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You know the unexplainable joy of getting a freshly upholstered seat on the tube during rush hour? Now you can experience it every day in the comfort of your own home, thanks to a new TfL-inspired fabric collection.
Taking its cues from London Transport seats from the 1910s all the way through to the 1990s, the collection is by Kirkby, a design studio based in the capital. The collaboration with TfL – titled ‘Underground Vol. III’ – recreates eight archival designs on velvet moquette (a thick carpet-like type of fabric used for upholstery – as well as tube seats).
If you’ve always looked at the seating patterns of London’s transport services and thought ‘wow, that’s art’, well, you wouldn’t be wrong. In the 1930s Christian Barman – the Publicity Officer for London Transport – commissioned a range of contemporary artists to transform the capital’s commute.
With hand-drawn designs woven from two-tone cut and uncut velvet, ‘Underground Vol. III’ celebrates some of the best-known patterns from TfL history . Inspired by Enid Marx’s 1936 designs, ‘Brent’ features the diamond pattern of the old District line. Meanwhile, ‘Northern’ takes on Marianne Straub’s 1965 artwork which once decked out multiple tube lines and double-decker buses.
Other patterns include ‘Chalfont’, a floral fabric which once lined the first-class carriages of the Metropolitan Railway’s steam locomotives; ‘Caledonian’, an art deco inspired tartan; ‘Bromley’, a striped moquette from the 1960s RC-class buses; ‘Piccadilly’, which takes cues from the Piccadilly line’s 1994 redesign; ‘Bakerloo’, which is reminiscent of roll carpets from the 1930s and 1940s; and ‘Eden’, a houndstooth pattern which decorated trams, trolleybuses, and the bus route 601 which ran between Twickenham and Tolworth.
This marks TfL’s third collaboration with Kirkby. Back in 2013, the pair launched a collection for the London Underground’s 150th anniversary. Then in 2019, Kirkby issued more woollen moquettes with a trendy twist.
Looking to spruce up your living room with some commuter carriage chic? Kirkby’s fabrics can be bought here and sell for between £115 and £150 per metre.
If Kirkby’s designs are (slightly) out of your monthly budget, get your fill of the city’s history of buses, trains, trams and more at the London Transport Museum (which, incidentally, is about to get a brand-new exhibition gallery).
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