Some time ago I was one of 77 artists selected from around the world to design a tie for a project called Cultural Ties. The ties were produced in editions of 250 by specialist manufacturers near Italy's Lake Como.

The offer afforded a chance to undertake another language painting, and to simultaneously proclaim, "A TIE IS CULTURE," while pondering, "IS CULTURE A TIE?"

This is not the first language picture to appear on neckware. Several years ago the Royal Academy produced several color variants of a stencil work.

Those, while more colorful, did not bear an embroidered signature on the back as this one does.