TEXTILES.ORG
Textiles enhance public and private spaces
October 1st, 2023
The great urban critic Jane Jacobs—known for her highly influential and transformative 1961 book The Death and Life of Great American Cities—noted that there are many repeatable factors that can determine the success of public spaces, not the least being that any neighborhood could be deemed welcoming (hence successful and alive) if it includes aspects […]
Awnings encourage natural light and offer shade protection
June 1st, 2023
Natural light can help reduce energy usage in our buildings. This is a lesson known for centuries but seemingly forgotten after the 1940s with postwar technological advances in air conditioning (coupled with the Modernist design movement that declared “ornament is a crime”). These stripped-down building facades spoke volumes about a new era of high-tech materials […]
Working with architects
January 1st, 2018
Key to the success of a productive partnership: exploration, preparation, communication and education, with a firm grasp of details and a final vision for the project. Fabrics and architecture have been partners for millennia and have worked together to create some of the most iconic, useful and beautiful structures in the world—from traditional Mongolian yurts […]
Fabric installation at Renwick Gallery plays with perceptions
December 1st, 2017
Since the 17th century (with the debut of the French École des Beaux-Arts), drawing has been the first basic skill taught to architects. This still holds true, despite the advent of computer aided drafting (CAD) and sophisticated rendering software. And today there is a segment of the architecture community rediscovering and embracing the messy hand-drawn […]