Test your design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - Who is the renowned American textile designer who designed the first airplane upholstery for Pan American Airlines?
He was born in 1927 in Seattle, Washington to Norsk-Canadian parents, and enrolled at the University of Washington’s School of Architecture in 1945.
The following year, he studied furniture design and began weaving, moving to Los Angeles to focus on fabrics. In 1949, he studied ancient Peruvian textiles in Seattle and opened a studio. In 1951, he earned his Master of Fine arts degree from the Cranbook Academy of Art in Michigan, and opened a studio in New York, where he currently lives.
The textile studio he started in 1952 was an immediate success and grew to 31 showrooms nationally and internationally. The company has commissioned textile designs by artists and designers including Anthony Ballatore, Sari Dienes, Yoshiko Kogo and Timo Sarpaneva.
Since the 1950s, he has designed thousands of fabric patterns and textiles, many associated with the modernist architecture and popular furnishings with the post 1945 American consumer. His designs included towels, blankets, and porcelain tableware.
Seeking inspiration, he traveled to 90 countries and worked with over 30 mills around the world. Soon he was collaborating with artisans across the globe that retained a hand spun hand-woven appearance and had clients like Louis Kahn, Frank Lloyd Wright, Edward Larabee Barnes and Gordon Bunshaft who commissed him to weave gilded curtains for Lever House.
His passion for international weaving and textile crafts made him familiar with techniques such as ikat and batik, which he introduced to the American public, and by 1974, his company was manufacturing fabrics in 30 countries.
He also designed beautiful but durable fabrics for Braniff and Pan Am jets, as well as the interiors of performance spaces like the Wolf Trap in Virginia. In 1997, after 45 years of business, his company merged with Cowan and Tout.
He has authored 10 publications, been the recipient of numerous awards, and has involvement with over 30 organizations relating to the textile industry.
His fabrics are featured in 16 museums around the world including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. He is one of only five Americans to have exhibited at the Palais du Louvre in Paris.
Last week’s question: Who is the 20th century American architect who is known as the “Father of Skyscrapers and Modernism?”
Answer: Louis Sullivan
Winner: Richard T. Alipio of Calamba, Laguna
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Text your answer to 0905-3471998 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Call the store manager at 634-1943. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
