New York Textile Month by Li Edelkoort

Wed, Aug 31 - Fri, Sep 30  2016

From August 31 until September 30, New York Textile Month hosted by Li Edelkoort is happening, in cooperation with Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. 

During September, there will be exhibitions, talks, shows and other events related to textiles, focused on increasing the knowledge of working with these materials, all over New York. For example, there will be events at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Strand Book Store, American Folk Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and the Fashion Institute of Technology.

In the accompanying manifesto, Li Edelkoort states: “Today the world of art and design is confronted with a debilitating lack of knowledge concerning textiles. Architects, artists and industrial designers as well as fashion designers no longer know the materials they work with each day of their careers. At a time when textile heritage is at a crossroads and centuries of tradition and knowledge are being compromised, the need arises to protext these endangered species in the same way we have come to defend our animal friends: therefore we urgently need to talk about textiles again.”

Read the whole text here. 

Dutch participants 

• Sep 2 – Sep 23: “Thread Lines” Open Studios

Thread Lines is an Artist-in-Residence with Dutch textile artist Farida Sedoc at Brooklyn’s Wyckoff House Museum, bridging heritage with contemporary culture to explore our relationships with fabric, fibers, and textiles. During this two month residency Dutch artist, Farida Sedoc will turn the historic house’s 18th Century formal parlor into an art studio, open to the public each Friday from 2pm-6pm. Read more about this project here. 

• Sep 6 until Sep 13: Febrik Exhibition at Colony
• Sep 13,  6 – 8 PM: Colorful Cocktail Event 

Dutch textile company Febrik will showcase a colorful installation at Colony’s 324 Canal Street location. Highlighting the vibrant spectrum of Febrik’s collection of knitted upholstery textiles, a closing event will revolve around Febrik colors with playfully colorful cocktails served. Read more here.

• Sep 20, 9:30 AM – 5 PM: Talking Textiles

“Talking Textiles” is a full-day seminar to talk about textiles for fashion and interiors – exploring the important trends, fabrics, yarns and techniques for the seasons to come. Hosted by Lidewij Edelkoort, Dean of Hybrid Studies at the New School, and featuring a long list of inspiring speakers, this seminar seeks to promote textile education and celebrate September as the first ever New York Textile Month!

Explore the whole program here. 

About Lidewij Edelkoort

Lidewij Edelkoort is one of the world’s most famous trend forecasters. As an intuitive thinker who travels the world studying the evolution of socio-cultural trends before sharing this information with her clients in industries as diverse as fashion, textiles, interiors, cars, cosmetics, retail and food. Under her Paris-based company Trend Union, Edelkoort creates trend books two or more years ahead that are tools used by strategists, designers and marketeers at international brands.

Edelkoort has worked for some of the world’s best-known companies, for example: advising Coca-Cola how Sprite should communicate with emerging youth archetypes; defining how western perceptions of Japanese culture can benefit Nissan to improve sales and build their identity abroad; explaining how technology, design and services will be affected by newly-formed social networks amongst consumers under 20 years-old for Time Warner Cable; forecasting new consumer archetypes for Esprit as far forward as 2068; and proposing business development ideas for Lacoste’s expansion into new fields of interest outside of fashion.