Modern Textiles

Hi. I’m Joanna, a writer for Design Shuffle, a site full of interior design inspiration. They feature interior designers' work and feed design enthusiasts' addiction to great interior design. Today I’m sharing my love for mid-century textiles and would like to thank Serenity in Design for the chance to guest post!

With post-war depression passing and a brightened outlook prevailing, designers turned their sights to fun, abstract design and bold, bright colors never seen before in the home. The mid-century modern aesthetic would find its way into the textile industry, through break-out textile designers such as Lucienne Day, Sylvia Chamlers and Marian Mahler. Each created fabrics with personality and character. Prints were abstract and fun, with the “atomic age” a common theme. Day on her designs shares, “I wanted the work I was doing to be seen by people and be used by people. They had been starved of interesting things for their homes in the war years, either textiles or furniture.”

Today, mid-century modern has seen a revival of sorts and can be found in modern designs for modern homes. Take a look at some of the vintage prints that caught my eye. Which is your favorite? Mine is the “Dancing Leaves.”

Sylvia Chamlers, Marian Mahler and Lucienne Day's masterpieces all grace a mid-century modern sideboard. All the fabrics can be found to buy through an internet search for “mid-century modern fabrics.”

Lucienne and her husband/design partner, Robin Day, designed this black motif on silkscreen. The book, Robin and Lucienne Day: Pioneers in Modern Design, can be found on Amazon.com.

Modern textile “Vases” by Lucienne Day printed on barkcloth (a popular roughly texturized, yet soft, fabric popular in the 1940s through 1960s.)

Tribal folk art African "savage tribes" textile designs created in the 1940s. This fabric is available through Etsy.com and would be so perfect in some of today's interior designs with a global vibe.

“Dancing Leaves” on barkcloth from the 1950s is so lovely. Rumor has it the designer was Salvador Dali, but there is no hard evidence to prove this as the fabric selvage doesn’t include the artist’s name. This pattern would look charming in a bedroom design.

Lucienne Day, Robert Stewart and Sylvia Chalmers are all represented in the collage above. Visit http://www.classictextiles.com/ for complete collections from these designers.

A remnant of a true vintage fabric created for J.C. Penney called the Modern Masters series. This particular piece is titled “Boat Races.” Don't you wish you could include this one in some of your decorating ideas, like in your living room or den design? Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

If you'd like even more design inspiration, take a look at Design Shuffle where you can explore numerous interior design styles and browse through the portfolios of Chicago interior designers and more!

Taylor Wilson