wallcoverings, floorcovering and textiles

this is my favorite group of products at ICFF, both because i work in this field and because i love looking at patterns, feeling textiles, seeing beautiful textures and innovative developments in this field.

Anne Kyyro Quinn's textiles cross the boundaries between floorcovering, wallcovering and the more traditional textile functions. these works are textural, sculptural and bold. they beg to be touched, walked on or leaned against.

Lawrence of La Brea is one of the floorcovering exhibitors that stood out by crossing the boundary from floor to wall with their patchwork rugs made from denim and other textiles.

wall covering was HUGE at this show. there were several exhibitors last year with wallpaper but the scene has literally exploded in the past year. i remember growing up with wall covering and seeing wall covering in almost every home. then in the 80's & 90's it almost disappeared from the market. right now what is being shown is bold patterns, floral, damasks, and printed textures in vibrant colors or graphic black and white. Miss Print~London lines feature simple retro graphics including florals and small scale organic geometrics that are whimsical and cheerful.

British designer Tracy Kendall Jackson uses materials such as sequins, strips of paper, puzzle pieces, larger than life scale florals and other bold prints. the area of texture in wallcoverins is one that is still open to a lot of new possibilities.

Flavor Paper again exhibited with a large booth featuring pop art like images which were geometric, whimsical and more sophisticated in bright colors and metallic finishes.

Birthday Resolution-More Museums

Instead of just making New Years resolutions I decided I would make one resolution each year on my birthday. So yesterday being my birthday I do hereby pledge to see one or two museums every month for the next year! I'll also post more info on these visits here on my blog.
I spent my birthday evening attending a wonderful lecture at the Textile museum with Gerhart Knodel as the speaker. It was so inspiring listening to him talk about his tenor as an educator at Cranbrook academy. The topic was "Hot House: Expanding the field of fibers at Cranbrook 1970-2007"
My original interest in going to this lecture was that two of my beloved college professors went to Cranbrook and studied under Gerhard Knodel. I was totally blown away by the many notable fiber artists alumni who are so successful in the field of Fibers today. Among them are, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, Joan Livingstone, Wesley Mancini, Fuyuko Matsubara, Piper Shepard, Chad Alice Hagen, Nick Cave, & Bhakti Ziek to name a few. Please see the exhibition website for works by these artist and links to their sites. The tremendous success of these individuals says so much about the quality of education at Cranbrook and the talent of Gerhart Knodel. These individuals have and continue to pioneer the field of fiber arts and are creating contemporary works of art that break the boundaries between art and craft. The attention to detail, exquisite quality, insightful commentary on society and conceptual/experimental approach of these artists is truly inspiring!

Textiles of Klimt's Vienna

Last PM I attended a wonderful lecture (the first in a series of 6) at The Textile Museum in DC. The lecture topic was "Textiles of Klimt's Vienna" and there is currently a corresponding exhibit of textiles at the Museum. The lecture was given by Angela Volker of the Austrian Museum of Applied Arts. It was spectacular. Even with a degree in textiles I must admit I didn't know much about this era's textiles. I bought her book on the subject titled "Textiles of the Wiener Werkstatte". The book does a fabulous job of showing designs and their end applications (either carpets, upholstery or fashion fabrics).


I was struck by how innovative this period was in textiles as well as other applied arts. These artists wanted to break away from the traditional and popular art/style of the period. The succedded in creating quite a unique asthetic of work which was well received by a rather small but supportive group in society. The best way I can describe this group is as a guild or workshop of artists and apprentices. It evolved over the years to be more of a corporation with a specific "brand identity". They were relatively successful but never reached main stream with their works and this was not their intent. There was also the usual controversy with the artists that founded the group as they grew and evolved their mission became "more mainstream". But they continued to put out unique and identifiable work under their own rights. I'm amazed at how things change but never change, a few artists produced designs for them under their own names but the majority of the designs were done by unknown artists. I was reminded of Martha Stewart as I sat listening to this lecture, because of her far reaching products (from utensils to houses) and her strong corporate identity and her ability to reach markets at different price points. I'm sure that their is not a direct parallel but there are some resemblances to today's market place even though MSL has become available and acceptable to the masses. The Wiener Werkstatte came to a rather abrupt end (in the 30's) as the market for their works seemed to have exhaused itself or evolved into something different but history has been left with a well documented period of works wich leave much to be studied and learned from.