The new Zhora pattern is named after an android in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner from 1984. Early on in the movie we find out that this "replicant" is "trained for an off-world kick-murder squad. Talk about beauty and the beast– she’s both." 

Joanna Cassidy plays  the role of Zhora to perfection, and when Harrison Ford meets her, she is performing burlesque with a python at a nightclub. One of the most stunning scenes in cinematic history unfolds when she gets shot in the back, crashes through four plate glass windows, and collapses– naked– except for thigh boots and a clear, vinyl raincoat. Gorgeous. And somewhat frightening. That’s what this pattern has in common with Zhora.  

My early drawings of Zhora were also inspired by a set of flatware produced by Liberty around 1903. Then (as now) there was nothing new under the sun. Though the "Tudric" style was quite current with Art Nouveau, it was also heavily influenced by British nostalgia for medieval and Celtic motifs. It was nostalgia, combined with Japanophilia, that provided the fuel for Art Nouveau, which was just kicking into high gear at the time.  

Japanese woodblocks prints, or ukiyo-e, were the sparks for the Art Nouveau flame. Originally imported into Europe as packing material for highly coveted Japanese porcelains, ukiyo-e happened to catch the attention of tastemakers like the Paris gallerist Sigfrid Bing and artists like Vincent. The boldness, simplicity, and naturalism of Japanese woodblock prints struck a chord in turn-of-the-century European aesthetes. They realized that nature no longer had to be tamed. Instead: it had to be unleashed. And so they gave birth to the visual vocabulary we now call Art Nouveau.

I happened to be working on this design in the spring, and I think that the allium pushing up in the garden were also sprouting in my imagination. In fact, I referred to this bulb with tendrils as "the exploding radish" for a while. The upper plant element in the design has a slightly menacing profile.  It looks as if the tendrils might ensnare an insect, or perhaps have razor-sharp edges. The silhouette is reminiscient of a Venus Flytrap, or some other jungle native with a hidden agenda. Thus, the other name for this pattern: Allium Hostilium. 

Designs from Timorous Beasties mine this territory as well, and I’m a big fan of their work. There’s a vaguely historical element to their patterns, but it’s always given a fresh, contemporary take.  Knock-off’s and re-treads have no place here, and craftsmanship never suffers under their watch.  

The Zhora pattern studies opposites.  Not only beauty and the beast, but also nostalgia and contemporaneity.   Zhora harkens back to the neo-Celtic flatware of Liberty and also looks forward to the neo-noir of Blade Runner. Nostalgia is totally understandable in uncertain times like these. And so is being trained for an off-world kick-murder squad. That’s what I like about Zhora.