Collectible art and design comes in all forms these days. Making a solid case for works of the textile variety is the Los Angeles-based label, Slowdown Studio, who's limited edition, woven cotton blankets feature the creative talents of artists from around the world.
Conceived by graphic designer Marc Hendrick, the label's curatorial approach is refreshingly simple. 'I like to find artists who are doing work that feels different and fresh. It doesn't matter what field they're in,' he says, adding, 'When we first talk to the artists, we select a few of our favourite works of theirs and ask them to channel that style. Most artists we work with have a specific style that's unique to them, so the brief really is just to be our favourite version of themselves.'
Slowdown Studio launches its fifth collection this week with colourful creations by Byzance Design Studio in Paris, the Texas-based painter Jonathan Ryan Storm, Hungarian textile designer Dora Szentmihalyi who's based in Barcelona and Marleigh Culver, an artist / designer residing in Virginia.
Slowdown Studio’s limited edition, woven cotton best blankets feature the creative talents of artists from around the world
'This collection has a painter, a digital artist, a textile designer and a graphic design studio [involved],' says Hendrick. 'It's probably our most abstract collection to date. There's a real focus on form and pattern that works both from a distance and up close. We've also fully embraced our love of pink in all of them, except the one black and white design.'
While there aren't specific themes to each collection per se, Hendricks has ensured that shared elements tie the designs together. 'I think it's really a style that resonates throughout all of our blankets. Organic shapes, unique hand drawn lines and patterns, and a soft color palette of pinks, yellows, greens and blues. All of the art has quite an imperfect feel about it, and using that style of art in textiles, which are also a little imperfect, is a perfect match.'
The 100% cotton throws are carefully woven in North Carolina, under the supervision of both label and artist to ensure that its realization is up to par. Hendrick says, 'I go back and forth with the artist at our weavers to make sure she has encapsulated everything about the original art in the textile version, which due to the nature of jacquard weaving, can be quite an art in getting the colours right.'
The collaborative nature of the project can often lead in other unexpected directions as well. 'Jonathan Ryan Storm originally produced a crazy colourful piece for us that we were going to use,' recalls Hendrick. 'We weren't able to find colours so bright that it had the energy of his original art, so we ended up making life a lot easier for ourselves and going with the black and white! In hindsight though, I think the collection works better with the black and white Collins throw, so it was a happy mistake.'
With its range of offerings set to expand to ceramics, accessories and stationery in the coming future, Slowdown Studio's creative efforts show no signs of actually slowing.
’Mayfield’ throw, by Dora Szentmihalyi
’Collins’ throw, by Jonathan Ryan Storm
’Porter’ throw, by the Parisian design studio, Byzance
Each of the 100% cotton throws are carefully woven in North Carolina with both the label and artist on hand to ensure that its realisation is up to par
’All of the art has quite an imperfect feel about it, and using that style of art in textiles, which are also a little imperfect, is a perfect match,’ Hendrick says
INFORMATION
Slowdown Studio's 'Season Five' is available now. Each throw is $230. For more information, visit the website
-
First look – Bottega Veneta and Flos release a special edition of the Model 600Gino Sarfatti’s fan favourite from 1966 is born again with Bottega Veneta’s signature treatments gracing its leather base
-
We stepped inside the Stedelijk Museum's newest addition in AmsterdamAmsterdam's Stedelijk Museum has unveiled its latest addition, the brand-new Don Quixote Sculpture Hall by Paul Cournet of Rotterdam creative agency Cloud
-
On a sloped Los Angeles site, a cascade of green 'boxes' offers inside outside livingUnStack, a house by FreelandBuck, is a cascading series of bright green volumes, with mountain views
-
Forged in the California desert, Jonathan Cross’ brutalist ceramic sculptures go on show in NYCJoshua Tree-based artist Jonathan Cross’ sci-fi-influenced works are on view at Elliott Templeton Fine Arts in New York's Chinatown
-
Italian designer Enrico Marone Cinzano fuses natural perfection with industrial imperfectionEnrico Marone Cinzano's first solo show at New York’s Friedman Benda gallery debuts collectible furniture designs that marry organic materials with upcycled industrial components
-
Teruhiro Yanagihara's new textile for Kvadrat boasts a rhythmic design reimagining Japanese handsewing techniques‘Ame’ designed by Teruhiro Yanagihara for Danish brand Kvadrat is its first ‘textile-to-textile’ product, made entirely of polyester recycled from fabric waste. The Japanese designer tells us more
-
One to Watch: Brooklyn studio Outgoing gives new meaning to the idea of world buildingLife and creative partners Brett Gui Xin and Del Hardin Hoyle from Outgoing blur the lines between craft and concept in experimental designs that have the potential for greater application
-
Discover the alchemy of American artists Philip and Kelvin LaVerneThe work of Philip and Kelvin LaVerne, prized by collectors of 20th-century American art, is the subject of a new book by gallerist Evan Lobel; he tells us more
-
Sarah Solis’ first furniture collection is an homage to art deco‘Is it weird to call furniture sexy?’ Los Angeles-based designer Sarah Solis discusses her debut furniture line and new brand and store, Galerie Solis
-
First look: Western Mongolia meets Kew Gardens in John Pawson and Oyuna Tserendorj’s cashmere throwsArchitectural designer John Pawson and cashmere designer Oyuna Tserendor have collaborated on a cashmere throw collection inspired by Pawson’s 70m Lake Crossing in the Royal Botanical Gardens
-
Three sleek new design showrooms you need to see in Los AngelesThree international design showrooms have started a retail design boom in Los Angeles. Here are the stores to put on your radar
