Eskayel

Tie Dye Heaven…Painterly Effects from Monique Lhuillier and Eskayel

I wasn’t due for another post yet, but the juxtaposition of this extraordinary Monique Lhuillier gown worn by Sarah Michelle Gellar to the Golden Globes last night and a half written post about Eskayel‘s new collection of rugs for Doris Leslie Blau sent me straight to my computer. While I have written about shibori (Japanese tie dye) before I have never seen such a literal and amazingly modern translation of this traditional art form as that dress. Say what you like, and I know some have put this on their “worst dressed” list (although many more on the “best dressed”), it truly is a spectacular show stopper!

Lluillier has some other dresses with that shibori feeling, but they also remind me of artist Shanan Campanaro’s amazing fabrics and wall coverings for Eskayel.

Having written about them before, it may come as no surprise to see them here again, although this time, translated into carpets for the floor in her new collection with rug doyenne Doris Leslie Blau.

Campanaro’s digitally manipulated watercolors have been re-colored in this new collection. You’ll need to stare closely at her Dynasty wallpaper hanging next to the new Dynasty rug to see that they are the same pattern, just colored and highlighted differently.

She also features some great new projects on the Eskayel blog, including this apartment from Jami Supsic Designs.

Those Wegner Wishbone chairs again.

They are everywhere and come in the most amazing colors these days…

This dark blue Samui Sunrise paper is so cozy and welcoming in the bedroom.

Another project by designer Sylvia Reyes uses Eskayel’s Aquarius wallpaper to great effect in this Puerto Rico apartment.

And guess what? Eskayel wallpaper is now available in Japan at Walpa. Walpa carries all the “cool wallpaper brands” and is looking to bring a new appreciation for patterned walls to Japan.

Image credits: 1. via temptalia, 2-5. via Neiman Marcus, 6. via Eskayel, 7. via New York Magazine November 2011, photo credit: Wendy Goodman, 8-9, 12. Jami Supsic Designs, via Eskayel, 10-11. Danish Design Store, 13-14. Sylvia Reyes via Eskayel

Jan 16, 2012 By tokyojinja in Artist Spotlight, Design Motif, Fashion, Interior Design, Rugs and Carpets, Textiles 5 Comments Tags: Doris Leslie Blau, Eskayel, Golden Globes 2012, Monique Lhuillier, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shanan Campanaro, tie-dye gown, wallpaper

A Little Shibori Feeling From Eskayel and Anthropologie

Shiboru in Japanese means “to wring, squeeze, press.” Although shibori used to be designated as a particular group of resist- dyed textiles, the verb root of the word emphasizes the action performed on cloth, the process of manipulating fabric. Rather than treating cloth as a two-dimensional surface, with shibori it is given a three-dimensional form by folding, crumpling,stitching, plaiting, or plucking and twisting.
-Shibori Textile Museum

Everywhere I turned this summer, Brooklyn based design studio Eskayel was featured, from apartment therapy, to House Beautiful and Lonny. Artist Shanan Campanaro’s unusual abstract patterns drawn from her paintings and then digitally manipulated and expanded as wallpaper and fabric are utterly riveting. I received numerous emails from friends and readers who also had noticed it in the press and wanted to alert me to its beauty.

While her textiles and papers are not in any way shibori (tie-dye) related, every time I looked at them, I couldn’t help but be reminded of it.

Perhaps it is the rich indigo blue colorways?

Or the Rorschach quality the patterns share with shibori?

Here are two classic shibori patterns, tegumo and hinode for comparison with the pillows above. Are you feeling it too?

Even this Galileo basket feels Japanese in shape and nature.

If you are loving her patterns but not interested in indigo, be sure to check out the full website as there are other gorgeous colors and designs.

Last June, the design team at Anthropologie, fascinated by an antique piece of Japanese cloth, traveled to Kyoto in search of more information and inspiration. The result was their “Arimatsu” bedding line. The history of Arimatsu, a town known as the center of shibori, dates back to 1608 and it has been a dyeing center ever since.

A room view of the bedding from the catalog.

You know me, I cannot ever resist an interesting lamp shade. This Arashi shade has classic shibori details. Love the pleating too! Hmmm…where could I use it?

Shibori is not Anthro’s only inspiration. Their Nightbloom bedding series is based on a few Japanese motifs. The central medallions are stylized chrysanthemums, the kamon of the emperor. And the circular pattern is a complicated version of shippou-tsunagi (seven treasures pattern), just recently shown here.