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TRENDY TEXTILES
In July’s edition of Window Fashions, GMI Trend Specialist Deb Barrett takes a look at how trend-forward products and services can lead to design business success. Here’s even more trend-worthy products she’s discovered.
 Dutch Treat
Coulisse, a Dutch manufacturer that supplies fabricators across Europe and Asia, produces a wide range of the most innovative shade fabrics we have seen in a long time. Coulisse’s Ultimate collection introduced this spring is a chic offering of jacquards, naturals and designs from traditional to contemporary for panel tracks, roller shades and verticals. Handwoven textiles with woven-in natural elements such as real woods, leather, silk, branches and sea grass as well as very thin bamboo rods keep people marveling.
 Rocking Ready-Mades
Ready-mades are a thing of mine. I have been watching this category develop in the last 18 months, and the new offerings from Castello del Barro have rocked my world. This Italian manufacturer experiments with pleating, folding and ruffling to create exquisite curtains. Available in rod-pocketed panels of silks and polyester voiles and tulles, the amazingly sophisticated looks say haute couture fashion. If nothing else, use the designs as inspiration for your own custom creations that will wow any client.
 Innovations
Liora Manne (known for the magical rugs she produces using her patented Lamontage™ needle punch process) has launched the Kobu collection of textiles. Available as sheers (perfect for shades and blinds) and opaque (for floor coverings and upholstery coordinates), this innovative use of materials plays with the concept of positive/negative space and artfully recycles every square inch of her materials.
 Inspirations
Innovation can come from anywhere. I first became aware of this new fiber while reading United’s inflight magazine. Teijin Fibers Limited, a Japanese fiber manufacturer, has developed Morphotex. Inspired by peacocks and butterflies that get their color from refracting light through repeating structures to create color, Morphotex is a fabric that doesn’t require dyes to get its colors—there are no pigments in fibers. Already being used in the apparel and accessory markets, look for it to cross over into home soon.
 Bring Back the ’70s
David Hockney’s muse, Celia Birtwell has been described as the face that launched a thousand prints. Birtwell dropped out of the design world after becoming the toast of the fashion and interiors world in the ’70s, but recently has come back with a vengeance. Her collections for Topshop and Express have recaptured the magic of the Birtwell era. Winner of the Elle Decoration Style Award in 2007, she is now involved in many new projects. Now Birtwell’s home décor is available in the United States at the Suzan Fellman Showroom in Los Angeles. The new linen collection is entitled “Pop Story.” Or you can order the ’80s Palm tree pattern that she designed one of the million times she stayed with Hockney. Put on the Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and recapture your youth. celiabirtwell.com. suzanfeldman.com.
To find out more about current trend textiles, read “TrendSpot” in the July edition of Window Fashions magazine.
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