Contract - April 2011 - (Page 22)

focus a diﬃcult birth… …but a ﬁne family upbringing characterize the evolution of Carnegie’s Xorel brand of woven wallcoverings, which turns 30 years old this year By Jennifer Busch Bob Goldman, founder of family-owned textile company Carnegie and father of current president Cliﬀ Goldman, immediately understood the potential of a unique, lustrous yarn that he discovered at a mill in Germany in the mid1970s. But ﬁguring out how to turn it into something useful for the commercial interior design indust was another matter. “Nothing like it had ever been used,” he remembers. “We spent several years learning how to weave it.” In Europe, the ﬁber was being used for industrial purposes, but Goldman wanted to use it to create decorative fabric wallcoverings. Up to that point, the only durable options available to architects and designers to cover vertical surfaces in commercial spaces were vinyl and paint. “We ran 44 diﬀerent tests,” continues the senior Goldman, so Carnegie could guarantee that the woven fabric that was developed was extremely durable and cleanable. “You couldn’t destroy it,” he recalls. “It was virtually indestructible.” But the biggest issue to Carnegie, an early pioneer in what we now call environmental design, was that it was safe and would not oﬀ-gas harmful vapors. In 1981, when Goldman was satisﬁed on the safety front, Carnegie launched Xorel, the original durable woven wallcovering that still maintains its leadership position today and is largely responsible for the company that Carnegie has become. “The creation of Xorel has led us to focus on developing problem-solving materials that have the smallest environmental impact throughout all our product lines,” says Cliﬀ Goldman. “Being immersed in the intricacies of this textile development has aﬀected the overall culture of our product development team.” According to Goldman, research and development that leads to the constant improvement of materials is central to Carnegie’s company philosophy. “The path we have followed with Xorel has been critical to the successful outcomes in our other product lines and has led to continued growth,” he says. The ﬁrst Xorel collection was limited to plain weaves in short color lines, says Bob Goldman, but its textural quality introduced something altogether new to the indust , and its “big, strong environmental sto ” resonated with designers. “Within two years, Xorel was the gold standard in the indust ,” he notes, adding that the next big issue was “How do we create diﬀerent designs?” Eventually, that question would be answered with woven jacquards, embossed and embroidered versions, custom design capabilities, graphic patterns, ﬁre retardancy, and a vastly expanded color line. Cliﬀ Goldman credits Heather Bush, Carnegie’s executive vice president of creative, with most of the design excitement surrounding Xorel. “Since joining Carnegie in 1997, Heather has been instrumental in the creative growth of the Xorel product line,” he says. “She brings a unique maste of the technical aspects of the material along with a talented aesthetic vision.” Bush oversees the entire equation of Xorel from end-use application and color development to technologies for backings. “Her recent work with embossing and embroide has brought the product to a new design level, which was unimaginable 30 years ago,” says Goldman. “Our challenge is to continually expand Xorel’s aesthetic repertoire through new yarn developments, backing technologies, and decorative artist ,” he adds, noting that Xorel speaks the same language that Carnegie strongly endorses as a company: high performance, aesthetically evolving, and environmentally sensible. Reader Service No. 215 Photos le , from top to bottom: In 1981, Carnegie’s Xorel was the ﬁrst product line to oﬀer textured, durable woven wallcoverings for commercial applications. The basic pattern Strie was launched in 1984 and was recolored in 1998. The ﬁrst embossed designs were introduced in 2006. Xorel Embroider designs were introduced in 2008. In 2009, Xorel Graphic was launched. The latest development with Xorel is the introduction of 71 new colors for the classic weave pattern, in commemoration of Xorel’s 30th anniversa . 22 contract april 2011 www.contractdesign.com http://www.contractdesign.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - April 2011

Contract - April 2011
Table of Contents
Editor's Note
Industry
Resources: Nature Inspired
Focus: A Difficult Birth
Practice: From the Inside Out
Pure Spirit
Sensory Experience
Market Watch
Sibling Revelry
Screening Sophistication
Winter Wonderland
Full of Grace
Designers Rate
Sources
Ad Index
Perspectives

Contract - April 2011