I’m Heather K Powers and I’m so glad you decided to visit. My work as an organizer is informed by and deeply rooted in my creative background. My passion for interiors and textiles led me to study as a fiber artist and textile designer at SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design). During this time I fell in love with weaving because of and in spite of the fact that it requires both planning and a willingness to be spontaneous. My analytic and intuitive process has given me a unique and balanced approach to design and organizing, Form + Function are equally valuable! My work in textiles focuses mainly on woven structures and color and the simple but endless patterns and form that can be created.
My career evolved from this passion, taking me to work in the textile industry, where I literally felt I was in a race to get a job before the textile industry disappeared in the USA! My career began in one of the oldest weaving mills in the US, Churchill Weavers (no longer open). I was hired to help them transition to new technology and teach them to create woven designs for these looms. While there, I learned the fundamentals of woven production design from an historic and culturally relevant company. Being on site with production taught me how important it is to understand the technology, products and the people you are designing for.
I went on to work for Mohawk Industry. As an eager young textile designer, I became curious about applying the principles of woven design to carpet. Carpets seemed more sophisticated and vastly more appealing to me than the mass market consumed products I was designing at the time. I moved on to Tai Ping Carpets, applying my knowledge and technical background to create custom design for hotels and other commercial spaces, collaborating with Interior Designers and Architects on projects around the world! During that time I was able to travel to mills in Thailand, China and Italy to see manufacturing of a variety of rugs, carpets and textiles.
I share my fibers background because I will always see the projects I work on from an Artist and Design perspective. I believe in the power of beauty to motivate and heal us! I continue to create textiles through a variety of applications including weaving, print design, mixed media and dyeing (mostly natural-lots of Indigo!). I create custom commissions and have showed a sample of my work over the years, but mostly I am connected to the process of creating and designing textiles. For the time being, I do this mainly as a form of creative personal expression which brings me great joy! Below is a small sampling of my carpet and textile designs. From time to time I also share projects or process of work I am creating on the blog.