Hornsey No.1 Gasholder

Those who know me or my work well, will know I have been 'quite keen' on my local Gasholder for some time.

Sadly, the process of dismantling Hornsey No.1 will be underway soon, and I'm told the Gasholder will be no more within 3 weeks. I guess you could say it's done it's job and with land a scarce resource in London, the space is needed to build on.

I'm not someone who resists change, but I thought I'd jot a few words to describe the sadness I feel at it's loss and share some images of the design work I've created.

Like many people who grew up in London, I love a good industrial cityscape. I was born in Pimlico within sight of Battersea Power Station, so this love began with those chimneys which tower into the sky. Whilst many chimneys might have pumped out stuff we wern't too happy to breathe, somehow they reminded you that there is air and space above you. You look up and notice the sky, the moving clouds, the changing colours and what the weather is doing.

When I moved to Haringey fifteen years ago, the gasholder became my new reminder of our industrial past, and has given me the same feeling.

In my design work I have always loved geometry and growth patterns in nature, so I was pleased to read about the geodesic principals used to build my gasholder, described here by the Victorian Society in 2011.

I make surface pattern designs and artwork and have applied my Hornsey gasholder inspired designs over textiles and paper over the past three years for a range of things which I've sold or sell. When showing them, I always meet interesting people with lots of memories and opinions (some people dont like gasholders!). They share their photos with me and send me links to articles such as this brilliant Guardian piece.

So, goodbye Hornsey No.1 Here's a few reminders of you...

Many of the products shown here were one offs and have been sold. I currently sell archival giclee prints online and can take special orders for larger sizes.

Jo Angell22 June 2016gasholder, hornsey no1, gasometer, design, giclee, artprint, print, scarfComment