In Houston that is…no fat pigs just fat quarters! I was amazed by the fair number of booths, fabric collections and quilts that seemed to be influenced by storybook type themes. This is something I got to thinking quite a bit about as I walked isles and isles and booth after booth of fabrics and quilts/projects that represented a certain element of fiction. Why is that? I have been a textile designer for over 15 years now and I’ve never seen this trend quite so strong…even though I was a “Quilt Market Virgin” attendee. Even this label implies a certain story like quality. After analyzing this trend and thinking it through I’ve come to my own conclusion and please let me know if you agree!
Over the past 5+ yrs there have been a lot of designers of various backgrounds that lost jobs or were under employed, right? It sucks but as one door closes, another opens…Over this same period I’ve also seen a trend of graphic designers and illustrator’s gravitating, migrating or just down right FLOCKING to surface design of all sorts. So my personal theory is that the trend we are seeing now of collections and designs being very illustrative is based heavily upon the influence of said Illustrators and Graphic designers upon the textile market. Am I crazy? Yes there is also a trend overall for companies and brands to identify with their customers through storytelling so I think that is also driving the trend. Okay, enough about what I think about why this particular trend is so strong…let’s get to pictures of some of the booths that Illustrate this trend…some of my fav’s or one’s that just really caught my eye!
Green Bee Designs Booth
And there is a LOT of eye candy here…Enjoy!
Iza Pearl (Windham)
Charlie Harper Designs (Birch Fabrics)
Downton Abbey (Andover)
Downton Abbey (Andover)
Heather Bailey
I’m not going to hyperlink each booth because a lot of them have the signs in them but if you want to know more specifically about any of these please shoot me a message or comment below.
Rapture by Pat Bravo (Art Gallery)
Dowry by Anna Maria Horner (FreeSpirit)
Do you agree now that you have seen some of the booth designs? There were literally stories created for some of these collections like Rapture and in other cases collections followed stories, like Downton Abbey and Charlie Harper…in other cases the stories were implied like with Dowry and Safari Moon etc. I like this trend very much, but I do think it has to be done tastefully and sometimes it can be overdone. Very imaginative, very story driven, very Inspiring! I’ll be back with more quilt market inspiration next week.