KnollTextiles Collaborates with Irma Boom, Renowned Book Designer

Septmeber 20, 2013

NEW YORK, New York, September 20, 2013 – KnollTextiles is pleased to announce the introduction of Stripes, a collection of upholstery, drapery and wallcovering by renowned Dutch graphic and book designer Irma Boom, in collaboration with the KnollTextiles design team. Continuing in KnollTextiles’ tradition of working with the world’s best graphic design talent, creative director Dorothy Cosonas approached Boom in 2012 to design a collection based on two of her books of stripes: Colour (Kleur) Based on Art, 2005 and Colour Based on Nature, 2012.

Born in the Netherlands in 1960, Boom has won international acclaim for her book designs. The youngest ever laureate to receive the prestigious Gutenberg prize for her complete body of work, she has 50 books in the permanent collection at MoMA and has been the recipient of numerous other awards. Her most famous title was a 100th anniversary book designed for the Dutch conglomerate SHV which spanned 2,136 pages with no page numbers or index. Her clients include the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Ferrari, Vitra, The United Nations, OMA/Rem Koolhaas, and Chanel. The Bard Graduate Center also commissioned her to design the 2011 catalog Knoll Textiles: 1945-2010, published in conjunction with their exhibition on the company.

In her book Colour (Kleur) Based on Art, Boom explored the worlds of art by analyzing and translating eighty famous works of art from five centuries. In Color Based on Nature, Boom created a collection of eighty color diagrams derived from UNESCO nature sites in every continent. KnollTextiles’ Stripes consists of six designs grounded in color references from the two books, with some of the patterns directly related to specific stripe patterns and all named after diagrams and illustrations in the books. Cosonas also designed an additional fabric, called Honour, which is her tribute to Boom’s work, mixing together 36 different stripe patterns into a spectacular patchwork.

Turner, a digitally printed polyurethane upholstery fabric, is a direct interpretation of patterns on pages 150/151 in the book Colour (Kleur) itself inspired by master paintings, The Kitchen Maid (Vermeer, 1658) and The Family of Philip IV (Velasquez, 1956-57). With Turner, Cosonas has achieved a kind of watercolor effect featuring a wide variety of distinct hues in each of the five colorways, giving the pattern a vibrancy and color variety that you don’t usually see with this material. Turner is composed of 62% polyurethane, 30% rayon and 8% polyester.

Kinabalu is an allover texture that reads as a wide stripe from afar. With a soft, inviting hand, this fabric is created with a cotton knitted yarn and rayon chenille. It is made of 75/25% cotton/rayon in five colors.

Utrillo, an upholstery fabric, uses a delicate stich effect to reference the perforation element that Boom uses throughout her books. This small scale vertical stripe carefully balances color and pattern in each of the six colorways. It is made of 91% wool and 9% nylon.

Sherman explores a balance of color on a large scale. This striped graphic woven pattern creates scale and impact within a space. The saturation of color in Sherman is directly inspired by the designer’s original work. It is made of 33%acrylic, 8% alpaca, 30% cotton 8% nylon and 21% wool and comes in 5 colors.

Isole, both ethereal and dramatic, uses an innovative digital printing technique on a lightweight tulle groundcloth. This multi-color stripe for drapery use was directly inspired by the striking color palettes found throughout Boom’s two stripe books. Made of 100% FR polyester in five colorways, this 57”wide fabric has a 13” repeat.

Peninsula, a large scale vertically striped wallcovering, uses a traditional four-color printing process. Similar to Utrillo, Peninsula references Boom’s textural perforations with a light broken line throughout the pattern. Made of 70% vinyl (face) with 30% recycled polyester (backing) this Type II wallcovering has a 52” horizontal and 22.25 vertical repeat. Five colorways are offered.

Designed by KnollTextiles, Honour is inspired by Irma Boom’s work. Here, Dorothy Cosonas has chosen 36 different striped patterns pieced together in a patchwork velvet fabricated using old world looms. Fourteen different yarn tones are combined in the face of this single colorway, a cut and loop velvet construction. It is made of 94% cotton 6% polyester and has a 25 5/8” vertical and 26 1/8 in. horizontal repeat.

About KnollTextiles
KnollTextiles is currently under the creative direction of Dorothy Cosonas who combines clean, clear color with modern, elegant patterns and textures. Influenced by a passion for fine art and international fashion, Cosonas is the recipient of numerous awards, including Gold at Best of NeoCon. Her work was a major part of KnollTextiles 2011 retrospective exhibition at the Bard Graduate Center and has been accepted into the permanent collection of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Founded by Florence Knoll in 1947, KnollTextiles is a division of Knoll, Inc., and maintains a marketing and design studio at 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. Intended for commercial application and cross over residential use, the KnollTextiles collection is available for purchase on the website, www.knolltextiles.com. Visit us on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/KnollTextiles/205740295716. For additional distribution and customer information, call 866-565-KTKT.

Press:
Andrea Loukin
718-230-8032
[email protected]