Specialty fabrics are classified into many fields, such as automotive applications,
medical textiles, geotextiles, architectural textiles, agrotextiles, and protective.
Implications VOL. 06 ISSUE 10
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A Newsletter by InformeDesign. A Web site for design and human behavior research.
Innovative Interior Textiles Bruce N. Wright, AIA
IN THIS ISSUE Innovative Interior Textiles Related Research Summaries
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
Implications 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.
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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
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
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
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Implications 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.
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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
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
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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Implications
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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®
Implications —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.
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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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