Treasures From the Kravet Textile Archives Go On Exhibit At the New York School of Interior Design
Pattern and Process: Selections from the Kravet Archive showcases more than 80 documents at the NYSID Gallery through November 27
For many years, the Kravet family and Calico management have been closely aligned, although each targets a different customer for upscale decorative fabrics. Calico, the largest retailer of decorative fabrics in the country, sells directly to consumers. Kravet, the largest jobber (distributor) of decorative fabrics in the country, sells to interior designers and selected retailers, such as Calico.
Both companies celebrated major anniversaries in 2018: Kravet marked its 100th anniversary, and Calico celebrated its 70th anniversary—remarkable achievements given the roller-coaster economy and home furnishings industry these past two decades.
“Pattern and Process: Selections from the Kravet Archive” has opened at New York School of Interior Design. Courtesy New York School of Interior Design.
Textile history is a major interest of Calico’s Jan Jessup, member of the Merchandising and Marketing teams at the company’s headquarters in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Jan attended the opening of the Kravet exhibit at the New York School of Interior Design and here is her report:
Jan Jessup of Calico, at left with friend of many years Carolyn Sollis of Langrall & Sollis Public Relations and her client Cyrus Nazmiyal of Rug & Kilim.
A textile design reference page from 19th century France.
An Archive of Archives
For a history buff and a textile maven, there is much to love on display at the Pattern and Process show at NYSID. These 80 selections from the Kravet Archives were gleaned from 35,000 documents stored at company headquarters in Bethpage, Long Island. The collection started with Kravet’s own designs and sample books that were used for reference by the designers in the Kravet studio.
It grew in 1995 when Kravet acquired Lee Jofa, adding their archive of English documents, chintzes and linen prints. In 2001, Kravet purchased the British firm GP & J Baker, noted for their hand block prints and archive of rare textiles. Brunschwig & Fils became part of Kravet in 2011, along with its collection of French, English and Indian textile documents. As other jacquard mills and print houses have closed (both domestic and foreign), Kravet acquired their archives. The most recent addition comes from Orinoka Mills in Philadelphia, PA. Calico used to purchase jacquard upholstery fabrics from Orinoka in the 1970s—and I recall visiting that mill where I first learned the intricacies of designing patterns on point paper for the complex jacquard loom (more on that later!).
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Fourth-generation members of the Kravet family at the opening of Selections from the Kravet Archives at NYSID (left to right): Scott Kravet, Ellen Kravet, and husband and wife Lisa and Cary Kravet. Scott and Cary Kravet have been buying documents (antique textiles) and entire archives to save the patrimony of the textile industry. Courtesy New York School of Interior Design.
The wood block to the left is one of 15 blocks that created the original print Nympheus in 1915, designed by William Turner for G P & J Baker. Nympheus on the right was enlarged in scale and recolored by designer Thomas O’Brien in 2010—but still block printed on linen for Lee Jofa. Each block prints a different color and has metal pins in the corners used to align the design motifs so that they will be in registration with one another.
When I first visited jacquard weaving mills in the 1970s, all the design work was done by hand on point paper, such as this section of a tapestry design from Orinoka Mills. Each tiny square on the point paper is a pick of yarn. In fact, the word point is French for “stitch”. The colors represent different weaves, i.e. satin, twill, plain, sateen and basket. I think the colors at the bottom show the six colors of the tapestry warp on which this fabric will be woven. Today, this design work is done via CAD programs on computer screens, saving hours and hours of time!
The Japanese kimono design above (left) was created in the last century with watercolor, ink, pencil and metal leaf on paper/silk. Scott Kravet holds an intricate Japanese Shibori pattern (right), created by stitching gathers into the fabric before dyeing in indigo. Scott is the Creative Director and Head of Product Development at Kravet.
This Japanese stencil is from the Edo and Meiji period (1850–1912).
The remarkable thing about it is that all of those fine black lines are actually human hairs interlacing behind the cut elements of the pattern. The hairs hold it together during the stenciling process, creating an extraordinary level of detail.
The stencil is also designed so that the pattern will repeat (match perfectly) when it is moved from side to side and top to bottom.
Photo courtesy of Kravet.
Another jacquard tapestry pattern from Orinoka Mills in Philadelphia shows the layout and repeat of the pattern, designed to “give the effect of a loop frieze” or grospoint design to be woven on a six-color warp. The fabric sample at top was probably woven on a hand loom in the design studio to convey the desired construction, using a dark filling (weft) under all the warp colors to enhance the frieze effect.
The elaborate notations and directions indicate the complexity of the jacquard weaving process—which used heavy cards with punched holes to tell the loom which color warp yarn to bring to the surface of the pattern with each pick. It’s quite similar to how a player piano roll tells the keys of the piano which note to play. The jacquard loom was first exhibited in France in 1801 by Joseph Marie Jacquard—who was soon run out of the country by hand weavers in Lyon who feared for their jobs! Napoleon realized that this loom would make France a leader in the textile industry in Europe and brought Jacquard home to continue his work. In 1806 the French government purchased his invention.
Some fabrics based on historic documents are quite faithful to the original, as in this beautiful toile pattern called Bird and Thistle from Brunschwig & Fils. The document above in red is from the 18th century and is printed on linen.
The wallpaper pattern above is Bird and Thistle in Beige from Brunschwig & Fils, 1999—about 200 years later.
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The oldest textile in the collection is a Coptic fragment from 200 BC. The simple bird and figure motifs made me wonder whether this might be the work of a young girl learning how to stitch a design on a fabric ground? This is not unlike the samplers made in more recent centuries when fine needlework was a highly prized talent. Photo courtesy of Kravet.
If you’re in Manhattan – or planning a visit – Pattern and Process is worth seeing in person. “The humanity is in the archival documents,” a Brunschwig & Fils design team member has said, showing his appreciation of hand-crafted historic documents. “You feel the wonderful sign of the human hand.”
Exhibit is open to the public with no reservations required through November 27. NYSID Gallery is located at 170 E. 70th Street in Manhattan and is open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm, closed for major holidays.
