TfL launches public seating fabric design competition in London

From graphics to roundels, Tube stations to textiles, design has always played an important role for London Underground. As part of the refurbishment and upgrade of London’s transport system, TfL is holding a competition to design a new seating fabric, also known as moquette, for use on the Underground system.

In the tradition set by Frank Pick, the publicity manager for London Transport from 1907, and who became chief executive of London Transport in 1930, the company is continuing its commitment to exemplary industrial design with the revival of key components of London Underground’s corporate identity.

The design brief, which remains very much the same as it did in 1930, emphasizes that the design’s colors should respond well to both natural and artificial light, with a pattern which takes account of wear and tear. The durable velveteen woven wool fabric called moquette, uses a Jacquard weave and ensures comfort, temperature control, and hold.

The design will require applicants to take into consideration certain utilitarian elements, as required by public seating, such as being commercially viable, having a repeat pattern, and not being too small to cause ‘dazzle’ or ‘strobe’ visual effects. However, entrants are also encouraged to challenge conventional ideas of traditional seating fabric designs where possible.

A maximum of three primary corporate identity pantone references – corporate blue, corporate safety blue, and corporate red – can be used. Any secondary colors from the outer wheel of the chart can be proposed if considered visually necessary.

The winning design will launch on the Piccadilly line, and will then be adopted across the London Underground system. TfL invites professional and non-professional designers to take their position in the prestigious hierarchy of artists and designers who have all created designs for the Tube, including Man Ray, Edward McKnight-Kauffer, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Eric Ravilious, Marion Dorn, Norbert Dutton, Enid Marx, and Paul Nash.

The competition deadline is September 14, 2009.