Textile Swatches

A visit to Yountville

 

On a recent visit to Napa valley, we stayed at the Bardessono in Yountville- one of three LEED- platinum certified hotels in the U.S. Enjoyed the sleek, contemporary design, paired with the warm attitude of the staff.

Enjoyed learning about the Tillandsia plant- an air plant, that grows without soil, gathering nutrition and moisture from the air- through its leaves.

The Bardessono has a wonderful 'Tillandsia wall'

While strolling in downtown Yountville, we came across this exhibit

How it's made: Clamp Dye Resist fabric.

 

One of our new textiles, 'Colaba' from our soon to be released collection, 'Bombay Glitz' is handmade by a Clamp Dye Resist process, also called Itajime.

It basically involves making folds in the fabric and then using a carved wood shape as a resist. This wood resist needs to be placed on both sides of the folded cloth and then is held together tightly with a clamp.

Here are some images from our process-

Bringing in the muscle to tighten the clamps!

The clamped fabric is then soaked in water to make it more absorptive to the dyeing process.

It is then placed in the dye bath.

After it is removed from dyeing.

And the clamps are removed, but the fabric is still folded...

And voila! the finished product...

And here's a short video documentation. 

What do you think? Do you like the result?

Here's a great book, 'Shibori: The Inventive Art of Japanese Shaped Resist Dyeing' if you have an interest to explore this technique. It's written by my friend and mentor, Yoshiko Wada, and Mary Kellog Rice and Jane J. Barton.

Riedizioni: Luisa Cevese

One of my favorite possessions are bags made by Milan- based, Luisa Cevese- produced using textile waste from industrial textile production. When Ms. Cevese worked as research director for a silk mill in Como, Italy, she was shocked by the quantity of waste generated. Through her company 'Riedizioni', founded in 1994, she collects these scraps, arranges them by hand in a flat composition and encases them in plastic sheets to create a composite material that is durable and visually intriguing. This 'fabric' is then made into accessory products including- bags, placemats, floormats, etc. These can be purchased through the MoMa design store and select retailers and online stores.

She also did a collection of textiles called 'Ply' for textile company Maharam. It features interlocking yarns (jute, chenile & tweed) encased between layers of polyurethane.

ECOPRINT: India Flint

                          

The Ecoprint is a water-based printing process using relatively small amounts of plant material as compared to traditional dye methods.

India Flint, a Melbourne native, who is settled on a small family farm in South Australia, devised this method by applying vegetable color to cloth using small amounts of plant material in a recycled dye-bath. All of the vegetation comes from her farm, while the cloth is woven from the wool of her own flock of sheep.

The result is an eco chic look of luxurious tie-dye and one can notice the imprint and patterns of the leaves and plants used. She creates a collection of clothing and commissioned textiles from her Ecoprints.

To keep an ecological balance, she plants a tree in Hope Springs for each item she sells!