Here, a quilted technique is developed to make a leaf pattern from the new Viewpoint upholstery collection come to life.
Photo: Courtesy of Carnegie Fabrics
“The changing nature of how people work, live, and play is driving innovation in design,” Heather Bush, Carnegie Fabrics' chief creative officer, remarks to AD PRO. She's speaking in advance of the high-performance fabric company's upholstery collection launch, which was spearheaded by studio director Chase Taylor. The collection, titled Viewpoint, is carefully attuned to the contemporary state of interiors. "Today’s interiors are infused with personality," Bush notes. At the same time, "people need to be reassured that fabrics will hold up to and withstand the rigors of everyday use," she says. In other words, spaces need to serve multiple purposes, as do the materials within them.
While Carnegie Fabrics has had an upholstery line since the late 1970s, double-digit growth over the last few years indicated the need to make a bigger push into this area. At the same time, Carnegie is exploring other opportunities for its textiles, including furniture. A multiuse ottoman made with Xorel Knit upholstery is in the works for early 2020.
“It can be pushed around a floor plan and placed in seating arrangements in hospitality, education, health care, and workplace settings,” sales and operations director Dana Pucillo tells AD PRO of the forthcoming Boost Ottoman. Pucillo adds that it may be ordered in multiple color palettes of the Xorel textile.
With open space increasingly common in workspaces, and traditional office furniture fading from use, Bush says Carnegie saw an opportunity to create small furniture pieces and other products to support their textile lines. “We have a lot of different things on the table—some furniture pieces, some pieces that divide space as walls are coming down, and some acoustic solutions,” she says. In the past, clients have come to Carnegie for upholstery fabric for small pieces like stools, but have then gone elsewhere to have them made. Soon, that won’t have to be the case. “We found that as a textile company, our clients were looking to us,” Bush adds.