Haworth and Valdese Weavers Name Textile Contest Winners
From left: Two designs by Gensler, FLAD’s design, Highwoods’ design.
Textile design and manufacturing firm Valdese Weavers and adaptable workspace design and manufacturing firm Haworth have announced the winners of their first ever “Stitch Me” textile design contest. In April, the two commercial-design companies invited fellow designers and architects located in North Carolina’s Triangle Area to create an original textile that displays a repetitive pattern. The submissions would then be judged based on materiality, creativity, and application. Of the eight submissions, the judges, who included Valdese Weaver’s Chief Creative Officer Laura Levinson, chose four winning designs and one grand-prize winner.
Gensler , a collaborative design and architecture firm, took the grand prize for its watercolor-like pattern in shades of red. The other winners included a chevron design by Highwoods Properties , a striped design Flad Architects , and an additional submission from a second team at Gensler inspired by a decorative door frame.
“The winning design was unusual, very organic, and somewhat unexpected,” says Levinson. “It looked like it was hand-painted, and stood out for having an artistic feel to it, while the other submissions were more geometric. This design was more loose and free-flowing.”
The winning design by Gensler.
On November 4, the winners were honored at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, and each of the winning designs are on display. All of the winners will receive 3 yards of woven fabric to use as they wish. Gensler’s grand-prize design will be upholstered onto Haworth’s Harbor Work Lounge and Ottoman.
“We really enjoyed doing this contest because it was a chance to educate people on how textiles are made,” Levinson says. “It was interesting to see how [architects and designers] who deal with projects in 3-D adapted their designs into a finished piece that’s 2-D.”
Levinson says that there’s a possibility that a similar contest will be held in the future, but no further information is available at this time.
