Matriarch is the sixth and final addition to the In Your Skin upholstery collection, a collaboration between HBF Textiles and product and interiors designer Erin Ruby. Aptly named, Matriarch is a twill weave with strong color combinations that evoke wisdom and experience. Visually, the twill blends bold complementary colored yarns to create a subtle melange and moire effect.
The six sensorial textiles in the woven fabric collection celebrate being comfortable in your own skin, inspired by the human experience and the ephemeral nature of life. Tactile with a handmade quality, In Your Skin looks like a residential product, yet has the durability for contract and hospitality environments.ย Each of the fabrics are certified Indoor Advantage Gold (SCS), woven and manufactured in the United States with wool locally sourced from the Midwest, and most patterns are made using post-consumer and/or recycled materials.
In Your Skin marks Rubyโs third collaboration with HBF Textiles. โSometimes contract textiles can tend toward being cold or lifeless for pragmatic reasons, but this collection is so warm and tactile even with its high performance functionality. Itโs full of life โ imbued with optimism and aspiration, which I think will resonate within a space,โ she shared.
The collaboration continues HBF Textilesโ focus on supporting women-owned businesses. โI love promoting talented female designers. It gives me a sense of pride to utilize the HBF Textiles platform to share their story and creative vision to a wider audience,โ says Mary Jo Miller, Vice President of Design and Creative Direction at HBF Textiles. With like-minded mills and collaborators locally and globally, the brand continually explores the possibilities materiality can offer and how it can further connect us with other people and our environment.
To learn more about Matriarch, visit hbftextiles.com.
The new Design En Rogue Architecture collection from S. Harris, part of Fabricut since 1954, translates a story many modern design lovers can appreciate โ that of the Bauhaus school โ into pattern and texture on fabric.
We got a sneak peek at the new designs that will be launching later this spring.
Known as a place as well as a method of teaching in pre-war Germany, the avant-garde Bauhaus brought together beauty and function, mass production and artistic vision, and disciplines from art to architecture. It was something never before seen, but has inspired creatives ever since.
The Design En Rogue Architecture collection unites designs based in organic and industrial art with those of architecture, taking inspiration from the Bauhaus artists who first introduced the world to this study of color, form, shape, and silhouette.
โThis collection is full of highly structured textiles with a feminine essence โ textiles that strike a chord.โ said Jodi Finer, S. Harris Creative Director. โTheyโre movement-centric, statement-oriented, and evoke positivity. Inspired by the notion of moving forward through constant change as the only stabilizing force, we continue to test limits.โ
Youโll find ten patterns in the Design En Rogue Architecture collection: Walker Fields, Isle of Capri, Senicio, Vastu, Off the Cuff, Sheeler Modern, Abstract Lines, Nouvel, Piston Mini, and Usonian.
A modern take on the classic floral print, Walker Fields found its inspiration in the wild landscapes of Walker Canyon and the Temescal Mountains in Lake Elsinore, California. A super soft alpaca fabric provides a subtle background to the brighter embroidery.
On the coast of Italy youโll find Capri and its breathtaking scenery that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. Isle of Capri brings to life the islandโs landscape thatโs scattered with luxury hotels and impressive yachts. It features intricate embroidery on an alpaca-blended wool.
Ahead of his time, artist Paul Klee was a master of color, shape, and form through his use of complicated geometries. Senecio is modeled after Kleeโs 1922 portrait โSenecio,โ alternatively known as โHead of a Man Going Senileโ. Senecio is available in four colorways โ American Blue, Amour, Java, and the aptly named Klee โ that highlight the angles and perspective of the portrait.
The ancient Indian practice of vastu shastra is a way of organizing the home through architecture and planning of the space. The goal is to fill a home with good energy and positivity. Vastu takes its cues from the role of geometry within these principles. Choose from Citron, Natural Black, Mineral, and Pebble colorways.
Taking advantage of a more abstract interpretation of geometry, Off the Cuff showcases repetitive lines and closed, curving shapes. Thereโs a feeling of movement and energy that brings this fabric to life. Available colorways include Abyss, Citrus, and Shipwreck.
The work of modern artist Charles Sheeler depicted the American Heartland, where machinery and factories changed the landscape of work. Sheeler Modern borrows from the complex nature of modern machinery and translates it into a composition of shape, value, color, and repetition.
Abstract Lines combines detailed embroidery with an energetic color and soft, alpaca-blended wool. Flowing lines are embroidered in metallic purple thread that makes both the pattern and bright-yellow background pop.
Featuring a geometric pattern in metallic cut velvet, Nouvel offers texture and depth. Inspired by French architect Jean Nouvel, who is known for using contrasting forms to create visual interest, Nouvel plays with shadow, light, and positive and negative spaces. Nouvel is available in Boysenberry, Honeycomb, Passion Plum, and Tamarindo.
A smaller version of the Piston pattern at S. Harris, Piston Mini features the same rounded, expressive geometric shapes. Made of 100% cotton, this fabric is ideal for use in bedding and draperies. It is available in Pink Sun and Sand Castle.
Usonian looks to Frank Lloyd Wright for its name and design. Mimicking Wrightโs use of minimal details and utopian principles, its boldness is a surprise and a delight. Choose from New World Blue, Red Tribune, and Terracotta.
Great design starts with a story. Born in metropolitan America at the turn of the 19th century, S. Harris continues to celebrate its roots in pattern, color, texture, and innovation. Every collection is designed as a love letter to the natural world, a tribute to history, the romance of travel, and a platform for storytellers. The brandโs pursuit of progress is alive in every fabric, wallcovering, trim, and accessory they make.
Explore Design En Rogue Architecture, launching this spring, and the full catalog of fabrics, trimmings, wallcoverings, and finished home goods at at fabricut.com/sharris.
Labels made with inexpensive photonic fibers could improve clothing recycling, researchers report.
Less than 15% of the 92 million tons of clothing and other textiles discarded annually are recycledโin part because they are so difficult to sort.
โItโs like a barcode thatโs woven directly into the fabric of a garment,โ says Max Shtein, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan and corresponding author of the study in Advanced Materials Technologies.
โWe can customize the photonic properties of the fibers to make them visible to the naked eye, readable only under near-infrared light or any combination.โ
Ordinary tags often donโt make it to the end of a garmentโs lifeโthey may be cut away or washed until illegible, and tagless information can wear off. Recycling could be more effective if a tag was woven into the fabric, invisible until it needs to be read. This is what the new fiber could do.
Recyclers already use near-infrared sorting systems that identify different materials according to their naturally occurring optical signaturesโthe PET plastic in a water bottle, for example, looks different under near-infrared light than the HDPE plastic in a milk jug.
Different fabrics also have different optical signatures, but those signatures are of limited use to recyclers because of the prevalence of blended fabrics, explains lead author Brian Iezzi, a postdoctoral researcher in Shteinโs lab.
โFor a truly circular recycling system to work, itโs important to know the precise composition of a fabricโa cotton recycler doesnโt want to pay for a garment thatโs made of 70% polyester,โ Iezzi says. โNatural optical signatures canโt provide that level of precision, but our photonic fibers can.โ
To develop the technology, the team combined Iezzi and Shteinโs photonic expertiseโusually applied to products like displays, solar cells, and optical filtersโwith the advanced textile capabilities at MITโs Lincoln Lab. The lab worked to incorporate the photonic properties into a process that would be compatible with large-scale production.
They accomplished the task by starting with a preformโa plastic feedstock that comprises dozens of alternating layers. In this case, they used acrylic and polycarbonate. While each individual layer is clear, the combination of two materials bends and refracts light to create optical effects that can look like color. Itโs the same basic phenomenon that gives butterfly wings their shimmer.
The preform is heated and then mechanically pulledโa bit like taffyโinto a hair-thin strand of fiber. While the manufacturing process method differs from the extrusion technique used to make conventional synthetic fibers like polyester, it can produce the same miles-long strands of fiber. Those strands can then be processed with the same equipment already used by textile makers.
By adjusting the mix of materials and the speed at which the preform is pulled, the researchers tuned the fiber to create the desired optical properties and ensure recyclability. While the photonic fiber is more expensive than traditional textiles, the researchers estimate that it will only result in a small increase in the cost of finished goods.
โThe photonic fibers only need to make up a small percentageโas little as 1% of a finished garment,โ Iezzi says. โThat might increase the cost of the finished product by around 25 centsโsimilar to the cost of those use-and-care tags weโre all familiar with.โ
In addition to making recycling easier, the photonic labeling could be used to tell consumers where and how goods are made, and even to verify the authenticity of brand-name products, Shtein says. It could be a way to add important value for customers.
โAs electronic devices like cell phones become more sophisticated, they could potentially have the ability to read this kind of photonic labeling,โ Shtein says. โSo I could imagine a future where woven-in labels are a useful feature for consumers as well as recyclers.โ
The team has applied for patent protection and is evaluating ways to move forward with the commercialization of the technology.
The National Science Foundation and the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering funded the work.
Source: University of Michigan
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