textiles
Wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve and jacket front.A set of eighteen remarkable buttons each feature a small painting of groups of people of mixed races in a British West Indies island, then called Dominica, now Haiti and Santo Domingo. The artist, subjects and traditional history all collide to make the buttons an extraordinary combination of artistic significance, social history, and inventive design use. buttons, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haiti, Brunias, West Indies, jacket, scenes, landscapes, costume, textiles, hats |
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RhythmRhythm (1972) is like a visual representation of the movement of sound—the pulsation of music or a heartbeat on an electrocardiogram. In fact, it is the designers’ graphic interpretation of a meandering stream, inspired by the Indiana woodland. This feeling of movement is a product of the design concept promoted by Elenhank Designers, Inc. Elenhank, screenprint, curtain, Indiana, textiles |
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Wrapped upPojagi is a Korean ceremonial wrapping cloth used to cover gifts, protect sacred writings, hold food or carry objects in everyday life. The primary purpose of a pojagi is to respect an object and present the recipient with blessing and good will. Pojagi is still used in contemporary Korean society but it became a cultural icon in pre-modern Korea during the Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910). Pojagi, textiles, silk, Korea, International Quilt Study Center & Museum |
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New DayOften 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 |
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Andean woman’s mantleThis beautiful cloth is a woman’s shoulder mantle, called a lliclla in the Quechua language of the Inca Empire, and was made during the colonial period of Peru. A perfect blend of the cross-cultural elements of the 16th- and 17th-century era of global trade, the Chinese silk and Spanish silver threads are woven with Inca techniques and design motifs. textiles, woven, weaving, thread, Peru, Inca, Andes |
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Alvin Lustig’s IncantationAlthough his career was tragically short, Alvin Lustig was among America’s most influential mid-century graphic designers. Textiles like Incantation (1947) reflect a rich multidisciplinary practice that encompassed furniture, graphics, architecture, and animation. After studying design and printing at Los Angeles Junior College, Lustig started creating geometric patterns in the medium of letterpress in the early 1930s. Alvin Lustig, Laverne Originals, Paul Klee, Joan Miro, Elaine Lustig Cohen, textiles |
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CrocodileJapanese textile designer, Junichi Arai (b.1932), said that the crucial problem for contemporary textile makers is choosing and blending the myriad of available materials, tools, and technologies. He explains that history should be the maker’s guide, as there have been passionate efforts dedicated to making better fibers, textiles, and garments. Junichi Arai, Japan, textiles, melt-off |
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AbacusAmong the most influential books in the history of American graphic design is Paul Rand’s Thoughts on Design, published in 1947. Covering the jacket of this ground-breaking manifesto of modernist theory and practice is a series of oblong dots arranged in uneven rows, rendered in translucent shades of gray. The image is based on a photogram, made by exposing a wood-and-wire abacus to a sheet of photographic paper. At once abstract and recognizable, the photogram is a direct imprint of a physical object. textiles, graphic design, abacus, Paul Rand, photogram, L. Anton Maix |
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Enhancing the ViewWeaver and designer Dorothy Liebes owed much of her success to her ability to create textiles that complemented and enhanced mid-century modern architecture. Using windows to bring the outside in was an integral part of the period's new design for living. Multiple large windows became a standard feature in new homes, often replacing fireplaces as the focal point of the main room. Dorothy Liebes, weaving, modern architecture, window treatments, interiors, textiles |
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Beautiful LadiesAdmirers of this exquisite tapestry fragment woven in medieval Spain fondly refer to it as "the Drinking Ladies"—an apt description for the two pairs of beautifully-robed women who lift their cups and bottle in salutation. The Drinking Ladies communicates the pleasures of female companionship amid the sumptuous environment of the wealthier classes. This was the time when the Alhambra was in its greatest splendor, with every surface of the royal residence covered in elaborate decoration. tapestry, slit tapestry, Anni Albers, textiles, weaving, spain, Alhambra, Bauhaus |
