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Design Blog Design Blog » Fashioning Felt

Felt in Haiti

  • By: Susan Brown
  • | Friday July 31, 2009
  • | 8 Comment(s)


I had the pleasure of meeting recently with Ton Vriens, a Dutch documentary filmmaker and journalist who, through his foundation Turtle Tree, is working with women in Haiti to develop a felt-making co-operative, with the goal of achieving economic and social independence for the members of the self-governed group.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere, and many women there are the sole providers for extended families. This highly motivated group, which calls itself Fanm Veret, Wi Nou Kapab! (The Women of Verrettes, Yes We Can Do It), has earned a grant from the Spanish regional government of Andalusia to assist with the legal process of becoming a co-operative, and to provide business training. Turtle Tree is assisting with product development by inviting American designers and felt makers to lead workshops in the crafts of felting and needlework. While there is no felting tradition in the region, it has the advantage of not requiring expensive specialized equipment. (Turtle Tree has started a second, more long-range project, of re-introducing the organic cotton cultivation which used to be a major part of Haiti’s economy). Fanm Veret imports 100% organic wool from Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Co. in Montana. Because the wool is very soft, and the hand-dyed colors are subtle, the finished products have a higher level of refinement than products coming out of Central Asia, where the wool tends to be quite coarse. The women are currently producing simple and beautiful covers for iPhone and iPod, 13” MacBook and MacBook Air.

Felt at ICFF

Felt had a very strong presence at ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) this weekend.


1.

I was delighted to see that Lerival – Furniture by Architects is carrying Morehead & Morehead’s brilliant Felt Stool (1). This is currently produced in synthetic automotive felt, which is the only reason I didn’t include it in Fashioning Felt. Otherwise its simple folded form says, in brief, everything I love about felt.


2.

3.
A completely hand-made seating alternative was presented by the Los Angeles-based Mexican designer Tanya Aguiñiga, with her Soft Rocks furnishing pieces (2). Colorful wools are felted and wrapped around high-density foam. She also makes these great chairs of wool felted over found metal folding chairs (3).


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5.
Gräf & Lantz, known for an impressive array of wine-related felt accessories (4), are introducing a new line of home furnishings made from Swiss wool (5). In Switzerland, sheep are kept as diary producers, and their coarse wool, considered unsuitable for textiles, was formerly discarded. The wool is now gathered by a socially and environmentally-minded non-profit organization. The sheep, and the felt, come in two natural, un-dyed shades: creamy white and a rich brown, which comes from the rare “black” sheep, making this product available in strictly limited quantities.


6.
The sculptural wall panels by Anne Kyyrö Quinn grow more eye-catching each year. Made from cleverly cut, twisted, folded and stitches strips strips of wool felt, these visually dynamic wall treatments also provide acoustic benefits (6).


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ABR of Barcelona took a modular approach with their Feel-Thru room dividers (7). A series of water-jet cut felt panels suspended from a ceiling track and connected to one another with magnets can be pushed aside like a curtain, yet give a much more wall-like solidity. Available in black or white in two different cut-out patterns, the panels give the elegant play of light and shade of carved grille work, but with the softness, flexibility, and sound absorbing qualities of wool felt.


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There were fewer felt carpets than in years past, but the Design Deutschland 09 booth showed this charming Stamp carpet by Hey-Sign (9). Peter Van Tuyl proposed a DIY carpet installation, designed by Rosemary Mifsud, which you compose yourself from a group of leafy felt forms (8).


10.
MIO showed their wonderfully green felt bowls and lamps, produced by a local Philadelphia-based hat-maker, one of the last in the US (10). Berin LLC, the US distributor for The Slice, by Lene Frantzen, had a particularly tempting display of those colorful favorites.


11.
Finally, if you are looking for a supplier of German-made, 100% wool felt, Boston-based FilzFelt carries a range of colors and thicknesses (11), along with a line of simple die-cut accessories for the home.

 

 

 

Video: Making of the Palace Yurt

Making the Palace Yurt felts at the studio of JA Felt Centralia, Washington, 2008. Fllmed by Paul Moore. Courtesy of JA Felt.

Video: Fashioning Felt on Martha Stewart

Fashioning Felt on Martha Stewart.

Curator Susan Brown and Fashioning Felt designer Janice Arnold appeared on The Martha Stewart Show this week to talk about the exhibition now on view at Cooper-Hewitt. Click the link below to watch the segment.

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/cooper-hewitt-felt-exhibit?xsc=ch

It’s a good thing.

Fashioning Felt

Fashioning Felt opens next week. The exhibition explores the varied new uses of felt in a range of fields, including product design, fashion, architecture, and home furnishings. The exhibition runs from March 6 to September 7.

On Friday March 6, the Museum will host a lecture by two designers featured in the exhibition, Claudy Jongstra and Kathryn Walter. Visit our events calendar to register online.

Watch this video for a quick introduction to the exhibition.