Millmosaic was introduced in 1960, while Alexander Girard was head of the Textile Division at Herman Miller.[1] His work derived from a wide range of sources such as ancient and folk art, however the design for Millmosaic was most likely inspired by his interest in contemporary art, or more specifically, Op Art. The geometry of...

The diversity of styles that characterizes Larsen’s range is the result of his insatiable intellectual curiosity about the world’s textile traditions. He wrote extensively about resist-dye techniques in The Dyer’s Art: Ikat, Batik, Plangi, including fold-dying, in which pleating or folding are combined with resists like clamping or binding to create complex geometric patterns with...

Knoll introduced Cato in 1961 and it has been in continuous production ever since, making it one of the most successful designs the company ever produced. It was designed and woven by Paul Maute, a German designer/weaver whose contributions to Knoll Textiles were both influential and lasting. In 1927, Maute established his weaving workshop in...

Millions of Colors, a new upholstery fabric by Danish artist Grethe Sørensen for Wolf Gordon, arose from her tapestry series of the same name. Using a basic color palette of red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, black and white theads, Sørensen used a digitally controlled loom to translate the subtle modulations of color seen in...

This funky little chartreuse sample seems perfectly suited for an American mid-century interior. Woven by Helen Kroll Kramer between 1930-1958, it is composed of wool and rayon with contrasting bands of lime and pea green. Kramer is renowned as a successful 20th century artist and purveyor of handwoven textiles for upholstery and drapery. With her...

Suzanne Tick is one of the most important American textile designers of her generation. She has always chosen to explore new technologies and fibers in her work while continuing to manipulate existing weaving techniques in innovative ways to produce highly engineered interior textiles. Her creative work in industrial fabrics is balanced by her handwoven and...

Jack Lenor Larsen, one of the most influential textile designers of the 20th century, is noted for his pioneering use of innovative methods and materials. Bojangles, designed for the 1967 collection The Butterflies, is made from Caprolan stretch nylon designed to conform to the rounded, organic shapes of 1960’s furniture. Larsen believed that pattern should...

From the Object of the Day archives, Landis II (1973) designed by Richard Landis in collaboration with Jack Lenor Larsen and now in the museum's permanent collection.

In addition to studying traditional textiles around the world, Jack Lenor Larsen firmly believed in investing in the future, and in devoting resources to developing new textile technologies. He frequently use-tested his latest fabrics in his own home. “Every year at my Gramercy Park apartment I redesigned the interior as a means of experimenting with...