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Designtex and Coalesse have joined forces to produce Designtex + Coalesse, a collection of nine patterned textiles that celebrate and evoke the synergy of cross-disciplinary collaboration between the two Steelcase brands as well as create colorful and inviting office environments. The inspiration behind the seven patterns is macro and micro scales, many of which echo forms found in nature and encourage creative "play." The collection is meant to be used on any furniture, but it was designed to work especially well on the Coalesse offering.
The corporate and contract worlds desire high quality crafted products manufactured by master craftspeople whose expertise comes from tradition and time—without sacrificing the realities of speed, service and performance. This collection offers small batch techniques, featuring specialty weavers at a commercial scale and at commercial performance. The collection is comprised of: three finely milled Italian wools exploring color, scale and patterning (heather, bixby macro, bixby micro), a pair that explores tactility and pattern using a tailored cotton yarn (Burrard and Burrard Ground Cloth), a linen wool blend worthy of a summer outfit (Willis) and an iteration of dimensional pattern using a closed loop yarn (Mateo).
All patterns meet or exceed ACT contract standards. The choice of content and fiber was as carefully considered decision as the weaving manufacturer. From Designtex’s own closed loop yarn, pre consumer recycled cotton from t-shirt waste, finely milled wool and linen each ingredient was used to imbue the final design with an extra layer of richness.
Despite being located on opposite coasts (San Franscisco and New York) Designtex and Coalesse studios worked in tight collaboration to yield this grouping. Only meeting in person once, the teams collaborated for over a year, closely minding a growing google doc to capture and relate their ideas, samples and next steps.
The partnership embraced unique insights from both a textile and furniture designer's perspective; creating a collection of textiles with a specific suite of furniture in mind allowed for extensive rendering and more nuanced decisions around scale and patterning. Noting the dissatisfaction with misaligning patterns from a furniture designer's viewpoint pushed the textile designers to design into this patterning limitation, and reviewing the furniture's global history with material colors informed a thoughtful decision process into what color statement to make.
For more information, visit designtex.com
