Electric Patterns Series: Coco Cripps

Wandered down Electric Avenue after hours recently? Noticed anything different?!

After overcoming multitudinous obstacles, the Electric Patterns Project (produced by The Brixton Project, funded by Lambeth Council and National Lottery Heritage Fund) is going live and brightening up a street near you with bold, colourful abstractions of Brixton’s essential spirit. So take a twilight stroll and keep your eyes peeled to spot every design. To find out more about the project please see here.

In each article of this series we will be highlighting these innovative heritage- inspired designs and letting you know where you can see them for yourself. To find out more about this local creative opportunity, the artists selected and what inspired their designs continue reading. 

Poverty Map 

Location: 39 Electric Avenue, SW9 8JP

Artist: Coco Cripps

This design takes as a starting point the shape of Electric Avenue. That curve that links two streets together which on a map forms a quadrant. The pattern is further informed by Booth’s Poverty Map of Brixton in 1898-99. This map is an inquiry into the life and labours of people in London. The aesthetic quality of Booth’s map brings Brixton’s streets to life with its use of colour, line and texture, which is what Coco wanted to achieve with her design. The pattern she uses is a fragmentation from Booth’s map. When repeated, this design reveals the arches that run along–side the curve of Electric Avenue. The rectangular shapes are a simplified version of the shops in Electric Avenue. The one thing that hasn’t changed in Electric Avenue, despite all the development and challenges in its history, is the actual shape of the street. The foundations of street remain, no matter how much the people, lights and decorations change. This is the source of Coco’s inspiration.

Coco Cripps is a London–based textile designer. She recently graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Textile Design, specialising in knit but she enjoys combining mediums and believes that’s where the best ideas evolve from. Currently Coco works part time for CYM and teaches piano alongside her textile career. Recently she worked on a collaborative project; fusing knitting with dance.