for people who love textiles
As an interiors person I don’t pay much attention to fabrics in the context of women’s fashion but this photo of clothing designer Zandra Rhodes is pretty irresistible! Such unabashed enjoyment of lavish color and pattern! Click here for the 8/16/07 New York Times article from which it came.
A nice comment from the writer of deuxfrontieres (an American living in Paris) appeared posted to my “about” page this morning — a good way to start a hectic week and a reminder that I’ve been lax in posting an email address for fibercopia. So, here it is: fibercopia@gmail.com! (Also now included on my About page.) Exploring deuxfrontieres leads to some great sites, one of which is Timorous Beasties. In reading the biography of their company and partnership I feel I’m discovering the source of what’s since exploded into many derivatives of the edgy damask, the reinvented toile, etc. But I really appreciate their marriage of old and new and their social/political approach to design. Above, their black lace “Thistle”. It’s beautiful but also a little bit Goth — and could definitely add a lot of drama to a room.
I’m still trying to get all the important early 20th century textile designers added and arranged correctly in my head, so here’s a new one for my visual / mental database: Sonia Delaunay. Born in 1885, she was an abstract painter, textile and set designer who moved within an elite circle of artists that included her husband Robert Delaunay, Kandinsky, Mondrian, etc. Click here for a brief biography.
New goodies from the trove of references that is each issue of The World of Interiors; in tonight’s installment: Emery & Cie. While I find their website a bit hard to navigate (there seem to be lots of unseen layers that only multiple / different clicks lead you to — rather maze-like) they have some beautiful product images, not to mention products. In particular their bedding is very enticing. Both Old World and contemporary in feel – and very opulent.
My lag in posts says it all: I fell deep into the holiday well! But now that it’s officially 2008 I’m actually quite anxious to get back to the land of textile inspiration (and out of my sugar-laced stupor). The two fabrics above are so bright and buoyant that finding them for my first post of the year feels quite auspicious. The stripe is by Alexander Girard, a textile designer who worked at Herman Miller during the 1950′s, ’60′s and ’70′s. (See the February 08 issue of Dwell magazine for an article about him and/or visit Maharam to find Girard designs still being produced.) I found the botanical print through one of my random searches — it’s been attributed to Kaffe Fassett (another unfamiliar name). Born in San Francisco, he’s lived in England since the early 1960′s and in 1988 became the first living textile designer to be given a solo show at the Victoria & Albert Museum. (This according to Wikipedia.) The fabric is beautiful — and goes quite well with the Girard.
With Christmas three weeks away I’ve been looking around for gift ideas on-line and visiting museum gift shops, etc. The Cooper-Hewitt Museum store is selling these ribbons by Laura Foster Nicholson — a name that quickly led me to a whole trove of wonderful ribbons and some great ribbon-related gift ideas (although, for me at least, too late to incorporate into any gifting plans for this year). In any case, Laura’s website and blog is great and has given me a renewed itch for beautiful ribbons, a sewing machine and some free time! Her suzani-inspired ribbons are especially drool-inducing. In San Francisco we’re lucky to have The Ribbonerie — a great ribbon store, although I don’t know if they sell Laura’s designs.
Update, 1/03/09: check out these additional links to Nicholson:
Above is a detail image of a piece by Elisa Markes-Young titled “The Strange Quiet of Things Misplaced”. In its entirety the work definitely does evoke the sense that memory is part of a mental landscape not entirely inhabited — or inhabitable. Click here for Young’s own description and to see the overall shot. It’s made of silk, wool, cotton and linen thread on Belgian linen and is approximately 43″ square.
I’ve been feasting on the “pattern love” section of the Dear Ada blog this evening and am really happy to be introduced to so many new (to me at least -) textile designers and companies. One I especially love: Kim Parker textiles. Here are two pillows from her line. Top is “Frida’s Garden” and below that is “Irving Place”. The designs are hand embroidered and 100% wool.
I came upon a good (if short) article about Jack Lenor Larsen (of Larsen Fabrics) today on the New York Magazine website. I’m familiar with the Larsen brand but fabrics are always more meaningful when there’s a personal story behind them — and his is quite epic! I also really like the images (above) that are included with the article: the textile hanging behind Mr. Larsen is beautiful, but not described (is it some kind of bark cloth?). And his apartment looks like an oasis of calm. Below is one of his batiks, “Water Lilies” from 1964.
I’m inspired by the graphic quality and stylistic whimsy of the above headboard fabric, featured in Elle Decor’s November 2007 issue article “Two For the Road” about Steven Volpe and Roth Martin’s Paris apartment (pg. 196). The fabric is described as a vintage with Picasso designs. Bergamo has large scale horse pattern that’s a bit like this – don’t have an image handy – but other than that I haven’t seen anything similar in the showrooms. Searching “Picasso” and “fabric” on-line I found the above really cool image from a lot sold at auction through Treadway Toomey Galleries back in September 06. And looking on EBay there’s a very curious thing available at the moment – final photo – of yardage purchased at Cafe Picasso (not sure what this is) in Coconut Grove Miami two decades ago. It’s hard to tell here but the fabric actually has little grid lines dividing up the faces into squares that are approximately 17″. The seller is selling each square individually for $15. Would make great pillows. (Search picasso and fabric and you should find it.)
