Lately my time has been spent working on this gloriously colorful exhibition which is opening next week at Bard Graduate Center. Knoll Textiles: 1945-2010 will showcase an amazing array of textiles, wallcoverings and furniture produced by Knoll over the past 65 years.
Florence Knoll with her husband Hans
My favorites in the exhibition include Eszter Haraszty’s madcap color-combinations, particularly in her wovens, although most will recognize her popular print, Fibra, which is an abstracted look at heddles on a loom.
Fibra by Hungarian textile designer Eszter Haraszty
I also really enjoyed seeing up close Jhane Barnes’ textiles, although doing weave structure analysis on her weavings made me go cross-eyed! (Most likely since she was one of many weavers in the 1980s who were coding patterns into Ataris and then attaching them to their looms!!) Other favorite pieces of mine include those by Suzanne Tick (who is probably one of the most interesting weavers working today) and the new production runs by guest designers, like Rodarte.
BGC has put together an amazing public education program schedule to accompany the exhibition, including a panel on the 19th called “Working Fabric: Innovation in Design at Knoll Textiles” moderated by design curator Brooke Hodge and featuring Knoll designers Dorothy Cosonas and Jhane Barnes and a conversation called “Material Thinking” on May 25th between Cooper-Hewitt curator Matilda McQuaid and Knoll designers Suzanne Tick and Hazel Siegel.
