Lest We Forget
Being commissioned to create a fitting tribute to the fallen 27 was both a huge honour and an immense responsibility.
Our brief was emotive yet simplistic. No hyperbole, no ‘blue sky’ rhetoric. Just a resolution to honour the fallen, as they honoured the game and their country.
The Emblem
The emblem design was something that had to be very poignant, it had to embody the whole depth and meaning of the book and the project. We replicated the original rose from Ronald Poulton-Palmer’s last jersey and designed a poppy in exactly the same 1900s embroidered style, entwining the England Rose, linking them together.
We researched the kind of fabric used in the original 1900s England shirts as we wanted every part to be as authentic as possible. To create the unique emblem traditional embroidery methods were used to embroider the emblem, directly onto the traditional cotton linen used in the 1900s shirts.
The embroidered cotton linen was used to create the front covering of the final book.
The Book
We mimicked illuminated lettering, hierarchy of font size, indentation styles, layout spacing and line leading principles from 1900s book printing to reflect the era and the design principles of the time.
We created and included hand painted watercolour illustrations synonymous with the era – beautiful watercolour poppies were used throughout the pages.
The final piece was printed and then bound by specialist binders, using traditional sewing methods to hand finish the book. With leather and boned spine, leather back, and the cotton linen covering the front with the embroidered emblem.
We enclosed the final piece within an oak case, which was hand carved and finished with a lino press version of the emblem, engraved to the front. The oak box was lined with England Rugby Green fabric, and finished with original copper hinges.
This is a one of a kind, original piece, which has formed a huge part of the RFU commemorative project. The Book will eventually become a piece housed within the largest Rugby collection in the world.