WALL TATTOOS STREET ART IN INTERIOR DESIGN - EXPLORE INNOVATIVE PATHS IN ARCHITECTURE
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Explore
innovative
paths in
architecture
Wall tattoos
Street art in interior design
RENOLIT on a journey into architecture
Dear readers, very easy to remove. The wall tattoo consists
of a printed, self-adhesive film which enables
As in fashion design, trends in architecture individual motifs to be applied to any wall
have also become more short-lived. This is surface.
equally apparent in large-scale land art and in The number of companies offering such tat-
small-scale street art. Our living space – the toos provides an indication of their popu-
cradle from which all architecture ultimately larity for interior applications. This appeal
sprang – provides the best example here. The also translates to the outside world. Graffiti
home interior has gained in importance – in artists have long dominated the street art
the age of reality shows and webcams, how scene. A new movement has since emerged,
we live has become our calling card. And, however, which not only uses colour but also
mobile as we are today, our living space has works with stickers and sticky tape. The pub-
to change with us. It is no longer down solely lic space becomes a backdrop for the artists‘
to furniture and lamps to ring the changes sketches – a canvass as changeable as eve-
– colour and light are increasingly becoming ryday life.
instruments of change. A “makeover“ for the We hope you will enjoy reading this issue
home is far less complicated and expensive of Colour Road, which focuses on art using
than it was until only recently. Wallpaper and adhesive film and tape and once again
paste are no longer an inevitable part of the unearths a surprising wealth of creative ini-
routine, as wall tattoos are now available as tiative.
a swift means of bringing about changes.
The name is deceptive – in contrast to the Yours, Photo: TapeRay
permanent nature of tattoos on skin, wall Pierre Winant
tattoos are only applied by adhesive and are Executive Board Member, RENOLIT SE
From wine label to wall tattoo
Wall tattoos are the new interior design trend. The white walls in our homes become canvasses for these bold and colourful large-scale
works of art. They are simplicity itself to apply – no need for paste and paint, just peel off the backing film and smooth the tattoo firmly
onto the surface. Evolving out of the sticker scene in the cities, wall tattoos demonstrate how an unremarkable industrial mass product
can give rise to an individual art form which may now be set to play an increasingly important role in interior design.
The onset of industrialisation at the turn of labels to a substrate by means of wet removed without the use of caustic solvents.
Photo: danienel,istockphoto
the 19th century resulted in the growing paste remained unchanged until some time At the same time, Richard Stanton Avery‘s
standardisation of manufactured goods. into the 20th century. The increase in the invention also established a completely
Machine-based manufacturing led to number of products requiring labelling and new industry whose products entered into
uniform products and consistent quality the changing requirements relating to the increasingly widespread use.
The beginnings of the adhesive label standards. An increasing need now arose to display of prices, addresses, use-by dates,
communicate the relevant product claims to etc. eventually however, called for a new
the customer in visual form. As business was development.
no longer conducted solely at a personal The answer was provided in 1935 by the Induction into pop culture
level, with goods now being traded through American inventor and entrepreneur
middlemen across ever broader areas, it Richard Stanton Avery, in the form of his In the second half of the 20th century, the
Photo: aslan, Gudrun Petersen
had to be made plain to the end customer “Kum-Kleen“ invention – labels with rubber labelling industry witnessed something of
precisely what they were holding in their adhesive backs. This apparently mundane a boom, with labels now produced in paper,
hands. This was the birth of the label. modification marked the beginning of a polyethylene, polypropylene and PVC as a
Wine bottles have borne labels since the revolution. From now on, it was not only result of ongoing improvements in label
middle of the 18th century, for example, possible for anyone to apply labels to manufacturing, such as more refined printing
Wall tattoos can be applied to both interior and
exterior surfaces. and the essential technique of applying products more quickly – they could also be technology and the use of new materials.
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At the same time, the messages on labels there was a drive to cast off art‘s elitist status industrial product. It is swift and simple to
began to live a life of their own, packaging and to open it up to the public. Secondly, a produce – attributes which have seen it rise
and labels evolved into colourful symbols of consciously anti-commercial understanding to become a symbol of urban sub-culture.
consumer society and pop culture. of art arose at this time, challenging the
Photo: danienel,istockphoto
Labels attracted fans in the art scene, too. institutionalised art market in particular. This
The most famous example is no doubt a can be seen as a reaction to the increasing
record cover designed by Andy Warhol presence of advertising messages in the Stickers in interiors
for the band “The Velvet Underground“, public space.
The original face of sticker art in the public space. featuring a yellow and black banana against This heady mix, combined with influences Long limited in interior use to pub toilets
a white background. The skin of the banana from punk, concept art and graffiti, gave rise or children‘s rooms, stickers now appear
could be peeled off, suggestively revealing to a phenomenon which is now generally to be emerging as fully-fledged interior
a pink fruit. No longer subjugated to the referred to as street art. design elements. This development is to
product, the label was now a medium in its Adhesive labels have also found their place be seen above all in the context of the
own right. in this world. Stickers are omnipresent in trend towards individual home interiors.
urban environments today. While many see This individualisation stands at odds with
them as an act of vandalism, others regard the growing flexibilisation of our living
them as opening up a colourful, creative, environments – professionally decorating
Labels for everyone ever-changing microcosm that provides the home with motif wallpapers or putting
a welcome contrast to the grey-in-grey of together an individual colour scheme for
Photo: TapeRay
The pop art movement of the 1970s spawned urban facades. The sticker differs from other one‘s own four walls costs time and above
trends that took art out of the galleries and forms of street art – such as graffiti and all money.
into the public space. These trends were stencils – by virtue of its straightforward A new idea provides a remedy here: the wall
The solution for a swift “change of scenery“: the wall tattoo. driven by two underlying factors: Firstly, handling. This is down to its past as an tattoo. These tattoos feature motifs made of
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vinyl film which can be applied directly to the backing film, smooth firmly onto the wall,
wall – providing that the wall surface consists then peel off the protective film – that‘s all
of a grease- and silicone-free material. there is to it! And when the motif has worn
The scope of individual design freedom out its welcome, it can be removed without
is virtually unlimited – the market offers any residues and replaced with a new one.
an infinite number of motifs in all shapes Appearing in diverse manifestations –
and sizes, from colourful to monochrome. warning, subversive, descriptive and
It is equally possible to produce one‘s aesthetic – the label has had a long and
own motifs, provided that there is a well- eventful evolution, writing history itself in
equipped copyshop with a cutting plotter the process. The wall tattoo is just another
nearby. Applying the tattoos could not be stage in this ongoing evolution. Time will
simpler, with even large motifs in place tell what areas of our lives it will influence
in a matter of minutes. Simply remove the in the future.
Photo: TapeRay
he wall tattoo is the new trend introducing “adhesive transfer“ art to interiors.
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Marcel Cornels, Tom Jeffke and Daniel Mack
established the Tape Ray online community
in January 2012, with the aim of providing a
forum for the new design medium of the wall
tattoo and promoting its acceptance. Artists and
photographers can present and sell their works
through Tape Ray. A smartphone app is now also
available.
Selected works from Tape Ray are included in
this Colour Road on pages 2, 4, 5 and 6.
Photo: TapeRay
Evi Kupfer
Tape art – the strand of street art employing adhesive tape – has been socially acceptable
for some years now, allowing it to attract increasing numbers of fans. El Bocho grabbed
the headlines with his world record for the largest work of tape art in Berlin (Colour
Road reported, 04|12). A live taping action at an MTV Music Awards event in Berlin
caused a stir among the young audience. This art form is also apparent in DIY stores,
whose shelves offer insulating tape in various shapes, colours and sizes.
Evi Kupfer, a Nuremberg-based graphic canvases, glass surfaces and walls ever since.
designer who creates sticky-tape art works In her works, she uses the tape like a brush.
in her spare time, is the new star of the tape One piece of adhesive tape corresponds to
art scene. Her material of choice is standard a brush stroke, as it were. Before she starts
insulating tape in every available colour. Some taping, she produces a sketch. This provides
years ago, on the lookout for new materials the template for the “brush strokes“ which she
that she could put to creative use, she chanced subsequently applies one after the other. The
upon a shelf with insulating tapes for electric motifs in her works reveal a pronounced pop
cables in a DIY store, and was totally fascinated culture background. Predominant features are
Photo: Evi Kupfer
by the variety of colours on offer. She hit upon the bright colours and the amazing richness
the idea of “painting“ with adhesive tape. She of detail.
left the store with a full rucksack, and has
been creating works of art with the tape on Racing bicycle
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Photo: Evi Kupfer “Hong Kong“ was Evi Kupfer‘s first tape art work.
Sun K. Kwak
Tape art has already made its way from the street into the world‘s major exhibition centres. The New York-based young Korean is among those
artists whose exhibitions demonstrate that street art does not necessarily have to be an expression of unfiltered creative impulses in the public
space and that, though young, it is an art form which deserves to be taken seriously. The young artist‘s study of painting helped her to evolve
her imagery, but it was black crepe tape that first really brought this imagery to life.
Black lines flow freely through the room, liberated and satisfied than she had for many its surroundings. The three-dimensional
seemingly transcending its physical years. She knew she had found her material. drawings create a new graphic reality
boundaries and taking possession of it – this Her installations have since gone on show at which shifts the visitor‘s visual perception
is the initial impression created by Sun K. venues such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, on a temporal and spatial plane. The
Kwak‘s works of art. At the same time, the the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin and creation of the tape drawings often forms
installations exude a very personal note, the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea. part of the installation. At the end of each
suggestive of a close association with the Her “tape drawings“, as she is wont to call exhibition, the adhesive tape is torn from
artist‘s inner being. her works, gain their special power from the surfaces and the room is restored to
After studying art, Sun K. Kwak began the unconventional use of a mass-produced its original state. The process of emptying
searching for a medium suited to her everyday material for the purposes of the room is to be interpreted as a metaphor
personal art. Years of disheartening and composed and refined artistic expression. for all-pervasive evanescence and the
frustrating experimentation with various The artist sees the black lines floating artist‘s acceptance of nature‘s essential
materials yielded only unsatisfactory results across walls, ceilings, pillars and stairs as emptiness. The installation nevertheless
until one morning she had a sudden flash an extension of her inner being into space. lives on in the visitors‘ memories, changing
of inspiration: adhesive tape! By the evening These black lines serve to visualise the the room for ever in their eyes.
of the same day she had completed her first many-faceted energies which arise from the
work of tape art, which left her feeling more idiosyncrasies of the architectural space and
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Photo: Sun K. Kwak, Untying Space: Sala Alcala 31, 2007, Klebeband, masking tape, adhesive vinyl, plywood Untying Space: In Sun K. Kwak‘s installations the architectural space ap- pears to dissolve, revealing the dynamism of its inherent energies in the process.
Wall tattoos
We encounter plastic film every day in various guises and applications. In technology,
films serve as functional substrates. Decorative aspects are one form of this functionality
which film is able to embody outstandingly well. PVC film is ideal here, as it meets a broad
spectrum of requirements. PVC film is extensible and flexible, it can be hard or soft, thick or
thin, highly opaque, transparent or translucent and it can be produced in any colour. Such
properties highlight extremely well the use of film as a decorative material.
How is such film produced? PVC is ideal for Subsequent finishing of the film takes place
the calendering production process. The in-line. Special suface textures are applied to
principle is akin to rolling pastry flat by means the film using emboss rollers. These also
of a rolling pin when baking biscuits. Large, enable high-gloss or satin-finishes to be
heated rollers are the shaping tools in the produced according to requirements. The
calendering process. The soft pvc is spread calendered film is wound on a central core as
out in the gap between the rollers. The a continuous length of film and the film now
compound, which is known as dry blend, offers various fabrication options. Decorative
previously passes through an extruder, films require both surfaces: the front side
strainer and roller systems for the purposes serves visual purposes, while the reverse side
of homogenisation and compounding. The must be suitable for application of an adhesive
different constituents of the formulation are system for attachment to walls, etc. The
blended by a special metering system and adhesive system itself is a science in its own
Film production homogenised by a mixing programme. right. Permanent adhesives provide a lasting
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architecturebond with the surface. Temporary adhesives PVC film is ideal here, as it does not require technology is used to cut particularly complex
are important when it is intended to remove any special pretreatment to obtain good shapes. Self-adhesive film with special
the film without any residues at a subsequent printability. In addition to digital printing, dimensions, e.g. for a Micky Mouse, is quickly
juncture. Cling-films do not require any other common systems such as gravure obtainable by this method. The special feature
adhesives. Here, the inherent adhesive forces printing, screen printing or offset printing are of the plotter process is that only the film is
are sufficient to attach the film to smooth also suitable for printing on PVC surfaces. cut, but not the backing paper. This results in
surfaces on a lasting basis. The re-usability of Gloss surfaces highlight the print more the familiar stickers. The latest technology
such film is a particular advantage. effectively, while matt or textured embossed takes the form of hybrid printers which
The front surface of the film incorporates the surfaces create a stylish effect which is highly combine printing (ink jet) and plotting in a
decorative features. When the film‘s colour is advantageous to wall tattoos. single operation. Cutting to size by means of
not sufficient, printing or coating systems The continuous roll of pvc is extremely laser technology is a highly flexible high-tech
can be used to produce additional cumbersome to handle. Various methods are option. The orientation of the laser beam is
characteristics. available to cut it to size. Rolls of any desired controlled by a computer programme which
Modern digital printing systems are able to width can be cut from the wide master roll. is able to implement the corresponding master
apply high resolution images to the film’s Special transverse cutters are used to produce templates directly. When the film is prepared
surface. Anything is possible, from beautiful sheets. accordingly, laser technology can also be used
scenery to modern art. PVC film is ideal for punching. Plotter to apply markings to the film surface.
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architecturePublisher‘s details RENOLIT SE Monika Fecht Horchheimer Str. 50 67547 Worms – Germany www.renolit.com www.renolit.com/architecture Phone: +49 6241 303-377 Fax: +49 6241 303-18.377 Email: cr@renolit.com Design and editing: GKT – Gesellschaft für Knowhow-Transfer in Architektur und Bauwesen mbH Leinfelden-Echterdingen – Germany
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