Spine Jane Weir

Spine is the sequel to Walking the Block, the innovative poetic biography of Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher who worked as handblock printers and designers between the First and Second World Wars, initially in London and later in Painswick. They continued to use natural vegetable dyes long after the new industrial dyes and were renowned for cutting their own blocks and were championed in Vogue by the art critic Roger Fry

Their work was favoured by many clients including Coco Chanel, The Duke of Westminster and the architecht Detmar Blow. Their design skills emerged after formal training as painters, Phyllis at the Slade and Dorothy at Hornsey School of Art.