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Spotlight::Our American Textile Heritage~Churchill Weavers

December 21, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Handmade, Inspiration & Education, Textiles & Pattern 1 Comment

Today I’d like to spotlight a part of Our American Textile heritage that I was lucky to be a part of in my early career. Sadly, Churchill Weavers is no longer in business but what I share here illustrates an overview of their generous contribution to the historic roots of textiles and manufacturing in America.

Advertisement showing the front exterior of the Churchill Weavers loomhouse.

Our American Textile heritage Before weaving begins, a warp or vertical the threads of the loom must be made. Weft threads are woven through the warp threads using the loom and shuttle. ca. 1928

Churchill Weaver’s stereocard advertisement, style 15319R.

I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to work for some US textile manufacturing facilities my career, some of which are no longer in existence and some that no longer manufacture in the US.  Starting right out of college I landed a job at one of the oldest and finest Hand weaving mills in the US.  I’m speaking of the late Churchill Weavers of Berea, KY.  Once so valued for their products that the US military spared wool rations so they could weave woolen undergarments for our military men.  It greatly depresses me to see their beautifully woven products now being sold as “rare” on Ebay!  There were a number of factors that went into the final outcome of Churchill’s doors being closed forever but they didn’t go down without a long battle.  Historical textiles from their archives were salvaged and donated to the Kentucky Historical Society.  They have compiled quite an amazing online Archive, accessible to anyone!

Churchill Weaver’s stereocard advertisement, style 15451.

Woven Panel made by Churchill Weavers and Designed by Gerhardt Knodel ca. 1978

One of the valuable lessons I learned working at Churchill is that there is no substitution for learning about business and technical data at a facility that manufactures rather than being miles and oceans away from the products you design.  If you’d like more information on the fascinating history of Churchill, please check out this blog.  A limited selection of baby blankets with original Churchill designs are available here.  I’m proud to share below a few of the items I had a part in designing!

                           Cotton Blanket with Chenille ribbing

Cotton “Basketweave” baby blanket with satin ribbon trim.

Luxurious Golden Wheat Chenille thick and thin throw blanket

I knew when I graduated from college in 1998 with a degree in Fibers (textile design) that it would not be an easy career choice.  I headed ambitiously into the profession knowing that the beginning of the end (as I had come to understand it) was already in sight.  Shortly after graduating I started seeing the full effects of the “global” market’s influence (and NAFTA) on the textile industry.  First, the mills began to run shorter shifts, sell off machinery and start to outsource manufacturing to foreign mills.  Within the first 5 years of my career, I had gone from designing for high-end luxury goods manufactured in the USA to designing mass produced goods being imported.  I had a hard time with the ethics of this but I needed to stay employed and by then I was beginning to see my friends design jobs being eliminated as their companies not only shut down manufacturing facilities but started to hire

First, the mills began to run shorter shifts, sell off machinery and start to outsource manufacturing to foreign mills.  Within the first 5 years of my career, I had gone from designing for high-end luxury goods manufactured in the USA to designing mass produced goods being imported.  I had a hard time with the ethics of this but I needed to stay employed and by then I was beginning to see my friends design jobs being eliminated as their companies not only shut down manufacturing facilities but started to hire off-site designers and design studios in other countries. I started to see another trend that was quite maddening.  Before I say more this observation is not singularly in regards to the textile industry.

I started to see another trend that was quite maddening.  Before I say more, this observation is not singularly in regards to the textile industry.  It is the misinformed “American way” to throw something way when it’s broken (or just worn out)! So often we don’t bother trying to fix it because it seems far easier and cheaper to just start all over.  This is maddening!  Can’t we honor those who have invested so much time and energy to make something beautiful and special?

I  am speaking directly about both historic companies and industries disappearing as well as individual makers. We often loose the wisdom of the old ways completely and then find a renewed interest once the individuals who carry this wisdom are all but gone. I will say that the first part of my career in textiles was dedicated to spending as much time around manufacturing and these “wisdom keepers” as possible. I also agree that sometimes new life needs to be blown in but there is often so much we can learn from these establishments.

It was about this time (early 21st cent-Y2K-current) I really became aware of the “Indy craft”-now also called the Makers movement.  I started seeing all sorts of crafters, makers and designers pop up on the www.  In response to this, I also saw a few new kinds of manufacturing facilities in the US who were responding to the needs of these independent makers.  I’m speaking of textile print on demand (such as Spoonflower and others) and weaving mills in particular but I’m sure there are lots of other examples by now.  This is encouraging to me on the one hand but also frustrating because we have already lost many older manufacturers.  I often think that if the generation gap had found a way to communicate with one another some very unique solutions could have come about and kept some companies afloat. 

There are some companies in the industry who did respond in this manner and I see them now as established and valued but also aware of new and upcoming trends.  My request to you is this; if you are a maker, manufacturer, lover of all things handmade and you are working in the US please consider the source of your purchase and support our US heritage of manufacturing. We can’t bring back these historic and iconic facilities but we can learn so much from them by informing ourselves and making the most of our purchases now and in the future.

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Modern Women in Design

August 24, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Museums & Galleries, Textiles & Pattern Leave a Comment

One of the most inspiring things I have seen this summer (and there have been quite a few!) is the current exhibit at the Textile Museum.  It is all about mid-century modern women in design and boy are there some fabulous and fun textiles on exhibit!    I tend to be a rule breaker (in some areas of my life only) and when it comes to taking photo’s in museums…I often break the rules.  I do it so I can share snippets with others who I know may not be able to experience the same thing in person.  So enjoy the photo’s I risked my visit to take, luckily that day the security guard seemed more interested in talking on the phone than observing the museum goers.modern women in design

The show is called “Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain” and it ends on September 12, so if you get a chance you may want to make a trip to see it.  The show features a majority of designs by British designer Lucienne Day and two of  her contemporaries: Jacqueline Groag and Marian Mahler.  The work above and below is from Lucienne Day.  Aren’t they just incredibly fresh and fun and honest?  That is what I love about this era of work. The designs are not pretentious, over thought or trend driven.

This is the type of work I love to share because it’s different and fun and the love that the designer put into the work shines through.  
Lucienne Day’s husband (Robin) was also a furniture designer.  I’m certain this contributed to her overall sensibility about good design for home interiors.  Below are some great tea towels she designed.Her are a few shots of the overall show.  All these ladies were fabulous designers who’s designs have stood the test of time.  I especially enjoyed the work of Lucienne Day and was so glad to get to see this show in person.  Save

A Custom Design is Born

August 13, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Handmade, Textiles & Pattern Leave a Comment

I thought it might be interesting to show the process of how a custom design is born! This is a recent project I worked on and was super fun because my clients; Normans Farm Market; are energetic, young, entrepreneurs who run several farm stands supplying the DC area with fresh produce from many small farms within about a 100 mile radius of DC.  They had a long time friend of theirs, Anne, create the conceptual sketch for their new season re-usable shopping bags and tee shirts.  When I heard they were going to hire a graphic designer to convert Anne’s art I told them I could do it for them!  Here is what we started with, Anne came over and we spent a couple hours together as she was curious to see how a pencil drawing becomes a screen print design.  a custom design is bornNext I worked on “cleaning up” this original piece of art.  I work in Photoshop and an industry program called Texcelle for all my work.  I really want to learn Illustrator, that’s next on my list.  So after I got this basically into a two tone image with the right high resolution and file formats (this will differ based upon your output type and end product) I presented it to the client and it looked something like this.  From here I went back and forth with the Normans several more times to revise text, placement and other elements within the design.  The final design is below and it turned out great, they were happy and that’s the most important aspect of working with a client on a custom design.  I have to say that working on custom design is one of my favorite ways to work.  I love working with people to take a creative idea and make it a real product.  The final product is always a little thrilling to see once completed!  It’s is especially great when you get to work on a project that incorporates something your passionate about, in this case Local Food and it’s even better when your clients are such fun to work with.  Thanks John, Eris and Jeff!

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