Joyeux Noël

photo St Tyl

18th century antependium from the chapel of the château d'Anet
colorful silk and gold embroidery threads on silk droguet ground fabric

I'm very caught up in the season, but I'll be back soon with some very interesting 

things from exhibits and from here & there. In the meantime, 

I hope you are enjoying your holidays, too!

The dish towel is your kitchen's Tshirt

The dish towel is your kitchen's Tshirt. You can change it every day, it's inexpensive and expressive, not too serious. When you are nuts about fabrics it's great to have a way to indulge your obsession that isn't costly and is useful. That's what I say -- even if the kitchen drawer gets very full. And, when you love something, it's nice to share so I often give dish towels as gifts. I've been looking around....here are some favorites with a linear, sometimes textual theme.

Laurent-Laurent  by Stephanie Raenac

speaks of the dish towel's place in our homes, 
Je suis fier d'être un tissu qui n'existe qu'à travers la force de son travail
I am proud to be a cloth that exists only through the strength of its work
and
dressons notre inferiorité en drapeau
let us raise our inferiority like a flag!

 Vagues by Atypyk 

à la ligne

If you go weak for wovens the Jacquard Francais always has a good selection. 

This blank page is very unusal for their style and it's my favorite. So much potential here!

Kubik by Winkler

Collecting, sharing at Amitiés Tissées

photo: St Tyl

Although Shukuko Voss-Tabe most often curates thematic or contemporary textiles in her Paris gallery, her most recent exhibit, Au coeur des collections textiles, was a little different.  This passionate supporter of textile arts found it fitting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her association, Amitiés Tissées, 

by bringing together a sampling of treasures belonging to the many textile professionals and enthusiasts she has met over the years. Thus, "the textiles on display were not been chosen according to historical or cultural criteria. Each collector was invited to present works to which they are particularly attached and which we have chosen together." A very heartfelt idea for this association whose name means woven friendships. 

photo: St Tyl

One of my favorite pieces was this late Edo period hikeshi-banten (fireman's coat) with a gosho-guruma (imperial cart) design. The quilted layers were wet to protect the wearer at work. This is the inside of the coat; the outside was of simple design as seen on the collar. Once the fire was extiguished, the fire fighters would turn their coats inside out to show their rich tsutsugaki (freehand rice paste resist) decoration in joyful celebration of their accomplishment.

photo: St Tyl

Egasuri cloth: this technique uses paste resist on weft threads to produce patterns

Murakami Kasuri Orimoto studio, Yonago Japon

late 20th century

photo: St Tyl

A Syrian silk with slanting joined gold borders 

photo St Tyl

foreground: woman's kimono with view of the

crepe taffeta lining showing resist dye shade gradation typical of yuzen bokashi-zome

background: Royal Bushoong raffia weaving with applications of velvet raffia

Kuba-Zaire

early 20th century

photo: St Tyl

Collecting at its best is very far from mere acquisitiveness; it may become one of the most humanistic of occupations, seeking to illustrate by the assembling of significant reliques, the march of the human spirit in its quest for beauty...

Arthur Davison Ficke

Big Carré: milleneufcentquatrevingtquatre

photo: milleneufcentquatrevingtquatre

A tandem of designers is behind the name milleneufcentquatrevingtquatre .

Amélie Charroin and Marie Colin Madan, both born in 1984, gave the year of their birth dates to their

silk scarf label. Nothing Orwellian here. Each carré de soie (silk square) tends toward individualism, an artwork with each one of its four corners treated differently.

photo: milleneufcentquatrevingtquatre

photo: milleneufcentquatrevingtquatre

Yi Felt Capes

photo St Tyl

These felt capes were made of yack wool, sheep wool and human hair in

 the beginning of the 20th century Yunnan, China. Several times a day Yi women would brush their thick hair an take what was left in the bristles to their master. The use of long silky hair served as a network for felting with the yack and sheep wool, creating here a particularly dense and almost waterproof felt.

photoSt Tyl

on display at

CHEVEUX CHÉRIS

frivolités et trophées

an exhibit about hair

at the Musée du quai Branly

for more information see:
the Soul of the Felt Cloak and The Nuosu Yi 

Transport textiles: Prague metro

photo St Tyl

photo St Tyl

Suggestions of a magical cityscape.

Emilie Palickova

photo St Tyl
-click on image to enlarge-

The Sun 1924-1925 flax yarn, needle lace

by Emilie Palickova 1892-1973 

permanent collection of the Decorative Arts Museum Prague

The Sun was created for the international Exhibition of decorative Arts Paris 1925.

 Lace-makers from Schönfeld State School Institute of  Domestic Industry in Prague

required 11 000 hours to complete this work.

Notice how the trees reach up to the eye-like sun.

photo St Tyl

detail

source Fédération des dentellières suisses

Emilie Palickova went on to work in other styles in her rich artistic and professorial career,

source Lace Museum Vamberk 

freeing Czech lace from its utilitarian context and creating monumental pieces.

You need to know NeedKnot

photo St Tyl

Many textile enthusiasts today are carpet lovers and a rug, unlike cloth, benefits from a status of being immediately both a textile and an object. It can be fully appreciated and placed without transformation. From there, the move from object to art object is just a question of intention. NeedKnot, is a new label for finely crafted carpets that clearly tie together applied and fine arts.

Art historian, Mariannne Karabelnik, and design expert, Franziska Kessler, are the label’s instigators who brought together 9 contemporary artists and designers for the creation of 9 limited-edition rugs of the highest quality. The rugs were produced by the world renowned specialists of carpet making, Tai Ping and Manufacture Cogolin. A big bang of aesthetic impact was felt in Paris where they were recently on view at the Tai Ping showroom in the Hotel de Livry.

photo St Tyl

Karim Noureldin "Evo "

22 shades of wool

photo St Tyl

All the vigor, texture and saturated color of the best crayons in the box.

photo st Tyl

Erik Bulatov "O"

wool, flax, and  silk 

photo St Tyl

O, so sober. O, so material.

photo St Tyl

Christain Astuquevielle "Ecritures"
tufted berber wool
Manufacture Comoglio

photo St Tyl

Calligraphic tufting.

photo St Tyl

Torsten Neeland "Primary"
wool 

&

Ayse Erkmen "Twist "
wool, silk

photo St Tyl

This bas-relief takes carpet carving to the highest point of  the technique in precision and 3-dimensionality.

photo St Tyl

Alas, my close-up isn't close enough to do justice to the embroidered effect of "Twist!"

photo St Tyl

Alex Hanimann "Betty"

wool silk nylon

The text in textiles.

photo St Tyl

Nic Hess "Monumental Tour"

wool, flax, silk

photo St Tyl

'I'mmm lovin' it' the world over ? !

photo St Tyl

Melli Ink 

"Walking Over Broken Plates"

wool

photo St Tyl

A cathartic carpet without the crashing or the cuts.

photo St Tyl

Gioia Meller Marcovicz

"Palazzo"

 30 shades of silk

photo St Tyl

A sensuously textured dream of the Piazza San Marco, amorously rendered in the softest of silks.

For more information about the artists and Needknot, click!

More from AD/Artcurial : the path of pattern>>>>>

photo St Tyl

For the record: these pictures from the recent AD/Artcurial Voyages imaginaires decoration event.  4 designers created rooms with a very pronounced taste for pattern and texture. I'd shown you Rose Anne de Pampelonne's wonderful curtains from the same event previously.

Here, an amazing rug from Vincent Darré's Dada boudoir (Codimat).

photo St Tyl

Chahan Minassian California salon: textures expanded to the realm of pattern.
Fabrics Bisson Bruneel, Toyine Sellers, Rodgers & Goffigon.

photo St Tyl

The Francois-Joseph Graf African-inspired salon:

a sacred statuette brought into view from beneath indigo cloth wrappings.

photo St Tyl

The light was low, the crowds were thick -
it was hard to do justice to the painstakingly wrought details of this sumptuous decor.

photo St Tyl

Kuba inspired upholstry fabric

photo St Tyl

Mr Graf is an habitué of the venerable silk weavers of Lyon,
Tassinari et Chatel,
partner in design.

photo St Tyl

Surprise!
The fabrics in Jean-Louis Deniot's highly constructed salon also had an African design feel-
but the dominant effect was all together different.

photo St Tyl

It was like walking into a giant finely engineered 3-dimensional puzzle -  advanced level.

photo St Tyl

The pattern impact goes right up to the 5th wall.
Fabrics by Romo and Ido Diffusion..

Art deco tapestries from the Expo internationale 1925

There is still time to see the tapestry exhibit inspired by the 1925 Paris International Exhibit of  Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts. The historic 1925 exhibit is well known for being the penicle of refinement in the applied arts of the day and was the very source of the denomination 'Art Deco' style.

photo: ©Alexia Bonhomme/Cité internationale de la tapisserie et de l'art tissé
 Pierre Lahalle, Bergère mahogony wool and silk

 Works by the famous and fashionable were brought together or designed specially for the spectacular occasion: ensembliers Sue et Mare, Jourdain, Ruhlmann as well as artistes Benedictus, Veber, Anquetin, Cappiello, and Vera all participated. They collaborated with the  Aubusson, Beauvais and, Gobelin workshops creating a great variety of woven productions in screens, wall hangings, rugs, and upholstry.

Today, for the first time since 1925, a large selection of these textiles are together once again at the Cité internationale de la tapisserie at Aubusson.

Rose Anne de Pampelonne: More curtains, please

photo StTyl

Enjoyed recently at the Rose Anne de Pampelonne stand at the AD/Louis Vuitton Designer event at Artcurial, Voyages imaginaires.

photo StTyl

 T'nalak blinds of abaca

design Maricris Floirendo Brias

photo StTyl

Curtains Sol Ice Ray  in cream colored cotton hand embroidered with rice beads linen and double cord 

design Rose Anne de Pampelonne

photo StTyl

curtains Rose Anne de Pampelonne "Shell Arts"

photo StTyl

screens nacre de lune  "Shell arts"