Innovative Interior Textiles: Vol. 6, Issue 10 - InformeDesign

Implications
VOL. 06 ISSUE 10
www.informedesign.umn.edu
A Newsletter by InformeDesign. A Web site for design and human behavior research.
IN THIS ISSUE
Innovative
Interior Textiles
Related Research
Summaries
Innovative Interior Textiles
Bruce N. Wright, AIA
The textile industry is undergoing a
major reorientation toward non-apparel
applications. Specialty fabrics account
for about 40% of the production and
consumption of textiles overall, and at a
4% annual growth rate, it is the fastestgrowing
sector of the global textile market
(Rasmussen, 2008). Textiles for home
furnishings are growing at about 1%, while
apparel’s share is decreasing. Specialty
fabric applications include seat belts,
airbags for automobiles, filtration and
abrasive materials, outdoor furniture, and
medical applications, as well as interior,
architectural, and building construction
applications.
According to a May 2008 report on
the state of the U.S. specialty fabrics
marketplace by Specialty Fabrics Review,
the global textile industry has undergone
tremendous change through the last 10
years. The Industrial Fabrics Association
International (IFAI) does regular research
to keep members informed about industry
economic trends and on the outlook for
different industry segments that use
“specialty fabrics,” the term given to textile
products manufactured mainly for their
performance and functional properties,
rather than for decorative purposes.
Specialty fabrics are classified into many
fields, such as automotive applications,
medical textiles, geotextiles, architectural
textiles, agrotextiles, and protective
clothing and gear. Textile production is no
longer a low-technology, labor-intensive
enterprise. “Textile firms around the
world are under constant pressure to
become more efficient through technology
upgrades” (Rasmussen, 2008).
Products made from specialty fabrics are
shifting toward areas where added value
and sophistication emphasize competitive
advantages over products more vulnerable
to foreign competition, such as fashion
and sports clothing. These added
features can include smart materials
and structures that sense and react to
external environmental conditions, such
as electrotextiles or phase-change (i.e.,
textiles that undergo a color or stiffness
change when stimulated).
Fig. 1: Techno Textiles: Inner Space to Outer Space
Goldstein Museum of Design at the University of
Minnesota

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Other new innovations involve nanotechnologies (i.e.,
manipulating material properties at the molecular
level to produce enhanced performance qualities)
that have created new products such as textiles
that detect chemicals and gases, generate mobile
power, and incorporate flexible sensing systems.
Moreover, research is ongoing to develop fabrics
that can reliably carry data and power, which could
open a whole new area of product applications in the
building and interiors markets. The global market for
nanomaterials is expected to reach $4.2 billion by
2011.
Fig. 2: National Aquatic Center, Australia, clad in a bubble wrap made
of ethylene tetra flouro ethylene (ETFE) foil pillows.
Unique Interiors Applications
There are five areas where specialty fabrics contribute
to innovations in interiors. New ideas and innovations
are now seen in textile walls, fabric ceilings with
unique properties, integrated fabric lighting, and
unique furniture designs. Equally important, is the
trend of applying outdoor fabrics, such as awning
fabrics or marine cover and seating fabrics indoors.
These high durability fabrics (also called performance
fabrics) are woven like indoor fabrics, with finishing
techniques that create softness for easy draping,
in contrast to the stiff, canvas-like qualities of
traditional outdoor fabrics. Performance fabrics are
selected when requirements call for fade, moisture,
and stain resistance, as well as ease of cleaning.
High-end furniture makers and upholsterers are
requesting performance fabrics more often.
Driving the demand for performance fabrics is the
residential design trend focusing on outdoor living
spaces. Furniture is frequently moved in and out,
and the distinction between spaces is blurred. Fade
resistance is a major selling point of performance
fabrics in states like California and Florida. Ultraviolet
(UV) rays pass through transparent walls (i.e., glass
windows) and open floor plans bring in large amounts
of daylight. Concurrent with the push to outdoor
living is the demand for more textured fabrics for
use on exterior-bound furniture, such as jacquards,
medallion weaves, and dobby textures. Fabrics of
these types cost between $100 to $200 a yard, and
are very durable. “Texture is very big right now,
whether created by weaving techniques or through
use of novelty yarns” (Kleinschmidt, 2008).
Textile Walls
Developments in the application of specialty fabrics
include the application of textiles as interior walls.
Unlike standard wall coverings found in typical office
developments, these textiles have structural qualities.
Tensile fabric structures used for interior walls are
constructed for long-term use. These fabric walls need
to be torqued (like the twist of a propeller blade) to
introduce stiffness to the warp and weft of the fabric
weave. Torqued fabrics minimize flutter and prevent
loose sheets of fabric that could lead to ripped fabric
if left unattended. The construction of these textile
walls is accomplished by the introduction of double
curvature or the “anticlastic” (i.e., surfaces have
double curvature in diametrically opposite directions,
like a saddle.), curving of fabric in two directions at
every point on the surface of the fabric.
Think of a saddle shape: in one direction (x axis)
the form curves upward or outward, in the opposite
Where Research Informs Design®

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direction (y axis) the surface curves downward or
inward. This is done by undulating the top edge of the
fabric wall in counterpoint to an undulating bottom
edge. If the top edge bulges out, its corresponding
bottom edge curves in, and so on down the line. The
result is a wall that has dynamic visual energy, and
is unmatched by any flat wall covering no matter how
bright the color pigment.
One striking example of these textile interior walls can
be found at a corporate restaurant in the Leavesden
offices of British Telecom. Architects from Building
Design Partnership (BDP) in London, designed a
“soft screen” fabric wall to separate the staff kitchen
and serving space from the table seating area. BDP
stretched a PVC-coated fine-mesh screen between two
sinuous, horizontal, aluminum rails. With dramatic
down lighting, the wall takes on a theatrical quality
that energizes the space. When the mesh screen is
backlit, it becomes translucent, and when it is lit from
the front, it becomes opaque.
Fig. 3: Corporate restaurant in British Telecom office building used
“soft screen” fabric to separate the kitchen from seating area.
Fabric Ceilings
Fabric ceilings have a history that goes back to
prehistoric times to the invention of tent structures as
dwelling. New within the last four to five years is the
availability of practical and efficient high performance
fabrics offered in wide widths of stretched fabric
panels. These innovative ceiling applications come
from Europe, where most of the research and
development of stretched fabric ceilings is ongoing.
Fire retardant, flame-resistant fabrics are hung via
various methods of fastening. Some fabric is hung
with tension springs around the perimeter to ensure
taut, flat surfaces, and others are hung with custom
aluminum extrusion profiles that provide secure
fittings.
Depending on the tightness of the weave, fabric
ceilings have some advantages over more rigid,
panelized ceiling systems. Large areas can be
covered with fewer attachments to the structure
than rigid systems, saving labor and installation
time. With an open weave fabric light fixtures can
be simple, lowering cost. With lighting hidden above
the fabric plane the fabric’s surface is illuminated,
making the entire ceiling a light source. Changing
the color or fabric texture is simply a matter of unclipping
the mounts and re-stretching a new fabric.
If code requires exposed sprinkler heads, French
manufacturer Chénel makes a special heat-sensitive
fabric ceiling that pulls open along regularly spaced
“melting lines” when a certain temperature is reached,
exposing the sprinkler system, thus preventing major
damage to ceiling, system, and building.
Integrated Fabric Lighting
The market for fabric, lighting, and fixtures is still
largely underdeveloped. Perhaps the most sculptural
of interior applications, applying fabric for lighting,
can take any shape and adapt to many uses including
ceiling mounted fixtures, pendants, wall sconces, or
entire ceilings. Recent designs have favored forms that
exploit the qualities of stretched fabrics over ribs or
tent-like shapes. The light source is contained within,
and the sculptural form glows with diffused light.
There are relatively few manufacturers who specialize
in this genre, and some lighting manufacturers
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carry one or two fixtures
that feature textiles in
their line. With an everincreasing
number of
suitable textiles available,
designers can explore new
and innovative ways to
customize fabric lighting,
limited only by their
imagination.
Unique Furniture
Throughout history, there
have been numerous
applications of fabric
to furniture designs,
Fig. 4: Sconce by Studio Lilica
but recent innovations
in fabrics are opening up new uses and new forms
for furniture designers. An example would be high
durability textiles for indoor/outdoor applications
where extra strength in coatings or abrasion resistance
qualities are the most common. As mentioned earlier,
stain, moisture, and fade resistance qualities can
now be designed into the fibers of the textiles for
producing longer, more durable fabrics to be used in
multiple installations.
An exciting area of development is the use of threedimensional
weave or “spacer” fabrics. These
specialty fabrics are woven or knitted with an
unusual thickness (anywhere from a quarter of an
inch to two inches thick). Designed originally for
industrial applications, such as insulating blankets
for manufacturing equipment or highly-specialized,
outer space instrumentation, the potential for these
spacer fabrics is diverse. Some designers are adapting
it for use in furniture backing or to give form to
finished products. An example was presented in a
recent exhibition at the Goldstein Museum of Design,
“Techno Textiles: From Inner Space to Outer Space,”
with the design of the Chair of Tomorrow by the late
architect Ralph Rapson. A 3-D spacer fabric
Fig. 5: Ralph Rapson’s Chair of Tomorrow will be fabricated using a 3D
spacer fabric (samples of which are shown at left).
made rigid to form the main shape of the chair was
proposed by Rapson.
New Materials
The potential for specialty fabrics to inform design
decisions is open ended and growing as new textiles
and textile properties are invented. Many new
materials are still in the product development stage
and will soon find their way into design solutions.
Soon we will see phase-change textiles that respond
to stimuli in the environment, impact-resistant
textiles, light emitting fabrics, and data carrying
textiles. As with many of these technologies and
developments, initial product development begins
in different fields such as military or industrial
markets, and is discovered and adapted by designers.
The development of new material research is exciting.
The potential for specialty fabrics to inform design
decisions is limitless and growing as new textiles and
textile properties are invented.
References
—Kleinschmidt, J. (2008, September). The ins and
outs of fabric, Specialty Fabrics Review, 34.
Where Research Informs Design®

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—Rasmussen, J. (2008, May). State of the industry
2008, Part I. Specialty Fabrics Review, 28–35.
Additional Resources
www.3tex.com
www.chenel.com
www.crosslinkusa.com
www.dazian.com
www.fabricarchitecture.info
www.ferrari-textiles.com
www.outdura.com
www.studiolilica.com
www.sunbrella.com
www.transformit.com
About the Author
Bruce N. Wright, AIA, is an
architect, design historian,
writer, and editor of the
international design journal
Fabric Architecture. He is the
co-author of Ralph Rapson:
Sixty Years of Modern Design
(Afton Historical Society
Press, 1999). Wright was
also executive producer of the DVD “Ralph Rapson:
A Modernist Vision” (1999), produced for the joint
exhibitions of Rapson’s work at the Minneapolis
Institute of Arts and the Weisman Art Museum
at the University of Minnesota. He was recently
acknowledged by the Minneapolis College of Art &
Design/Walker Art Center for his book Peter Seitz:
Designing a Life.
Related Research Summaries
InformeDesign has many Research Summaries
about interior textiles and textile performance, and
other, pertinent, related topics. This knowledge will
be valuable to you as you consider your next design
solution and is worth sharing with your clients and
collaborators.
“Recycled Fabrics for Sound Absorption”
—Textile Research Journal
“Images Aid the Design Process”
—Journal of Architectural and Planning Research
“Colors Evoke Similar Emotions Internationally”
—Color Research and Application
“Interior Designers and Artists Collaborate”
—Housing and Society
“Ceiling and Window Lighting Combinations”
—Journal of Light & Visual Environment
“Quantifying Changes That Improve Fabric Hand”
—Textile Research Journal
Images Courtesy of:
Banner Creations/LEAD Inc. (Main Page)
Goldstein Museum of Design, University of Minnesota
(Fig. 1, 4, & 5)
PTW Architects, Australia (Fig. 2)
Industrial Fabrics Association International (Fig. 3)
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