Interior Design fabric talks at Chelsea Harbour - Helen Cormack of Tissus d'Helene and Hermes textiles

The Focus Design Festival is one of the interior design festivals taking place in London this week and I thought I'd share with you a few of the things I saw for those who might be interested.

One of the many atriums of the Design Center

The event is taking place in the Design Center in Chelsea Harbour which is the mecca for all interior design needs and wants.

A display mannequin of various textiles at Tissus d'Helene

I got to Lots Road via a Range Rover car service they were shuttling people back and forth with as Lots Road is in deep Chelsea and hard to get to.  Plus they were competing with Decorex, another festival in Kensington Palace so they had to make it accessible.

I got there in time to hear Helen McCormack speak about fabrics and who better to hear about textiles than Helen herself.

Helen is the Helene of the company Tissus d'Helene.

There was a lovely lady just playing with fabrics and so open that I didn't realize this until she introduced herself as we were chatting which was a little embarrassing.

She told us a brief history on how she set up her company.

She used to work for Claremont fabrics for 8 years and thought she needed a change.
Apparently she went to lunch with one of my favorite designers 

Nina Campbell who said that by chance there was a company that needed representing and she thought she would take a chance.

Part of her showroom

She then remortgaged her house to provide three years rent for a little office/showroom at Chelsea Harbour Design Center which was £30,000 a year plus extra so she could pay off the mortgage! Now she is in a superb showroom that is about 4 times the original size of her start up office with a few members of staff.

A chair covered in one of her fabrics

Her talk compared to others was so personal, informative, and interesting.  While the other talks I went to were factual, I think being not just an employee but having invested so much into something gave the talk a special touch.

She said that one of the most popular fabrics since the 60's was the "Arbre de Matisse Reverse".

Referred to in a Billy Baldwin book

It seems that it is one of the designer trade's most relied on prints and has even made covers of magazines and books.

On the chair on the right on a recent issue

The sofa is covered in the fabric

The story how it was created was the Billy Baldwin was apparently looking for a print that would match the motif on the Matisse print on the wall hence the name of the fabric.

The motif in the blue color Via

She showed us so many lovely prints that I don't see how one could ever make a decision!

She showed us antique French prints that had been modernized in color palettes.  She said that she does customize a lot of fabric and doesn't ask for a minimum order of a ridiculous amount of fabric which was nice for the public to know.

The following prints were hand blocked and showed us the nuances and issues that come with handmade items from the client and designer's point of view.

She said that the repeat of the fabric won't be like digitally printed fabrics and certain clients demand such perfection that even a mark of a block or not being able to upholster things exactly put a lot of people off.

The sad consequence of this is that many workshops have to close down due to increasing demands of "perfection."

Rose Tarlow had to stop further production of the line due to this.

But if you wanted true hand made craftsmanship,

 John Robshaw still produces hand blocked fabrics.

The block is stamped four times to make a full circle.

Apologies for the picture but the fabric below was from 

Marialida whose company director was a member 

of the fabled Fortuny dynasty.

She explained the artisanal nature of creating fabrics for not only the design but the cloth and weave itself.  Apparently, Marialida will take commissions from individual clients for things like curtains to mimic a favorite out of production rug for example.

This fabric was made with real silver and gold thread so ages beautifully and truly gets better with age.  I love this gilver color.

She was very gracious as she wanted her audience to appreciate old crafting techniques she even told us to stop by at her competitors at George Le Manach to see examples of textiles made by antique French looms.

 These fabrics were in a special room at the Claremont showroom.

 This green fabric was made in the original color, style and technique.

 The chair was covered in a fabric that was made in the original fabric and style but had modern colors for this special range.

I then went to a talk at Hermes featuring their new homeware collaboration with Dedar.

Don't you love this Equateur motif?
For a better look - please click on link.

 I do love the crispness and colors and the fabric was so thick yet luxuriously sturdy.

 Some of the fabrics were based on scarves and I love the pattern below!  It is based on the 24 Circuit Faubourg.

How very clever!

On a side note, there was a very chic Italian lady at the talk for Hermes fabrics.

 My friend who is very knowledgeable in fashion admired her coat.

He said, 

"Nice gilet.  Celine autumn/winter collection...Really suits you."

 She said, "Nice guess."

As if on cue, my friend and I both replied at the same time,

"It wasn't a guess!"

But she really was so chic and I got completely diverted and am googling Celine non stop.