Where To Participate In NY's Textile Month

Image Courtesy of Edelkoort Inc.

As much as we love fashion, we much prefer to participate in NYTM, New York's Textile Month versus NYFW, New York Fashion Week this September.  We support the idea of appreciating and getting to know the clothing we are wearing....not necessarily buying more of it.

Here are some wonderful ways to participate:

Eileen Fisher Renew
Lisa Cooley Gallery, 107 Norfolk Street, NY, NY
September 7, 2017 - October 1, 2017

Eileen Fisher has been doing an amazing job reusing the textiles they receive into their Take Back program. In case you didn’t know already, Eileen Fisher customers are rewarded for recycling their own Eileen Fisher goods when shopping for something new. In return, they receive five dollars towards their new purchase. Eileen Fisher inspects each return. Flawless items are subsequently cleaned and sold as vintage pieces in stores, known as the Fisher Found section.

If imperfect items need mending, they will do so, but returned items that cannot be salvaged are completely reinvented. Fabric is re-dyed, cut and sewn into completely new garments and pieces of artwork.

There is an exhibit showing now, celebrating the work of Sigi Ahl and Carolina Bedoya, who have been working specifically with the scraps and returned clothing from Eileen Fisher, creating garments, home decor and clothing. They are operating the collection under a new company name, DesignWorks.  

Eileen Fisher sets a wonderful example for other companies to offset whatever it is that they are doing. And they are doing it in a beautiful way to boot. We think we will see many more companies doing similar work in the coming years.  Did you see Viktor Rolf's show last year?

Fisher Remade, Image by Bone and Black



Talking Textiles
Parson’s Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street, New York, NY
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Register Here, $150 per person

Whether it’s in the ceremonial dying of a natural yarn, the wearing of an embroidered veil or the upcycling of a discarded piece of trash, this year’s Talking Textiles Conference shows us how the loom can truly take materials to another level. come join 8 inspiring speakers from around the world to see the spirituality in textiles.

The Talking Textiles Conference is an inspiring and educational seminar about textiles for fashion and interiors - exploring the important trends, fabrics, yarns and techniques for the seasons to come. Hosted at Parsons in New York, the event elevates textile education for both students and professionals alike.

Guests and speakers include: Lidewij Edelkoort, Trend Forecaster; Philip Fimmano, Edelkoort Inc.; Laura Sansone, The New School, Parsons School of Design; Birgitta de Vos, Sustainable Brand Strategist; Suzanne Tick, Designer; Angel Chang, Fashion Designer; Denise Maroney, Textile Curator; and Dorothy Waxman 2017 Textile Design Prize Finalist & Winner.

Image Courtesy of Edelkoort Inc.

Wild Crochet by Deidre Brown
Textiles Art Center
26 W 8th Street, NY, NY
Tuesdays-Thursdays 11a-5p + Saturdays 2p-5p in September
September 17, 2017 Wild Crochet Workshop from 1p-4p, RSVP here

Diedre Brown is an artist, but also a lover of the ocean. She is interested in the relationships between human and their environment, in particular at coastal edges. Diedre applies natural natural science, art, design, and research to understand the anatomy and physiology of all things. Diedre currently has work featured at the Textiles Art Center through the end of the month.

Diedre’s work reminds us of the scientist Margaret Wertheim and her artist twin sister who created the traveling Crochet Coral Reef and have since founded the Figuring Institute together, 

Diedre is curious if it were possible to create a habitable geotextile, what would it look like? Could this textile evolve to actually become a part of nature? We love this idea because we are imagining recycled textiles in her underground, interwoven world.

Join designer Deidre Brown, in crocheting Wild Textiles, to explore these questions and unlock the secrets of their patterns and shapes.

Wild Crochet by Diedre Brown
Photo Courtesy of Textile Art Center



Sustainable Textiles & Materials: Why Earth Matters
Thursday, September 28, 2017 from 3:00pm 5:00pm
354 W 11th Street, NY, NY
$95 general admission (for tickets please contact Chloe at chloe@edelkoortinc.com)

For too long we have ruthlessly consumed our Earth’s assets and drained it of its resources. Forests become furniture, oceans are polluted and minerals are over-mined. For future generations it is crucial to consider a new approach: a transformation from over-consumption towards sustainable development that is in harmony with nature, with increased respect for our environment and for each other. Edelkoort Inc. has created a thought-provoking trend presentation that directly connects these ideas with contemporary textiles, materials and design.

As Edelkoort explains, “This young century has brought about a moment of reflection and radical change, making up for a century of ecological abuse, consumption, greed and violence. For the first time, a post-fossil society is emerging, using natural ingredients, offering alternatives and giving us hope for the future.” Areas such as design, art, photography, fashion and textiles are increasingly driven by a new creative energy that is inspired by natural materials and sustainability. From land to sea, from forest to mountain, a wealth of ideas sprout from the Earth, analysing and cataloguing its components: transformed into new materials, recycled remnants, oxidized alloys and vegetal colours. This informative and inspiring visual presentation alerts us to consider how we over-consume Earth’s resources, but also celebrates the beauty of our planet.


Text and Image Courtesy of Edelkoort



Studio Visit Tour
We Gather
75 East 19th Street, Brooklyn, NY
September 17, 2017 from 12:00pm 4:00pm, Register Here

WE GATHER is a textiles brand and educational studio. Everything at WE GATHER is hand dyed, hand woven and hand finished with love and masterful care in their Gowanus, Brooklyn Studio, led by textile artist Whitney Crutchfield.

WE GATHER will be opening their studio for anyone who is interested in getting a behind-the-scenes look at a small textile business. Participants will have an opportunity to try a hand at one of their looms or chat about textiles.

WE GATHER sees the textiles that they make as lifelong reminders to events and time periods in one's life. They create custom-designed rugs, blankets, gifts, and ceremonial objects that can be with you during celebration and throughout your lives. WE GATHER celebration textiles not only commemorate your experiences; they are also functional heirloom-quality home textiles meant to be used and loved for a lifetime.

Image Courtesy of WE GATHER



This is Not a Sweater: Smart Garments & Functional Fabrics
Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator
630 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
September 19, 2017 from 6p-9p
$10 per person Register Here 

Technology is driving innovation in apparel design and changing our expectations of the function of clothing. By 2022 it is estimated that the industry will by $38 billion annually. There are a number of questions yet to be answered about the nature of this market. What is the definition of a smart garment? How will the industry shift focus from sports to health care? Who has their eye on the environmental and social impacts of this emerging market? How will manufacturing change in response to new materials?

Join Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator’s Executive Director Deb Johnson, Olivia Burca, Garment Engineer at Wearable Experiments and Chris Kasabach, a pioneer in the field of wearable computing and connected healthcare for a conversation as part of New York Textile Month, an event guaranteed to foster new thinking regarding how designers are creating smart garments and functional fabrics.

Text and Image Courtesy of BFDA



The Future Is Handmade
ABC Home
888 Broadway, Mezzanine Floor, New York, NY
September 25, 2017 at 6:30p

The International Folk Art Alliance, renowned trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort and ABC Home visionaries Paulette Cole and Colleen Newell join Keith Recker, Founder and Editor of HAND/EYE Magazine to discuss a forward thinking look at folk art driving tomorrow where culture, ethics and creativity come together.

Lidewij Edelkoort is a pre-eminent trend forecaster whose company Trend Union is based in Paris. She has a trend consultancy firm based in NYC and Paris. Lidewij currently serves as the Dean of Hybrid Studies, focusing on Textiles at the Parsons School of Design.

Paulette Cole is the Creative Director of ABC Home and believes that home should be treated as one’s sacred space. Paulette has worked to create a socially responsible business, committed to taking the planet and people into consideration. Paulette’s work transcends the home as conversations are hosted in Deepak Chopra’s Homebase, located at ABC Home on the Mezzanine level.

Everything that Hand/Eye Magazine does is meant to encourage and inspire readers in their own creative practices and in their daily activities as conscious consumers. Their articles are useful as a sourcing guide for businesses trading in handmade goods, as research material for students of ethical and sustainable design, and as advance reading for world travelers.

Image Courtesy of Hand/Eye Magazine



Dinner
MORDANT
354 West 11th Street, New York, NY
September 27, 2017 from 6p-10p
Reserve tickets here, $90/per person 

Artist, Victoria Manganiello, invites guests to explore the intersections between food and fiber in Mordant. This is a series of dinners prepared by the artist and served upon a tablecloth she wove by hand. The meal is served in such a way that the food inevitably meets the cloth, demonstrating the color and dye potential of the ingredients cooked with the fibers woven. Prepared to leave lasting marks, Manganiello translates each dinner into a painting canvas which then becomes an homage to the ingredients, fibers and persons of a particular evening and place. Victoria teaches textiles at Parson’s New School of Design and New York University. She has exhibited her work internationally and is based in Brooklyn.

In collaboration with filmmaker Kristin Kremers, Mordant will be the focus of an upcoming film by the same name that explores our subliminal and ubiquitous connections to textiles and color. Kristin Kremers is a NYC-based filmmaker and cinematographer who is passionate about capturing influencer‘s heart-beat moments and shedding light on blind spots through her work.

The film will follow Manganiello and Kremers as they conduct dinners around the world. New York and NYTM mark the one stop along this journey to document the nuances of color and cloth with dinners planned for Transylvania, Romania, Kyoto, Japan and others.

Image Courtesy Victoria Manganiello



Naturally Inspiring: A Day Of Wool
Parsons Making Center/Parsons School of Design
66 5th Avenue, New York, NY
September 29, 2017 from 10a-4p, Register Here

Join The Woolmark Company, Parsons’ The Making Center and The Healthy Materials Lab as they embark on a day of hands-on activities and discussion to explore the broad scope of wool’s applications – from clothing to furniture to bedding.

The day’s schedule will feature a morning presentation on wool science, followed by an afternoon of workshop activities and a panel discussion featuring leaders in the textile industry talking about wool’s ecological impact from farm to fashion.

The Day of Wool will include weaving, wet felting, indigo dyeing and digital knit workshops, presentations discussing wool’s properties, benefits, various applications and the material’s future as well as lunch sponsored by The Woolmark Company.

Image Courtesy of The Woolmark Company 

Chinese Opera Costumes from the 18th and 19th Century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 5th Avenue, New York, NY
September 1, 2017 - September 30, 2017

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is never a disappointment when seeking reminders on examples of quality versus quantity. Their current exhibit examines the luxury textiles of Chinese Opera costumes from the 18th and 19th Centuries from both artistic and technical points of view.

The hand sewn details, inside and out on the robes, are really magnificent. Ancient fabrics will survive centuries so long as they are cared for properly. Keep in mind, natural and organic materials were used including colorants until the late 19th century when chemical dyes were brought in from Europe.

Silk Theatrical Princess Robe, China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Image Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

For a comprehensive list of NYTM events, visit NYTM's Calendar.
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