Weaving the Future

40,000 Textiles at Your Fingertips

02 SEPTEMBER 2014, PORTLAND, OR
Summary
Textile Hive has announced the launch of its new visual database of the largest independent textile collection in the world. The Andrea Aranow Collection is comprised of over 40,000 textile pieces representing 50 countries. The new web application is a groundbreaking visual tool for designers and educators.The entire collection can now be accessed with an online membership through textilehive.com/membership.

Andrea Aranow began her career as a fashion designer in the early 1970’s creating leather clothing for some of the most influential musicians of her generation including Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis. She spent fifteen years living abroad curating ethnic textile collections for museums such as the British Museum and The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Over decades of travel, Aranow collected textiles from various cultures that piqued her interest.

"The scope of materials in the textile design archive reflects my successive curiosities over the decades," says Aranow. "I rarely passed up an opportunity to acquire a sample of a new technique or a handmade piece of unknown origin.”

Aranow continued to grow her collection, and by 2009 had amassed more than 40,000 pieces. It earned a reputation as a highly prized resource for design industry professionals worldwide. Clients included Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, and Alexander McQueen.

Preserving the collection and expanding its accessibility is the passion project of Aranow's son, Caleb Sayan. After relocating the collection from New York to Portland, Oregon in 2009, Sayan began developing the custom visual application to catalog and display the textiles. Built to enable discovery and exploration, the textile database is a vital source of inspiration for designers as well as an educational tool.

“By combining the extraordinary physical design archive with its innovative digital counterpart, we strive to inspire the makers of tomorrow,” says Sayan.

Quotes
"By combining the extraordinary physical design archive with its innovative digital counterpart, we strive to inspire the makers of tomorrow." Caleb Sayan
Images
Original URL
https://textilehive.pr.co/84123-weaving-the-future
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.

news
    07 Feb

    Textile Hive at Ace New York

    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 origin...
    14 Apr

    Weaving the Future of Textile & Design Education

    April 14, 2015, PORTLAND, OR - Textile Hive is proud to announce the launch of educational access to the digital database of  The Andrea Aranow Textile Design Collection. Textile Hive is a resource for designers, educators and students, sharing the rich history and intricate techniques of the exquisite textiles found in the collection. The visual database allows users easy access to an exceptional archive used by fashion industry professionals for over 25 years. Explore over 40,000 fabrics, ...