The Net Curtain, The British Icon

http://www.icons.org.uk/nom/nominations/netcurtains

The following website documents an ongoing search for symbols that best represent british culture and all its forgotten heritage. The list is comprised of 100 icons in which the public are invited to vote. The site aims to 'intrigue individuals and organisations, we also want to interest people who might not normally go to museums or art galleries.' ICONS is a non profit organisation that prides itself in 'stimulating interactive ways of exploring different cultural landscapes.'

Quoted text from article:

'The original point of net curtains was to stop prying eyes looking in to your house if you had little or no garden. At the same time, because of their diaphanous, lacy texture they didn’t stop the light from entering. Genius.

What they are famous for, of course, is the fact that you can look OUT without being seen. Net curtains have come to be a symbol of suburban pretension and hypocrisy: coyly hiding our business behind them whilst actively sticking our nose into other people’s. We have been accused of being a nation of “curtain twitchers” and the net curtain is the main weapon in our armoury. Their supremacy is now under threat, however. 69% of people who do not have net curtains say it is because “they don’t like them”, and 42% because they are unfashionable. The decline in net curtain coverage has proved a success with burglars who find it easier to decide which houses to rob, but less so with the nation’s pet parrots who frequently bang their heads trying to fly through unadorned windows'

Comments made by the people who voted on net curtains being deemed to be the winner said the following:

Comment No.1

As a foreigner, I get tired of the nosiness of my English neighbours. It really seems like you have no privacy in this country! Such constant interest in how other people live their lives. One of the rules where I live in the North is that I should leave my windows uncovered. None of my neighbours have nets. Since our flat was broken into when we lived in Birmingham, we put nets on the front windows when we moved here. Now I'm sick of the constant staring in through our back windows. I'm going to put up nets in the back of the house as well. English people really need to learn how to mind their own business, and I mean really mind it, not just pretend.

Comment on Net Curtains posted 2007-07-03 by Anonymous from Near Manchester


Comment No.2

I live in a sixties property and have stuck with my nets through thick and thin for various reasons. 1. They keep my first floor flat considerably cooler in the summer as they reflect the sunlight from my huge windows - could be like a greenhouse. 2. They keep out quite a lot of road pollution. If you look at how dirty they get by the fanlights you realise that grim could have entered in your lungs. 3. Privacy - I have no wish to live in a goldfish bowl. They do need to be kept clean, plain and uniform though.

Comment on Net Curtains posted 2007-01-23 by C Davies from Mid-Sussex


Comment no3

Net curtains mean something to me because they have a cultural aspect to them. They are used globally and by different types of culture. there are many meanings that can be derived from the use of net curtains. I stumbled across this website because I use net curtains in my art work at college and was needing to find further sources of what other people felt about nets. I had made an installation that came from other various ideas I had regarding issues of camouflage and protection. the piece of art I had made with the net curtains resembled a tent, suspended from the ceiling, the four panels were then displayed out into four points. through this installation many thought processes came from using this material. as with all art, materials are questioned and we are asked why do we use such and such material. I then began a small rant about them. they symbolize; privacy, sense of order, a kind of neatness and tidiness. you cannot go beyond the nets up in the window, there is a barrier between you and them, a barrier you cannot cross, it shouts keeep out, i like my privacy, gipsy trailer, middle class, council house, old grannies. taking notice of what is there when the owners do not want you to know what is there. A sense of contradiction when they want privacy but, they are spying on you. there is a feminine ideology with net curtains. soft, flowing and delicate. the lace reminds us of veils worn by brides either here in this country or with other cultures. There is the sense of dressing up to play either something innocent or something a long the lines of a brothel. There is a sense of being cocooned and protected by the womb of safety, contentment. Net curtains are all encompassing of what the owners are both private and voyeuristic. I could go on but i will end here. These were the ideas going through my head and also patterns that are used on nets can sometimes be overlooked and not realise that some designs span centuries. Without net curtains i would not really have come up with the paintings that i have produced in the last few months. i think they are great because i need them for stencilling. Personally i would not use them. I prefer coloured voiles or lots of big plants on my window sills. THANK YOU FOR READING MY PERSONAL VIEW ON NET CURTAINS.

Comment on Net Curtains posted 2006-06-05 by Tina Donovan from kent, cranbrook

Article Look up

Article No.1

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1204650/Lifelines-Return-curtain-twitchers.html

Quoted from the article above:

'Originally, the curtains were put up to maintain public decency in homes facing the street, but they quickly became a godsend for that most British of characters, the local gossip.

No coming or going, however innocent, could escape the discreet twitch of next-door's nets. By teatime, the whole street would be happily discussing your visitor (a fancy man? - I always said she looked the type!) over the garden fence...'

Article No.2

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/a-twitchers-guide-net-curtains-are-being-reinvented-by-avantgarde-designers-456696.html

Quoted from the article above:

The rules of window dressing

Net curtains are being reinvented by avant-garde designers. What will the neighbours say? By Kate Watson-Smyth

- To create the layered look, it is worth asking if you can buy a returnable sample. This will be bigger than the free samples and will give you a better idea of how your colours will work together.

- Remember that you will need as many poles as you plan to have layers, so make sure that you have room for more than one curtain pole.

- Using a Perspex pole and finials will give the impression that your curtains are floating in mid air.

- Curtains should always reach the floor and puddle slightly at the bottom. Otherwise, it looks as if you couldn't afford enough fabric. If you have radiators under the window, then either have them moved or make sure that the curtains aren't so thick that they block all the heat.

- If you have a small window, try hanging the pole either very high above or out to the sides, which will give the impression of height and also allow you to pull them further back to the sides and stop you losing light.

- Don't forget: silk fades but velvet will never go out of fashion.

- Finally, Williams suggests that if you have spent a lot of money on a pair of really beautiful curtains, make sure you light them in the evening. "When you enter a room, the first thing you look at is the lightest thing. Either position a downlighter above your curtains or put a lamp there so they can become a feature of the room."

Article No. 3  


CRIME

Mike Slater of the Crime Reduction and Community Safety Unit
at Warwickshire Police Headquarters said:

"People might consider putting net curtains up to prevent unwanted callers peering inside to see what property there is, and also to move valuable items out of direct line of view of the window."

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Force quoted:

'Burglars particularly like homes that do not have net curtains, as they can see the property inside the home from the street'...

Sandrine Pelletier

http://www.biancaredgrave.com/sandrinepelletier.html

http://www.maskara.ch/index.php?/projects/lacex/

Sandrine Pelletier is an artist signed under the agency of Bianca Redgrave & Co. In this body of work called LACEX she constructs silhouettes through cuts of latex lace.

This work inspired me to investigate the use of latex to try and build my own visual forms in hope to finding an appropriate material to construct my net curtain designs later in the project.

The image below shows the intricacy of the forms:

The Research Begins

To begin this project I shall explore the context of what I am particularly focusing on.
This being the concept of 'THE CURTAIN TWITCHERS'.

Defined by URBAN DICTIONARY:

1.	Suburban Curtain Twitch	13 up, 3 down
	buy suburban curtain twitch mugs, tshirts and magnets Suburban Curtain Twitching is the act of standing in wait at the uppermost window in your domicile, and awiting for people to walk past so as you can give them a bad look, and hopefully be able to call the police if they are acting strange or dodgy in any way. This type of activity is normally found in suburban areas, and most commonly of all is practiced by either old people and middle-aged men. *Walking along a street, you look up at a window and notice that two of the curtains are slightly parted, letting someone peek between them. You point at them and tell your friends* "Look at that Suburban Curtain Twitcher, the scum thinks we are up to no good" dodgy watchers curtain twitches the bad look the dissaproving indoors adult glare sct OR 1. Curtain twitcher 31 thumbs up buy curtain twitcher mugs, tshirts and magnets Someone with nothing better to do than to spy on their neighbours for signs of petty wrongdoing. A derogatory term for members of the neighbourhood watch and other such organisations. The term refers to the only sign of their presence - curtains twitching in suburban dwellings as they peek out at whatever might be going on outside. Has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality, except where homosexuality is illegal and thus something else for the curtain-twitchers to report to the authorities. "Letting the deranged curtain twitcher at Snout’s Cottage gather “intelligence” about her neighbours reminds me of East Germany before the Wall came down." informer busybody curtain-twitcher neighbourhood watch spy