What: Street Lamp Ornamentation
Where: Brick Lane, London
This ornate artwork is found on a street lamp. The search for London Florals and Garden patterns began early on a Sunday morning and led to many interesting places. This piece is a contemporary piece added to the street, most likely by the city. It guided you down the street to markets that had food, clothing, and plants.
Within gardens are pathways that lead throughout. I believe part of the purpose of the ornate street lamp was to act as the pathway to guide. Someone new to the city may not know that the art leads to a market, but seeing that would compel them to follow and see where it led to.
Electric street lamps in Britain date back to 1880, (the first street being lit by electric was Electric Avenue... Wow), and now cover most of the streets, even though there are still gas lamps sprinkled throughout the cities. Street lamps themselves have been around since the early 1800's, and the original purpose is exactly what you'd expect; lighting streets so they weren't pitchblack at night and the streets would be safer. People realized that it wasn't very effective to have their own tiny gas lamps so streets in London began to be lit in 1807. They helped to lead people down the path they intended to follow.
Jumping back to the floral design of this piece, I can't help but think it was inspired but the Iron Age in London. The use of radiating pattern and metal reminds me of the dome created using iron. The ornament is made of metal and not necessary to the structure of the lamp post. The pattern created in this piece feels similar to the Arts and Crafts movement and Owen Jones' Grammar of the Ornament. Mixing of design and artistry with the industrial of the metal and practicality of a lamp post. It also feels like part of a tree design, the circular design sits high on the post.
Citations:
History of Lamps. "History of Gas Lamps - Invention of Gas Lamp." History of Lamps - Invention of Lighting Instruments. Accessed May 1, 2019. http://www.historyoflamps.com/lamp-history/history-of-gas-lamps/.
Pevsner, Nikolaus. "From Eighteen-Fifty-One to Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement." In Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius. London: Penguin UK, 1991.
Wingnall, Katie. "Hidden in Plain Sight: London's Gas Lighting · Look Up London Tours." Look Up London Tours. Last modified February 4, 2018. https://lookup.london/london-gas-lighting/.