We Love Ikat- Let's Talk History Of and The Designers Who Made It Popular in Fashion and Home
ABOUT IKAT
Which Designers and Fabric Houses
Are Responsible for
Its Popularity Today
Did you know that the modern design you love called Ikat is actually an ancient fabric technique which starts with the yarn tie-dyed before being woven into a textile? The actual word ikat originated in Indonesian and means “mengikat” to tie or to bind something. It is one of the oldest patterns and the most popular around the world. Although it originated in Indonesia, it was also simultaneously utilized in India, Japan, Central Asia, Africa, Europe and The Americas. It appeared in Europe through Dutch traders in Southeast Asia and Spain along the Silk Route. The design result is a slightly fuzzy (blurry) pattern often created in vibrant, jewel tone colors and with an almost-block print feel with repeated patterning. Although the use of this design in many countries signifies wealth and status, it has more recently here in the States become associated with a glamorous, high-style and more recently a bohemian aesthetic. That may be because it migrated from an exotic textile often collected by connoisseurs into mainstream fashion and later in interior design.
FASHION- The Smithsonian credits designer Oscar de la Renta for bringing Ikat to the fashion world and later to homes as well. de la Renta transformed traditional Ikat into high-fashion runway staples when he collaborated with artisan Rasuljon Mirzaakhmedov from Uzbekistan who incorporated Ikats into his collections in 1997 when we worked for Balmain, then in his own collections. Soon after, the iconic pattern spread into the interior design world and it appeared on upholstery, carpets, wallpaper and even tableware. He later went on to design collections for Lee Jofa for the home market. Again, in 2013, designer Miles Redd collaborated with de la Renta (when he was the creative director of de la Renta home) on a gift and tabletop collection featuring Ikat.
INTERIOR DESIGN- In the late 1960s and early 1970s, English interior decorator and antiques dealer, Robert Kime became known for his layering of exotic patterns, namely Ikat. He decorated for the royal and aristrocratic families in Britain with his first big project, the The Court House in Wiltshire. He helped to bring Ikat into the high style homes of England and Europe.
Additionally, (or maybe simulataneously) One of my favorite to the trade fabric houses is Clarence House was offering a plethora of Ikats to the American interior designer. It makes sense as to why it became so popular as it acts as a chameleon of sorts, a perfect bridge between tradition and modern design.
Mario Buatta's book cover
via New York Social Diary
Manor House Master Bedroom, Morristown, NJ. ©Ernst Beadle
blue and white ikat-style Pierre Frey 18th century, historic "Toile de Nantes" ikat
Renowned American interior designer Mario Buatta (you may remember him as the Prince Of Chintz) layered ikats into his projects which turned the pattern into a frenzy in the late 1970s and 1980s and beyond. Buatta became known for his elaborate florals and layering of multiple patterns together but in 1976 he showcased a blue ikat filled bedroom on the cover of his book, Mario Buatta: Fifty Years of American Interior Decoration. He layered the fabric with bamboo furniture, textured walls to give a timeless yet modern feel and showed the patterns versatility.
Additionally, the late legendary Jack Lenor Larsen (textile giant) introduced corporate and residential America to exotic textures. He published The Dyer’s Art: Ikat, Plangi, Batik, a book educating American interior architects and designers on traditional resist-dyeing methods and how to use them in interiors.
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara
