Contract - December 2012 - (Page 45)

Fabric is being woven on a jacquard electronic loom at Sunbury Textile Mills in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. This mill continues to thrive despite many mills that have closed in recent years. ended up taking the product to another mill,” Cosonas said. “But it’s never a seamless process as the fabric never looks exactly the same.” While KnollTextiles had worked with 45 to 50 different U.S.-based mills a decade ago, the number has dropped to approximately 25 today. American mills as innovators The U.S. mills that have weathered the recession are innovators—both in business model and product—constantly developing new fibers, yarns, and finishes to inspire designers. But these successful mills are inundated—their machinery is thwacking and thrumming to keep pace with orders. “The mills that have remained in the U.S. have become incredibly creative in how they bring new solutions to the market,” observes Susan Lyons, president of Designtex, a Steelcase company. “While there has been quite a bit of contraction, it’s made everybody who is remaining stronger.” The largest growth areas in the contract textile industry are hospitality and healthcare, which benefit from the creation of new high-performance textiles that can stand up to harsh cleaners like bleach. “For high-end, quality product, the American mills are doing better and they are running more shifts than one would imagine because of the demand for higher performance fabrics,” says Sina Pearson, founder, Sina Pearson Textiles. In choosing a mill with which to collaborate, designers first decide the type of fiber they want to use, which might lead them to explore mills within a particular locale. European mills, for example, have honed their craft for centuries in working with natural fibers like wool, while American mills are known for innovating with synthetic fibers. Designers also evaluate a mill’s loom set up and the color palette of yarns offered. Once the designer chooses a mill, he or she works closely with the mill’s in-house design team to bring bright ideas to fruition. Marybeth Shaw, chief creative officer, design & marketing, at Wolf-Gordon Inc., says that she often chooses which mills to work with based on the talent within their design departments. “We get to know who we need to be contract

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Contract - December 2012

Contract - December 2012
Contents
Editorial
Industry News
Product Focus: Rex-Ray Analysis
Designers Select: Office
Designers Select: Healthcare
Designers Select: Hospitality
Designers Select: Education
Highlights of the Year’s Great Products
Far Fewer Mills Impact Textile Design and Production
IIDA Best Interiors of Latin America
Showroom: Swarovski Lighting Showroom
Showroom: Milliken Studio New York
2012 Contract Brand Awareness Survey
Sources
Ad Index
Installation: Petra Blaisse and Desso Woven into the Fabric of Stedelijk Museum

Contract - December 2012

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