched out into ceramics; a collaboration with Lubna Chowdhary, rugs; a collection with Christopher Farr, clothing with Eloise Gray as well as furniture collaborations with Kristian Stringer and Marina Dragomirova. In addition Mann has worked closely with architects such as Stanton Williams, on their use of colour on building facades. She advises them on how to weave colour into architecture, seeing buildings as looms, but on a monumental scale.
