Textile Hive at Ace New York
Illuscious
07 FEBRUARY 2017, ACE HOTEL NEW YORK 20 WEST 29TH STREET
Summary
Palette, motif, technique, historical context are all available by searching with the fresh format of Textile Hive. For its public debut Andrea invited a group of emerging artists to each spend an hour using the Textile Hive App to choose a design and interpret it to create a fanciful yukata (informal kimono) of Japanese washi paper. On Thursday, February 9th, models will descend the hotel lobby’s much-loved staircase and make their way up onto the room’s center table to show off these original works. The walk also marks the opening of a month-long gallery exhibition offering guests an in-depth look at Textile Hive at the Ace Hotel NYC. Video, fabric samples and original textile paintings will be displayed alongside contextual information about the collection, present and future as it explores its next chapter.Ace Hotel New York is proud to present New York’s first public exhibition of Textile Hive with the help of Electric Object’s digital display, EO2. Textile Hive is a physical, digital and contextual collection of over 40,000 antique and handmade textiles spanning fifty countries and 200 years of design history. The material was collected by Andrea Aranow during her wide travels which began in Peru in the 1970s. As a visual explorer, she’s always been intrigued with discovering new textile beauty and showcasing it. She founded Andrea Aranow Textiles Documents in New York in 1987 and continued by amplifying the material with topical groups of vintage and antique items from the U.S. and Europe. In 2009 the collection was moved to Portland, Oregon by Caleb Sayan to digitize the its contents so that it might be utilized by a wider audience.
Palette, motif, technique, historical context are all available by searching with the fresh format of Textile Hive. For its public debut Andrea invited a group of emerging artists to each spend an hour using the Textile Hive App to choose a design and create a fanciful yukata (informal kimono) of Japanese washi paper. On Thursday February 9th, models will descend the hotel lobby’s much-loved staircases, making their way up the room’s center table to show off these original works.
The walk also marks the opening of a month-long gallery exhibition offering guests an in-depth look at Textile Hive. Video, fabric samples and original textile paintings will be displayed alongside contextual information about the collection will be presented on the innovative Electric Objects Display, EO2. Electric Objects makes art more accessible by bringing it into the home. The EO2 is their digital display designed to elevate art and our partnership with Electric Objects allows us to introduce a digital and contextual element alongside the physical collection.
The public and press are invited to join us for the walk and reception, which will go into the night with legendary New York DJ Justin Strauss.
Andrea Aranow and Caleb Sayan
Andrea has spent her first seventy years with surface design and handling cloth as her guiding beacons. She initiated Dakota Transit the East Village shortly after completing a cultural history degree at Brown University and continued on with fifteen years of immersion in foreign lands, building museum collections of ethnic costume. But she perhaps best known as the originator of Andrea Aranow Textile Documents, a semi-secret company which furnished design and technical stimuli to a wide range of designers in both fashion and home furnishings. Decades later, she is currently preparing her other textile collections, which include groups from highland Peru, modern kimono, and Chinese minority costume.
Caleb Sayan, Andrea’s son, conceived, assembled, and led the team responsible for the digitization of the Andrea Aranow Textile Design Collection and the creation of the Visual Hive software platform. His deep appreciation of the intricacies and tactile nature of textiles, combined with his passion for technology and its application for enhancing interactions with cultural material led him to the creation of the Textile Hive.
Textile Hive
Textile Hive, based in Portland OR, is home to the 40,000 textiles of the Andrea Aranow Textile Design Collection. The collection is the largest fully digitized independent textile collection in the world. Through its membership program the visual database offers access to educational institutions, design professionals and textile enthusiasts. Textile Hive’s mission is to preserve and enable greater access to the rich history, intricate techniques, and stunning visual beauty of the textile collection through immersive physical and digital experiences.
The ultimate goal for Textile Hive is to find a permanent home for the physical and digital collection with an educational institution, cultural organization, or other partnership to ensure that the collection be fully utilized, built upon, and preserved for future generations.
Ace Hotel New York
Ace Hotel New York is a 12-story historic hotel and cultural hub in Midtown Manhattan. With the Michelin-starred Breslin Bar and Dining Room, guest rooms featuring original art, turntables and guitars and activated partnerships with forward-thinking community organizations, Ace New York is home to fashion events, screenings, DJs, literary events and contemporary art programs.
Electric Objects
Electric Objects Electric Objects is making the world of art more accessible for everyone by bringing it into the home. EO2 is our digital display designed for art. Upload your own art or display any of the over 30k diverse works uploaded by the EO community, for free. Or join Art Club, our art discovery service that’s your gateway to thousands of commissioned, museum and curated works of art. Choose your next piece as easily as you'd pick the next song, create art playlists and more.
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About Textile Hive
Textile Hive is home to 40,000 textiles of the Andrea Aranow Textile Design Collection, the largest fully digitized independent textile collection in the world. Textile Hive’s mission is to preserve and enable greater access to the rich history, intricate techniques, and stunning visual beauty of the textile collection through immersive physical and digital experiences.