“Metal is The New Black” by Quiet British Accent
Motorhead and Iron Maiden meets embroidery in this homage to heavy metal designs
Taking something traditionally wholesome and making it a little subversive and much more playful, London-based design duo Quiet British Accent has recently unveiled their Metal is The New Black project. For the series, QBA—aka Sharon and Jason Gale—have created three traditional home embroidery hoops, but are paying homage to metal lettering and graphics. The hand-drawn designs are machine-embroidered to perfection, and the results are playful, cheeky and utterly charming.
When speaking about the project’s inception, Jason tells CH there was a specifc song that inspired the entire project, “We’re both big music fans, of all types of genres. One evening ‘Killed By Death’ by Motorhead came up on the iTunes shuffle and we had this bizarre idea (alcohol may have been involved) of a Heavy Metal retirement home, with metal-themed traditional soft furnishings. We imagined a spread in an interiors mag and that’s where ‘Metal is the New Black’ idea started.”
“It’s very much a loving homage to metal designs so we researched the evolution of classic metal lettering. The Iron Maiden typeface was particularly interesting as it seems to have started life as quite a sci-fi font, famously being used by designer Vic Fair on the 1976 “Man Who Fell To Earth film” poster (as well as being used by Gordon Giltrap and even Nana Mouskouri!). Now of course, everyone associates it with Maiden,” he explains.
As for the rest, Jason says it came quite naturally—denim was an obvious choice for fabric, while the slogans were chosen to pique people’s sense of humor. “We went for irony, with a Slayer-style ‘Bless this house’ with its inverted pentagram, an Iron Maiden-style ‘God save the queen’ and a Motorhead-style ‘Home sweet home’ as they always seem to be on the road,” he says.
Measuring approximately 16cm diameter, Quiet British Accent’s “Metal is The New Black” embroidered hoops are available at Beach London for £30 each. For more pop culture embroidery, check out another CH favorite, Yes Stitch Yes.
Images courtesy of Quiet British Accent
