Folly Cove Designers was a collective of designers established by Virginia Lee Burton (1909-1968). She is known in the US as a writer and illustrator of children’s books such as ‘Choo Choo’ (1935) and ‘Katy and the Big Snow’ (1943) but was also a mother and designer. In 1938 Demetrios tutored her neighbour Aino Clark in design, receiving music lessons for her sons in exchange. Other neighbours joined and the classes were formalised into a design course. Once completed the participants produced block printed goods for sale as a cooperative. The subject matter of these products reflect their lives in rural New England.

‘Reducing’ depicts a female figure carrying out exercise routines below a measuring tape border. The figure (always in the same outfit) is repeated four times across the width of the mat at different stages of the exercise in mid-motion. Four printing blocks have been used, each depicting a different exercise, arranged in horizontal bands. In each exercise, the figure loses a little weight and in the bottom band appears very trim. This humorous representation of the trials of conforming to an idealised body shape points to the changing politics of the portrayal of and discourse around body image.

A mat of the same design and colourway is in the collection of the Cape Ann Museum. Close inspection reveals a number of slight differences on the tape measure and the figure’s skirt. As CAM’s version has additional negative elements (areas carved out of the block), it can be deduced that the mat proposed for acquisition is an earlier version. The changes were perhaps made to resolve damage to the block or to refine the design.