Peel Cottage Window

Designed for Peel Cottage in 1996, this window draws on the fleur de lys motif from the Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris. The window developed out of Clarke’s urealised 1997 designs for Heiliggeist-Kirche in Heidelberg, taking inspiration from the idea of music sampling.

In 2020, Clarke explained:

‘Years ago, Malcolm McLaren explained to me what sampling was and how it worked. I appropriated that idea and quite simply ‘lifted’ the fleur de lys ornament from Sainte-Chapelle. The only thing that tells you is that it is not original but is in fact a Modern work is the way that it is floated on a parchment field of colour, a shameless appropriation and collage.’