textile design

May Flowers Last summer, a dozen members of my family and I gathered in a Cooper-Hewitt study room to see this undated gouache of chrysanthemums and other botanical studies by Baltimore-born textile designer Sophia L. Crownfield (1862-1929). Sophia L. Crownfield, silk, flowers, textile design
Ballet Brigands Two dangerous looking brigands stand at attention, ready to spring into action; their brightly colored cloaks flap in the wind. The energetic tension of these figures, their exotic appeal and wildly patterned textiles are all signature traits of work by the great costume and stage set designer Léon Bakst. The Jewish Russian artist began designing for the legendary Ballets Russes in 1909, at the age of 43. The dance company amazed audiences with its radical choreography, inventive music and extraordinary sets and costumes. Léon Nikolajewitsch Bakst, Costume design, Ballet Russes, textile design
Pulsating Life Gunta (Aldegunde) Stölzl is known for her weaving and teaching at the Bauhaus. Her compelling textile designs, which play on line and color, appeal as independent artworks in themselves. Gunta (Aldegunde) Stölzl, Bauhaus, textile design, drawing, watercolor, World War I, Germany, Color
New Day Often called "England’s Eamses," Robin and Lucienne Day were a designing couple utterly committed to modernism. The unexpectedness and vitality of their postwar interior furnishings, particularly Lucienne’s pattern designs for textiles, carpets, wallcoverings, and dishware, shaped the look of modern England in the 1950s. Robin Day, Lucienne Day, Festival of Britain, Calyx, Paul Klee, textiles, textile design, england, 20th century, interiors
Collegiate Banners, Textile Design There is no evidence that Tommi Parzinger’s textile design of collegiate banners was ever produced. Nevertheless, the brightly-colored red, blue, yellow and green flags speak to both the designer’s aesthetic and the time period. Throughout the postwar 1950s, as Parzinger’s career in New York took off, a wave of college spirit swept the United States. textile design, 20th century, Tommi Parzinger, New York
A Pliable Plane The granite and glass Ford Foundation Headquarters Building on East 42nd Street in Manhattan was designed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates. Completed in 1967, the building is an icon of International Style Modernism. New York Times critic Ada Louise Huxtable hailed the building, with its sky-lit atrium and lush indoor garden, as “12 stories of subtle splendor.” Sheila Hicks, Warren Platner, Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates, Eero Saarinen, embroidery, Ford Foundation, International Style, modernist architecture, Interior Architecture, interiors, textile design
Object of the Month: Finnish Hop The Lindy Hop was a swing dance phenomenon, but the Finnish Hop? This lively design was produced by the artists’ collective know as The Folly Cove Designers, for its location near Gloucester on the Massachusetts coast. Many Finnish immigrants had settled there, attracted by skilled work in the granite quarries or the boat building industry. At least half a dozen Finnish immigrants or Finnish-Americans were members of the collective, including Eino Natti and Aino Clarke, who produced large numbers of textile designs. textile design, Virginia Demetrios, The Folly Cove Designers, Object of the Month, 20th century, American, dance
Design by the Yard: Textile Printing from 800 to 1956 textiles, textile design, textile printing, fabrics, apparel, fashion
The Wonders of Thread: A Gift of Textiles from the Collection of Elizabeth Gordon textiles, textile design, permanent collection, recent acquisitions, 20th century, Elizabeth Gordon
The Greenleaf Collection: Textile Arts from the 16th to the Early 19th Century textiles, textile design, lace making, lace, needlework, embroidery, fashion, Richard Cranch Greenleaf