NYC Fashion Week
Last week concluded the 2014 New York City Fashion Week and it was full of excitement, trends, and everything needed to influence the world of fashion and design in the coming months. Some of… Full Aritcle
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Last week concluded the 2014 New York City Fashion Week and it was full of excitement, trends, and everything needed to influence the world of fashion and design in the coming months.
Some of the most notable trends were things we had been noticing ourselves before Fashion Week.
Leather, lace, geometric patterns and stripes, and bright colors were all on display on the runway.
We couldn’t help but notice the similarity to our Tweed Woven
Bright colors, especially blue are the new go to pop of color against the variety of grays.
Leather, leather and lace. Leather is such staple of design and fashion forward thinking – it is no surprise to see it continually being used in new ways to stay in the forefront of fashion.
We talked about the leather and lace trend a couple weeks ago as well
A shift from the norm of black as the central color/non-color, white was the most visible color.
You can read more about the NYC Fashion Week at USA Today’s wrap up
Last week Townsend was very pleased to have a visit from our Shanghai representative team, Qilin.
Shown here with some of our Townsend team are Bensom, Mr. Wu, and Nina.
Nina and the team got to get in depth look at many of the new products and process happen all around Townsend and got to spend time with many of the employees. They were very impressed with everything that saw and all the people they met. They are really a part of the Townsend family and have done, and will continue to do, great things for Townsend.
Thank you for your time Qilin Team, Townsend is proud of our relationship together and looking forward to many more great years.
Get in touch with Nina and the Qilin Team on our Find A Rep page
Shanghai
Nina Ding
Qilin Fabric Co., Ltd.
Shanghai
Phone: +86 021 50813995
Fax: +86 021 64335783
qilinz@126.com
It is usually the King who returns home for his throne, but our throne just traveled back to us!
Earlier this year a fantastic piece of functional art was made by the experts at Brand Standard Furnishings. A Royal Throne made with our eye-grabbing Shimmering Suede has been traveling around to tradeshows and is back home with us now.
The Shimmering Suede Royal Throne is a symbol, a symbol of ruling your own Kingdom of Design. It is regal and stately, it is imposing and attention demanding, but it is also expressive, designy, and fun. And we at Townsend Leather believe that designing should be artistic and fun, as well as simple and effective.
This is why we have been urging customers to Become The Ruler of Their Own Kingdom of Design with Townsend Leather.
Townsend Leather’s sample store is mindfully designed to be simple, easy, and to the point. Allowing you to choose exactly the color, pattern, or texture you desire.
Create your own lightbox “design board,” share your lightbox with friends or clients, or print it for your next presentation.
Or place your sample order and get memo samples of your selections sent directly to you!
A Royal Throne is only complete with its crown, scepter, and leather cape!
Contact us at info@townsendleather.com for more information about browsing our samples or for information and samples of our Shimmering Suede
Monday August 27th, was Women’s Equality Day in honor of the day that Women were finally granted the right to vote. It’s hard to believe this only happened less than 100 years ago!
In honor of how far Women’s Rights have come, we wanted to share a few interesting articles we have come across that point to the power, influence, and intelligence of women. Especially in the broad field of design and related industries.
The ever impressive Gensler Associate, Rashana Zaklit, wrote an insightful piece for HD’s HD Talk Blog. You can see it here, Rashana Zaklit / HD
Rashana brings up great points on the importance of understanding the needs of everyone using your space, your design, your creation – whatever it is. Anytime you are looking at only one sect, you are out of balance. When you consider everyone and each varying need you are closer to the goal of true equality.
The Next Women Magazine has a series of articles covering a broad range of Female power and abilities. You can see all the greatness in their Female Heroes Series / The Next Women Magazine
And coincidentally Fast Company recently posted a list of its top 25 Smartest Women on Twitter, one of which is Simone Brummelhuis, Founder and CEO of The Next Women Magazine. You should check out the list and follow them all, there is a lot of genius being spread by that little blue bird.
Fast Company also recently highlighted the humorous and poignant slideshow work of Terri Oda, as she helps to explain why math is NOT just a “boys game” That post is followed by equally valuable articles covering all kinds of female/design industry challenges and insights.
Also, you can take a view inside the life of one of the most inspiring creative women we have come across, Tina Roth Eisenberg through the fantastic lens of the Like Knows Like team. Tina is the founder of the always pleasing design-centric blog, Swiss-Miss, but she also has a line of beautifully illustrated temporary tattoos, and most inspiringly she established the now global, Creative Mornings – which has to be viewed to be appreciated (or go to the blog for more info and video clips, http://blog.creativemornings.com/).
It is especially meaningful to celebrate the significance (even in our very small way) of Women’s Equality, here at Townsend Leather; as Johnstown New York – home of Townsend Leather, is also home to the “Birthplace of equal rights for women” by being the birthplace of one of the most influential women for the cause, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. You can see more about Ms. Stanton and Johnstown’s role on equal rights for women here, http://www.johnstownnyhistory.com/stanton.html
And to close this post, we end on a quote from the White House Blog from yesterday, regarding Women’s Equality Day, “On this Women’s Equality Day, we honor those who fought tirelessly for a woman’s right to vote, but we know that there is much more work to do.
Let us keep marching forward together.”
Haute Living dot com is a great place to go for all things Fine Living, and this week was no exception.
Townsend Leather is proud to provide luxury leather to all the private aircraft industry and is especially proud to count Gulfstream amongst our valued relationships.
You can see a full write-up on Gulfstream’s G450 here, Haute Living Gulfstream G450
Taking inspiration from artists like Jackson Pollock, Mark Tobey, Mark Rothko, Hans Hoffman,
and more, along with the hand-craft of intricate patterning, Townsend Leather’s in-house artists have created a truly one-of-a-kind offering,
Townsend Leather’s Abstract Art Series.
Townsend’s Artists work under the direction of our Creative Virtuoso, Stephan Paciolla,
to create endless opportunities of creativity and customization on leather.
Drawing upon specialized painting techniques, the Abstract Art Series
can make nearly any artistic idea come to life.
Because the leather hides are literally created, crafted, and painted by hand
each one is unique and the variation becomes an integral element to its beauty.
Over the past year (Our Abstract Art Series was launched at NBAA 2012) we have created
a tremendous amount of R&D, sample, and ordered pieces each with a different look.
The most popular looks have been our Eastern Lattice and Striations
These styles have been used for headboards, wall panels, and furniture.
We have also done beautiful abstract art concepts pieces,
such as the Threadneedles Hotel in London shown here,
And we have enhanced some office space at Townsend by incorporating the Abstract Art Series
The Abstract Art Series can be customized to your artistic desires or you can utilize the designs we have already created. This series of leather brings a truly unique look to any design. The varied techniques are applied by hand by our artists with brushstrokes, stenciling, and layers creating depth and colors that will enhance any interior.
The Abstract Art Series can be bold, daring, and attention-getting as a focal point
or it can be subdued and coordinate perfectly with the rest of the space.
See the photo gallery below for some more examples of the Townsend Leather Abstract Art Series. And contact us to request your own samples or get more information about the series.
Due to the hand-crafted nature of these products,
sampling is limited and not available direct from our sample store.
If you are interested in a handcrafted Abstract Art Series leather from Townsend Leather, created by-hand by our in-house artists, please contact us at info@townsendleather.com
Continuing our series of exploring all the many aspects, processes, and departments that go into the production of luxury leather, we once again take a trip “Out On The Floor” (previously here and here).
A pivotal moment in the production process.
TOGGLING.
The guys working in the toggle department, work with unparalleled speed and grace.
Reaching to every nook and cranny of a hide, to pull it to its best shape. They work with so many metal toggle hooks, hides, and toggle boards – they can nearly do it in their sleep. But, this certainly is not a sleepy mindless task, this job takes focus and expert understanding of the structure of the hide.
In the toggling department, the craftsmen lightning-quick assess the hide for its optimal shape and size, then get to work – grabbing each edge, each outlier, each neck, shoulder, leg, and bit of the hide. They gently and carefully stretch it in equal distribution – all 4 partners moving in sync to perfectly balance the hide on the board.
The hide is stretched to reduce the visibility of wrinkles, to help smooth the grain of the hide, and to stretch it to its full capacity in order to reduce any shrinkage.
The hide will hang and slowly dry and acclimate to its optimally flattened position, for an average of 6 to 8 hours.
Cycling through the machine, then carefully being removed in its one-of-many steps toward becoming beautiful luxurious leather.
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