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Marian Bantjes, Wallpaper*, and Dazzle Camouflage

By Willem Van Lancker - August 26, 2010

in Object Culture

Designer Marian Bantjes was recently commissioned by Wallpaper* Magazine to design the graphics for a Laser Sailboat for their upcoming exhibition at the Salon del Mobile in Milan later this year.

The result of the collaboration was a striking geometric all-over print, which Bantje's describes as:

I avoided the obvious of working with organic forms to go with the wind, water, etc., and instead work deliberately against those forms. I wanted to make something that was incredibly distinctive in the water, and which would disguise its speed and versatility.

Her inspiration for this approach is attributed to the cubist patterns of WWI & WWII "dazzle" US Naval camouflage, a program few had heard of until this year. This past spring I had the opportunity to see many of the original plans for these vessels at Dazzle Camouflage Collection at the RISD Fleet Library. The collection includes over 50 plans, all with their own unique patterning specially devised for their individual environments. Created by Maurice L. Freedmen (described in all seriousness as the "district camofleur for the 4th district of the U.S. Shipping Board, Emergency Fleet Corporation"), the work is an amazing example of pragmatic, functional design. The ships were painted solely as a method of disguise from German U-Boats but are now appreciated as surprising works of art and design.

I love how Bantjes has translated this approach into disguising the Laser's "speed and versatility" through the use of the rigid blocky print, a really beautiful statement of design especially when compared to typical airbrushed boat graphics.

If you happen the be in the market for a laser, one of the world's most popular racing dinghies (there are over 200,000 worldwide), Wallpaper* is producing a limited edition of 12, each for only £10,000!

All images from www.bantjes.com and www.risd.edu.

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Fab1

11 years ago

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Andy has got it right. Attackers wanted to know distance, direction and speed for shooting it and needed visual estimates for the calculation, which was based on the pattern of a simple ship silhouette, its length and bow/stern wave system. The dazzle geometry confused all of that. The idea that it was based on art form is kind of quaint - as if the Attackers would get side tracked like "hey bro isn't that a cool sight, beeeeaautiful, get the others to come see, wow, ! Ooops its gone now, you missed it (... so did I)" , etc
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Steve

13 years ago

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I think the Dazzle style of camo was inspired by Vorticism, one of the first british abstract art movements. Wyndham Lewis and co were turn inspired by Futurism and Cubism.
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Andy

14 years ago

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I think you've missed the point of dazzle camouflage. The purpose wasn't to make ships difficult to see. The purpose was to make it difficult for an enemy seaman using a rangefinder to establish the size, speed, and heading of the ship. As a result, it would be difficult for an enemy ship to accuately target the ship. It wasn't meant to make a ship invisible.
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Alex

14 years ago

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Bart, I get that it's an inspiration, but if you look at the picture of the boat on the water, it's not exactly high visibility either.... it actually blends in pretty well, probably even more so in some chop. I'm not saying ti doesn't look good, but I really don't think this should be called "good design" just because it's different. It should be functional as well. The ships that were used as an inspiration were meant NOT to be seen. I sincerely hope the designer is smarter than that, and knows what the purpose of a sailboat is. If she choses to disregard the safety of the user over her aesthetics, I'd call this twattery of the highest order, somewhere on the scale of Best Made Company "Urban Axes"...
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Bart Humphrey

14 years ago

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Alex, I don't think the laser is meant to be camouflaged. The WWII boats were but I think the camo was more of an inspiration than anything else.

Cool stuff.
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Alex

14 years ago

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If a design should be functional as well as beautiful, why would you ever want to camouflage a boat this small in the age of high-power speedboats and cargo ships? Sounds like a great way to get yourself run over...
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Egyptologist

14 years ago

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This is awesome! It's like Tetris and Escher had a lovechild and set it free on the open water.

The RISD site is also really well done.
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