Chapter 76; Graphic Design for Textile

"In his Natural History, Pliny states that printing on textiles  was particularly utilized in Egypt. Printed material is only represented by fabrics of the fourth century at the earliest and continues until the Arab period. In those days, there were great textile centers such as Alexandria  Panopolis, Oxyrhynchus, Tinnis and Damietta, but regrettably we know this only from texts, because any trace of weaving shops and their fragile wooden looms has vanished. However, by studying the fabrics themselves, scholars are often able to derive their origins.


As Patrick Hunt has argued the Sassanian Empire (224-651 AD) of Iran's

monopoly on silk mobility to the West stymied Byzantine efforts to acquire silk at reasonable costs and it wasn’t until near the end of the Sassanian Empire, around 563 AD, that Justinian in Constantinople was able to surreptitiously begin a Byzantine silk industry. The Sassanian empire ended with the Arab invasions in the middle 7th century that brought Islam to the region ending Persian rule. Famous for their textiles and especially their silk designs, which were distinct even while incorporating Sogdian and Bactrian patterns.

(...) Medieval silk vestments and even shrouds often displayed Sassanid motifs even when loomed and embroidered long after the Sassanid Empire. For example, the silk shroud of St. Sernin of Toulouse, 12th century from Al Andaluz (Moorish Spain), and now in the Cluny Museum in Paris, represents two Sassanian peacocks facing each other across a Tree of Life. Other examples include the Reliquary of St. Len at the Victorian Albert in London as well as other silk and textile fragments whose motif and style were borrowed from Sassanian art long after its own floruit was forgotten or possibly never really kown in the West.

Sassanian Textile from 6-8th c. CE

Although a fairly unknown dynasty, the Sasanian dynasty of Iran established itself as a period for creativity and high-art. A contemporary to Christian Rome and the Byzantine Empire, Sasanian Iran managed to influence much in science and art. Of interest is their trade in textile, of which examples are practically non-existent due to unfavorable environment and rapid decay.

For most of the four hundred years of Sasanian rule, the Persians were the dominant culture of the Silk Road. Their style, expressed through key trade items and diplomatic gifts, especially the silks and metalwares produced in the imperial workshops, became a visual lingua franca, found dispersed from Japan to Europe. The lion, symbol of kingship, power, prestige, and protection of sacred spaces, was a dominant motif on both silverware and silks, either as the dying lion which confers status on its royal hunter  or as the guardian lion of the empire. 

Of the two forms of production, silk was probably the more influential. Initially raw silk was imported along the Silk Road from China to the near East, mainly to Persia and Byzantine Syria, where it was then dyed and woven into twills and brocades. The value-added textiles were then re-exported back along the trade routes to China and beyond to Japan or shipped westward to Byzantium and the emerging kingdoms of Europe. As more and more Central Asian and Western cultures acquired knowledge of sericulture, the designs were widely copied, often using the draw loom developed in Persia. By the eighth century, Sasanian motifs are found as both imported goods and locally produced copies from sources as dispersed as Spain, Byzantium, Japan, Sogdiana, and China [Heleanor B. Feltham, “Lions, Silks and Silver: The Influence of Sasanian Persia” Sino-Platonic Papers, 206 (August 2010)]

Textile of Sasanian Persian or Sogdian origin combining hunt and animal combat motifs,

Iranian silk fragment with winged lions to each side of a ‘tree of life’, C8th. Note the particularly elaborate roundel surrounding the central motif

Square banner panel made of plain woven silk, clamp-resist dyed in red and blue with part of a large pearl roundel enclosing four pairs of confronted geese arranged around a central floral medallion.

Add captionFragment of Chinese silk found in an ice tomb at Pazyryk in the Altai. Warring

Sericulture originated in China, and rapidly became important as the defining female contribution to the family economy, practiced by all classes from the empress to the peasant. According to legend, around 2700 BC Leizu, wife of the mythical and creative Yellow Emperor Huangdi, sat beneath a mulberry tree sipping her tea, when a fat, white cocoon fell into her cup. As she fished it out she found a loose thread, which she unwound and unwound, until her lap was full of a long, fine, shining heap of unspun silk. Inspired by the beauty of the thread, she gathered cocoons until she had sufficient thread to weave a sumptuous robe for her husband. Over time she learned how to select the finest cocoons, allow their moths to emerge and mate, keep the eggs at an even temperature until they hatched, and care for the worms as they gorged themselves on the leaves of the white mulberry, and how to unwind and reel and spin and dye the glistening threads. And so the art of sericulture was born, and Leizu became a goddess.

 In reality sericulture developed in China possibly as early as 7000 years ago, as evidenced by fabric fragments and spinning tools from sites along the lower Yangzi River. By the Han dynasty (202 BC–221 AD), reeling and spinning silk were considered household duties for women, and in every silk-producing district a large part of each day was devoted to the feeding and care of silkworms and the unravelling, spinning, weaving, dying, and embroidering of silk.

States period 475–221 BC.

6th–7thAD Silk twill textile, woven in Japan, imitating a Sasanian Persian original, from the Shoso-in Depository in Nara (established 754 AD).

Byzantine silk textile with Sasanian-style senmurvs. Musée Royaux d'Art et d'Histoir, Bruxelles

The Shroud of Saint Columba, St. Sens Cathedral, France. C8th silk textile from Zandan near Bukhara.

Silk Shroud fragment of St. Sernin of Toulouse, 12th c. from Andaluz (Moorish Spain), Cluny Museum, Paris (photo in public domain)

Spain El Andaluz 11th century silk, influenced by Sasanian senmurv.

Textile fragment, late 10th century; cAbbasid Probably Iraq Cotton, plain weave with painted inscription;

Cotton textiles from the eastern Islamic world were often inexpensively decorated with simple painted brushstrokes. The painted surface decoration of these textiles imitates the more luxurious type with embroidered silk inscriptions and also employs the same cAbbasid epigraphic style. The inscription on this fragment is legible. "Perfect blessing" is the basic unit which is embellished with superfluous undersweeps that echo the naturally curved script as it is repeated. The final letter of the word "blessing" (baraka) is extended to punctuate another series of repetitions created in the zone above the main inscription. It is possible that this visually pleasing pattern filled the length of the textile.

Piece of the so called “Marwan Silk” from the collection of Charles Robinson and now in the Whitworth Art Gallery. From the design it appears that it originated in Central Asia. It is associated with an inscription that identifies it with Marwan II, the last Caliph of the Ummayyad dynasty who fled from Syria to Egypt in AD 750 (The Whitworth Art Gallery,

Textile Fragment with Figural and Floral Motifs and Inscriptions, 7th-8th century. Wool, linen, Umayyad period, 7th-8th century

Coptic and Arabic influences meld in this early Islamic textile fragment to create a fascinating hybrid of Coptic-style human and animal figures in the main band of decoration, and a curious Arabic Kufic inscription that has been transformed into an illegible series of decorative geometric motifs along the upper register. Early Egyptian Islamic textiles such as this one were probably still woven by Coptic weavers, as suggested by the coarse, dark wool foundation and by the way the tapestry-woven Coptic-style decoration in wool and linen is paired with an illegible Kufic script band.

India in particular was known for the quality of its textiles, and for centuries was involved in a brisk trade with Far and Southeast Asia. European companies worked their way into this commercial nexus in the early sixteenth century. The Portuguese were the first to arrive, having discovered a sea route from Europe to the East that allowed them to avoid the heavy taxes on goods sent overland through the Middle East. The British East India Company received its charter in 1600 and the Dutch East India Company was founded two years later. These agencies bought textiles in India for silver and gold, exchanged them for spices grown in the Malay Islands, and sold the spices in Europe and Asia. Soon Indian textiles were exported directly to Europe, where they became highly fashionable. The popularity of Indian textiles is evidenced in the number of words that have made their way into English: calico, pajama, gingham, dungaree, chintz, and khaki. The luxury textiles coveted for centuries are now collected in museums, where they are often grouped and studied on the basis of their patterns of production.

Kalamkari hanging with figures in an architectural setting, Qutb Shahi period (1496–1687), ca. 1640–50 India, Deccan Cotton; plain weave, mordant painted and dyed, resist dyed;

Cover for a ceremonial gift (rumal), ca. 1640–50 India, Deccan, Golconda Cotton, stenciled, painted, and dyed.

Safavid textiles are praised as the pinnacle of Iranian loom weaving. When the Safavids came to power at the turn of the sixteenth century, the Iranian textile industry was already well developed in the production and sale of woven silk textiles and rugs as well as raw silk for export. The textile industry consisted of urban workshops producing textiles independently, provincial centers focusing on rug weaving, and small farms cultivating silk in the Caspian region. As the Safavids set up their capital cities of Tabriz, Qazvin, and finally Isfahan, the textile industry became centralized and was swiftly incorporated into the national economy, creating an expansive revenue stream.


Under the reign of Shah Tahmasp (1524–76), royal workshops were established primarily to service the court, while raw silk continued to be produced and sold to the state by independent producers from northern provinces such as Gilan. In the seventeenth century, Shah cAbbas I (r. 1587–1629) centralized the Iranian economy by developing a state monopoly over the silk trade, controlling production in the Caspian provinces, where the bulk of the raw material was produced. In addition, the state regained control of ports in the Persian Gulf from Portuguese occupation, facilitating maritime trade and rerouting silk trade away from areas under Ottoman jurisdiction. When the Safavid capital was established in Isfahan in 1598, Armenian textile workers were relocated to the neighborhood of New Julfa, in close proximity to Shah cAbbas' palatial complex. This local textile industry included dyers, weavers, and embroiderers producing luxury textiles mainly for export under the supervision of the state. Private workshops in urban centers such as Yazd and Kashan continued to produce textiles for sale within and beyond Iranian borders, and are especially known for velvet and lampas-woven luxury silks.

Textile depicting a courtier in a landscape, 16th century; Safavid Iran,

Figural designs relied heavily on manuscript illustration for composition and subject matter. Popular scenes feature idealized pastimes such as hunting, falconry, or poetry reading in garden settings, a trend that mirrors contemporary paintings. Some of the finest examples of figural silks produced during the reign of Shah Abbas feature characters from popular literature such as the lovers Khusrau and Shirin and Layla and Majnun from Nizami's Khamsa, or battle scenes referencing the herculean Rustam in Firdausi's Shahnama.

Silk panel of Safavid courtiers leading Georgian captives, mid–16th century; Safavid Iran

This textile, nearly full width, depicts a Safavid prince on horseback and a child riding pillion; behind them, an adult male captive is led by a chain. It is one of only thirteen extant silks, probably fashioned as garments, that depict some variation on this theme using similar techniques and enhanced by metal threads. These compositions do not appear in contemporary manuscript painting, but correlate with Shah Tahmasp’s military campaigns between 1540 and 1553; they may have been produced as part of a propaganda campaign to encourage confidence in Safavid military might. The captives are identified as Georgian men, women, and children. The mythical simurgh bird watches the scene from a nearby tree, above the prisoner’s head.

Velvet panel with flowering plants, first half of 17th century; Safavid, Iran, Silk, cotton, flat metal thread; cut and voided velvet, brocaded;

This type of large-scale floral velvet was most likely intended for use as household furnishing. The individual motifs feature stylized flora framed by foliage, emulating the saz leaf style made popular by black pen illustrations. The repeat is artfully arranged within rows of fantastic flowering plants to create the effect of a seamless pattern. Safavid velvets were among the most expensive fabrics sold on the international market during the seventeenth century and exemplify a preference for luxury and opulence.

During the Renaissance, luxurious fabrics made of silk and precious metal threads counted among the most valuable items owned by both individuals and the Church. As an expression of power, wealth, and taste, specially woven fabrics incorporating a family coat-of-arms or other motifs associated with the family’s reputation were particularly valuable. Such fabrics were used in secular dress, religious vestments, and interior furnishings. The precise meaning of some of the motifs that held special significance during the Renaissance has been lost over time. But the fact remains that these luxurious textiles were the most highly valued products of the talented silk weavers of the Italian peninsula, and were exported all over Europe, as well as to the Ottoman empire. The consumption of the most expensive fabric was confined to the upper classes who could afford them, but the production and marketing of the fabrics involved many more people at almost all levels of society. The period from about 1400 to 1600 was one in which the weavers of the Italian peninsula, as well as Spain, excelled at producing spectacular patterned velvet textil.


The Industrial Revolution played a major role in transforming the production and consumption of textiles in nineteenth-century Europe. The importance of the textile industries to the development of the factory system cannot be overestimated. Many of the major inventions of this period applied directly or indirectly to the textile industries, from the spinning jenny (invented by James Hargreaves in 1764), which automated the preparation of weft threads for the loom, to the steam engine (perfected by James Watt in 1775), which was applied to the power loom. The end result was that both plain and patterned textiles could be produced more quickly and cheaply, making mass-produced fabrics for dress and furnishings available to a large portion of society. While consumers benefited from a greater variety of goods at lower costs, textile workers often suffered as the factories replaced many skilled weavers with unskilled workers at lower wages. France continued to be the leading source for luxury dress and furnishing silks during the nineteenth century, as it had been throughout the eighteenth century, while England's technical prowess enabled the country to excel at mass production for the middle-market consumer.

Competition between French and English textile manufacturers and designers was fueled by the international exhibitions. France responded to the success of the London's Great Exhibition of 1851 by organizing its own in 1855. It remained the leader in costume and interior fashions, while the English sought to capture a larger share of the luxury goods market. French textile designers were traditionally better trained and earned more money than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe; French studios existed which specialized in designs for export. The Victoria and Albert Museum was founded in 1852 as a repository for art objects intended to serve as inspiration to the design community in addition to serving the public at large. Three French museums, the Musée Historique des Tissus in Lyon, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and Musée de l'Impression sur Étoffes in Mulhouse (in the cotton-printing center of Alsace) were all founded between 1856 and 1863 with goals similar to those of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Silk cut pile-on-pile velvet, used by Venetian senators. Venice, first half of the sixteenth century. Musée Historique des Tissus, Lyon.

Pile-on-pile velvet Italy, Venice, late 16th or early 17th century European Textiles in the Keir Collection 400BC to 1800AD, Monique King and Donald King, Faber and Faber, London, 1990

Altar Frontal (detail), showing violet velvet with flowers in gold. 16th century, Venice. Collection Cini, Venice.

Altar Frontal (portion), showing large floral motifs and pomegranates. Early 16th century, Florence. Museo Civico, Spoleto.

Green Velvet (portion), showing pattern of interlaced chestnut branches on ivory silk ground enriched with silver thread. Early 16th century, Florence. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Silk Ciselé velvet Genoa, second half of the sixteenth century Musée Historique des Tissus, Lyon.

Cope (detail) showing pattern in gold and pink on grass-green ground. 16th century, Tuscany Collection Cini, Venice.

Cut and Uncut Velvet Cope, with changeable reflections of red, violet, and green. 16th century, Venice. Church of the Frari, Venice

Damask (portion), brocaded with colored silks in a pattern of parrots and bunches of flowers in vases and crowns. 16th century. Museo della Cattedrale, Sam Gimignano.

Silk cut voided velvet with brocading and bouclé wefts in gold and silver ("riccio sopra riccio" velvet). Florence, second quarter of the sixteenth century. Museo Civico di Torino, Turin.

Ciselé velvet. Italy, possibly Florence, second half 16th or early 17th century. Acquired in Italy.

Polychrome Velvet (portion), on green satin ground 16th century, Venice Museé des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Cut and Uncut Brown Velvet, on yellow ground (portion), showing pattern of small floral motifs arrayed in parallel lines. 16th century, Genoa Museo del Castello Sforzesco, Milan

Velvet fragments with Medici arms, 1440–1500 Florence or Venice, Silk, metal thread;

Textile with Medici emblems, late 15th–early 16th century Italian (probably Florence) Silk satin foundation weave with metal–wrapped thread loops

Velvet fragment with Sempervivum tectorum motif, late 15th–early 16th century Italian (Milan) Silk velvet brocaded with metal–wrapped thread

"Allegorical Figures," ca. 1893 Designed by Léon–Victor Solon (French, 1872–1957); Manufacturer: Thomas Wardle & Co. English Printed silk.

This piece represents the only known textile design by Léon-Victor Solon (1872–1957). Like his father, Marc-Louis-Emanuel Solon (1835–1913), he worked primarily as a ceramic artist for the English firm of Minton, and was well known for his successful interpretation of Art Nouveau–style floral and figural compositions on ceramic tiles and decorative vases. In addition to being printed on silk, the design was also printed on cotton velveteen, which was a common furnishing textile of the period.

Indienne, Musée de l'impression sur étoffes de Mulhouse

Indienne is the name given in France to a painted or printed fabric made ​​in Europe between the seventeenth and nineteenth century. These fabrics are so named because they were originally imported from  India. These painted fabrics , Indian or Persian , were known as madras , beijing, gougourans , damask or cirsacs . The edict of 26 October 1686 prohibited the entry into France of cotton fabrics , as well as their manufacturing. It aimed to protect the silk weavers , wool , flax and hemp . Many Huguenots traders and artisans , persecuted for their Protestant religion in the early 1680s , went into exile in Switzerland. In 1580 , first Indiennes, imported by Armenians, appeared in an inventory list in Marseille. In 1669, Colbert created the free port of Marseille , where Armenians settled at his request, to teach Marseillais to paint cottons and supplies. Thereafter, Marseillais began to produce  these fabrics themselves, which then took the name Indienne of Marseille. The French factories grew in Nantes , Mulhouse, Jouy -en- Josas , Rouen, Bolbec and Alsace and in mainly Protestant Switzerland -- Geneva and Neuchâtel.

Paul Poiret (French, 1879-1944) | Antelopes, c. 1930 | Cotton, plain weave; block printed

18th Century French Silk Brocade

Patterned silk velvet was the most expensive and prestigious of all woven textiles, but other patterned silks, such as damasks and brocades, were costly as well. The city-states of the Italian peninsula produced the majority of European luxury silks during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and continued to dominate the production of luxury textiles well into the seventeenth century. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Venice and Florence were renowned for their sumptuous Renaissance velvets incorporating gold and silver threads with large floral patterns after the pomegranate motif. During the seventeenth century, Genoa began producing polychrome floral velvets with large-scale patterns primarily intended for wall covering and furniture. This so-called Genoa or jardinière velvet (38.182.2) remained the preferred choice for formal interiors through the eighteenth century, even as fashions in dress began to call for lighter fabrics.

A sizeable silk-weaving industry existed in France from the fifteenth century, centered in the city of Tours. Tours had the advantage of being close to Paris and the primary French consumers of luxury textiles: the court and nobility. Under King Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715), the superintendent of finance Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683) launched an ambitious scheme to organize and promote the textile industries in France, both at home and abroad. Lyon, which had previously been an important trade center for merchants importing Italian textiles, emerged as the center of the reorganized industry, and subsequently overtook Tours as the largest French producer of luxurious silk textiles.

Silk weaving in Lyon was supported by other subsidiary crafts such as spinning, dyeing, and the printing of special paper for textile design drawings, in addition to the presence of merchants who supplied materials and sold the finished products. It has been estimated that more than one-third of the population of Lyon, almost 15,000 workers, was involved in the silk industry either directly or indirectly by the late eighteenth century.

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 encouraged large numbers of Huguenot (French Protestant) artisans to relocate from France to England, the Netherlands, and Germany. The area of Spitalfields, east of London, was one of the main beneficiaries of this influx and subsequently became known for its fine dress silks. In the mid-eighteenth century, English silk designers distinguished their work from the prevailing French taste for generalized floral types (69.79.3) by producing spare floral patterns often based on actual botanical specimens or engravings (62.136.1). It is during the early eighteenth century that the identities of individual silk designers become known. One designer, an Englishwoman named Anna Maria Garthwaite (1690–1763) is notable for the fact that a large collection of her designs have survived, and silks woven to these designs have been identified

Design for a woven silk by Anna Maria Garthwaite, Spitalfields, 1730 - 1740. Victoria & Albert Mus eum

Anna Maria Garthwaite (1690- 1763) became one of the leading pattern drawers in the English silk industry despite the likelihood that she did not receive the formal technical training usually considered necessary to take up such a profession. She produced as many as 80 commissioned designs a year, such as this one, for master weavers and mercers. She lived and worked in Spitalfields, London from about 1730 until her death in 1763. Her interest in natural form--and her talent for depicting it--characterized her designs throughout her professional life.

Design for woven silk, by Anna Maria Garthwaite. London, England, early 18th century

Design, by William Kilburn. Irish artist 

William Kilburn(1745-1818), was an illustrator for William Curtis' Flora Londinensis, as well as a leading designer & printer of calico.Kilburn was the son of a Dublin architect. Because of his penchant for drawing & his delicate health, his parents apprenticed him to Jonathan Sisson, an Englishman, who had established a calico printing factory in the countryside at Leixlip. When his father died, Kilburn decided to visit London, where he obtained a ready sale for his designs amongst the calico printers. He also drew & engraved flowers from nature for the print shops. This led to his acquaintance with Mr. William Curtis, the botanist, who, deeming himself fortunate in meeting an artist of such uncommon talent, agreed with him to execute the plates for his great work, the Flora Londinensis. A few hundred originals of his water color designs, make up the Kilburn Album, housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Design, by William Kilburn

William Morris-1883-evenlode 2

William Morris (1834 - 1896) was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. He had trained as an architect and had early unfulfilled ambitions to be a painter. As a student at Oxford he met the artist Edward Burne-Jones, and through this friendship he came into contact with the Pre-Raphaelite painters, such as Rossetti, and others in their circle.

In 1859 Morris married Jane Burden, an unconventional beauty and a favourite model for the Pre-Raphaelites. He immediately commissioned his friend, the architect Philip Webb, to build them a new home. Morris and his wife moved into Red House in 1860 and spent the next two years furnishing and decorating the interior. Morris did much of the work himself, with help from his artist friends. Prompted by the success of their efforts, they decided to start their own company.  Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.  was a major contributor to reviving traditional textile arts and methods of production in the UK.

Millefleurs designed in 1912-1914 by William Morris, 1860-1932 for Morris & Co. This design was based on Flemish millefleurs tapestries.

John Henry Dearle. Daffodil wallpaper design, 1891.

Daffodil was a pattern that was both intended for printed textile and wallpaper. In some respects, it is perhaps slightly more formal than some of the typical examples produced by Morris himself. However, it does have flowing floral motifs and lines and is still within the English tradition of native flora and fauna that had been so much a part of Morris & Co from the very beginning of the company in the mid-nineteenth century.

Jacket, Kayan people, Indonesia, East Kalimantan, late 19th century. The Textile Museum

Mummy Mask, Ocucaje style, Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley, Ocucaje, 350-275 B.C The Textile Museum

Velvet cushion cover, Ottoman, Turkey, Istanbul, 17th century. The Textile Museum

Hanging, Peru, c. 1650-1700. The Textile Museum

John Henry Dearle, 1869-1932, Manufacturer and retailer: Morris & Co.,Designed c. 1880

Dearle began working as an assistant in Morris & Co.'s Oxford Street shop in 1878. His artistic talent was soon recognised and he was trained as a tapestry weaver by William Morris. By 1887 Dearle had produced his first tapestry design and by 1890 he had become the firm's chief designer, working on woven and printed textiles, carpets and embroideries as well as tapestries. After Morris's death he became Art Director. His son Duncan also worked for the firm and was a director until the time of its closure in 1940.

Lucienne Day (1917-2010), was the foremost British textile designer of her period,furnishing fabrics, of which the most famous was the Festival of Britain abstract pattern Calyx, hung in every "contemporary" living room in Britain. Lucienne drew on the English tradition of patterns based on plant forms that went back as far as Morris. She took motifs drawn from nature – flowers, grasses, shoots, the intricate patterns of the landscape – and transformed them into something absolutely new. Part of their success was the implied message of regrowth and optimism for a Britain only just recovering from war. She was also deeply influenced by European abstract painting. Her textiles speak the visual language of Kandinsky, Miró and Klee. It pleased her to think that people who could not afford to buy a painting for their living room could at least own a pair of abstract patterned curtains. Many of Day's printed fabrics were made in long production runs, which kept the price affordable. She made the link between mass production and fine art.

ロープス , Designed by Hiroshi Awatsuji Hiroshi Awatsuji Japanese, 1929 - 1995

 One of Japan's best-known designers of printed textiles, Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929 - 1995) graduated from the design department of the Kyoto University of Fine Arts in 1950, and worked as a designer for the Kanegafuchi spinning company (now Kanebo) in Kyoto. In 1953 he moved to the Kenjiro Oishi Studio in Tokyo, where he worked for four years, and in 1958 opened his own design studio; since 1963 he has designed furnishing fabrics for Fujie Textile and others. During the 1960s his works were shown regularly in the Good Design exhibitions held annually at the Matsuya department store in Tokyo, and in 1968 Awatsuji was made a member of the Japan Design Committee, which organized them. Involved in a number of official projects, such as designing carpets and curtains for two of the pavilions at Expo '70 in Osaka, he has also designed tapestries, carpets, and furnishing fabrics for banks, hotels, and other businesses across Japan. In 1971 he received the Mainichi industrial design prize for his achievements in textile design for interiors and in 1972, the Japan Interior Designers Association prize. He received a silver prize in industrial arts at the Third Textile Triennale in Lodz, Poland, in 1978. In 1988 Awatsuji founded his own manufacturing company, Awa, through which he has produced a series of black-and-white-patterned textiles and tablewares. Awatsuji taught at the Otsuka Textile Design Institute (1963-85), and has been a professor at Tama Art University in Tokyo since 1988.

コロナ, Designed by Hiroshi Awatsuji

Design by Helen Dardik

Carrie Hansen Textile Design

Carrie Hansen Textile Design

design by Jenny Lee-Katz, Cariad Red

Design by Debbie Powell

Design by The Original Thread, Endangered Birds

Design by Emma, ‘Sketch Creative’

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