Design Decameron by Monogram

The design exhibition that Cercle Cité initially planned this year has been rethought in view of the unprecedented current situation linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. This online project, called Design Decameron, offers a convenient alternative, accessible to everyone, everywhere.

Each Thursday, a new creation will be revealed on Cercle Cité's website and social media (Facebook and Instagram). #designdecameron.

The seventh artist to take part in this exhibition is Miriam Rosner, with the project Semper fortis - a contemporary Toile de Jouy.

"The beauty of the 18^th century monochrome print and its motifs - often recording historic events, the events of the day, cultural happenings or spreading political messages - inspired MONOGRAM to design a contemporary Toile, interpreting this unprecedented event in the digital era.

In this Jules Vernesque version of Luxembourg during the SARS-CoV-2-crisis, the guiding principle is to “always stay courageous”. Adventurous hideaways become places to confine away from potential danger, an escape from reality, love in times of a plague.

Historically, Toile de Jouy (“cloth from Jouy”) prints were the perfect medium to propagate not only populist themes, but also political views as well as recording historic events; one by Jean-Baptiste Huet (c. 1783) proudly showed off France’s scientific prominence with scenes from the first hot-air balloon flight, and other toiles featured images of colonial aspirations with fleets of sailing ships reaching their destinations of tropical islands and negotiating with tribal leaders.

The type of print is characterised by complex vignettes scattered over the surface of the cloth. Originally, they were scenes carved on woodblocks or engraved on copperplates, then printed on textiles for interior design or clothing.

From c. 1760 to c. 1821 the textile factory at Jouy-en-Josas, south-west of Paris, distinguished itself with the creation of large figurative designs depicting important occurrences of the time in order to appeal to their customers. Through their interest in certain events, engravers and artists both provoked and participated in veritable fads."

The artist's biography :

Miriam Rosner is an art director based in Luxembourg looking back on more than 20 years of experience in the field of branding, editorial design, packaging, book design and corporate publishing. As a self-proclaimed traditionalist and aficionado of heritage she has developed a passion for restored engravings and etchings. She matches the extraordinary aesthetics of vintage illustrations and old fashioned apothecary with contemporary design to convey a timeless appeal.

In 2019, Miriam founded MONOGRAM with an aim to combine thoughtful design, lovely typefaces, carefully selected paper and special printing techniques to suit her clients’ personalities and projects, focusing on preserving and celebrating paper as a precious and beautiful object.

www.monogram.lu