Here are 100 books that Indigo fans have personally recommended if you like
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Nearly 50 years ago I was completely taken with the patterns drawn, woven, or embroidered by the Indigenous Peoples of the Upper Amazon of Peru. This was my first experience with the power of pattern and led to a career in collecting and curating the pottery and textiles from that area. By the end of the 1980s, I was ready to start a family and a more settled job. The Design Library was the perfect segue. The patterns created in Europe, Africa, and Asia over the past 250 years are also important cultural statements and are continually re-interpreted by our clients for today's market.
Among my favorite textiles from anywhere, anytime are the Central Asian woven ikats used to make men’s robes and the superb Suzani embroideries made for young girls' dowries. Both of these exotic forms have inspired and been emulated by countless Western designers from Oscar de la Renta to ABC Carpet and Home. Many fine examples are generously illustrated in this extraordinary, beautiful and meticulous book.
Silk and Cotton combines powerful visuals of pattern and form with the history, use, and cultural significance of a wide sampling of Central Asian textiles. The archival photographs of the region by Max Penson add great depth and connect the objects to the peoples for whom they were, and in many cases still are, part of their daily lives.
The traditional textiles of Central Asia are unknown treasures. Straddling the legendary Silk Road, this vast region stretches from Russia in the west to China in the east. Whether nomadic or sedentary, its peoples created textiles for every aspect of their way of life, from ceremonial objects marking rites of passage, to everyday garments, to practical items for the home. There were suzanis for the marriage bed; prayer mats; patchwork quilts; bridal ensembles; bags for tea, scissors, and mirrors; lovingly embroidered hats and bibs; and robes of every color and pattern.Author Susan Meller has spent years assembling the 590 textiles…
Nearly 50 years ago I was completely taken with the patterns drawn, woven, or embroidered by the Indigenous Peoples of the Upper Amazon of Peru. This was my first experience with the power of pattern and led to a career in collecting and curating the pottery and textiles from that area. By the end of the 1980s, I was ready to start a family and a more settled job. The Design Library was the perfect segue. The patterns created in Europe, Africa, and Asia over the past 250 years are also important cultural statements and are continually re-interpreted by our clients for today's market.
This scholarly book accompanied the enlightening exhibition of the same name at the MET 2013-2014. The way we learn how trade in textiles united the world is fascinating. One revelation for me was discovering that the first non-noble wealth was generated in the 18th century through textile trade.
Beginning in the 16th century, the golden age of European navigation created a vigorous textile trade, and a breathtaking variety of textile designs subsequently spread across the globe. Trade textiles blended the traditional designs, skills, and tastes of their cultures of origin, with new techniques learned through global exchange, creating beautiful new works that are also historically fascinating. Interwoven Globe is the first book to analyze these textiles within the larger history of trade and design. Richly illustrated texts explore the interrelationship of textiles, commerce, and taste from the age of discovery to the 19th century, including a detailed discussion…
Nearly 50 years ago I was completely taken with the patterns drawn, woven, or embroidered by the Indigenous Peoples of the Upper Amazon of Peru. This was my first experience with the power of pattern and led to a career in collecting and curating the pottery and textiles from that area. By the end of the 1980s, I was ready to start a family and a more settled job. The Design Library was the perfect segue. The patterns created in Europe, Africa, and Asia over the past 250 years are also important cultural statements and are continually re-interpreted by our clients for today's market.
A serious departure from my list from a guy who is dedicated to surface design and pattern, but it is a beautifully designed book with wonderful photographs of architectural sculptural structures. Not much color but there are patterns of course, in the surface textures, created by repetition in the design details, and by the light finding its way through these often grand forms.
This book is a celebration of concrete: collating fascinating and beautiful images of concrete structures from the breathtaking New York Guggenheim to coldly functional aircraft hangars, Concrete will engage anyone interested in architecture and encourage them to think about the sculptural qualities of buildings. Familiar icons by Le Corbusier and Tadao Ando are featured alongside vernacular structures such as petrol stations, vast power plants and London Zoo's famous penguin pool.
Nearly 50 years ago I was completely taken with the patterns drawn, woven, or embroidered by the Indigenous Peoples of the Upper Amazon of Peru. This was my first experience with the power of pattern and led to a career in collecting and curating the pottery and textiles from that area. By the end of the 1980s, I was ready to start a family and a more settled job. The Design Library was the perfect segue. The patterns created in Europe, Africa, and Asia over the past 250 years are also important cultural statements and are continually re-interpreted by our clients for today's market.
I am immediately drawn to this magnificent book for the many textile designs it contains and then, a new discovery for me, the vitality of the label imagery.The labels are sensual and sensational, devotional and secular.Most were created by British artists inspired by earlier Indian paintings and engravings just as so many textile designs are descendants of earlier patterns.
I learned how the stories told by these labels provide a rich view into an important period of British textile history and trade as well as Indian culture – from the heavenly realm of the Hindu Gods to the earthly palaces of Maharajas – from the mill workers of Lancashire to the khadi-clad followers of Mahatma Gandhi.
This book will be released in February/March 2023, but advance orders are being taken.Just take a peek and brace yourself for a wild, wonderful trip.Over 1000 period labels illustrate the…
At one time Great Britain clothed the world. In the 1880s, when the British textile industry was at its height, 85 percent of the world's population wore clothing made from fabric produced in the mills of Lancashire. From 1910 to 1913 alone, seven billion yards of cloth were folded, stamped, labeled, and baled. Most of this output was for export, and 30 percent of it went to India.
British textile manufacturers selling into the competitive Indian market were dealing with a largely illiterate population. In order to differentiate their goods, they stamped their cloth with distinctive images-a crouching tiger or…
As a mixed media artist, I use color every day. Color is my language and my Secret Decoder Ring. It allows me to create moods, tell stories, illuminate a message (or a mystery), and express/expound/explore. What’s my favorite color?–All of them! My approach is “more is more,” and I use color in abundance. Nothing is as lavish as a canvas or journal page slathered in bold colors, and nothing makes me happier than a color-soaked room full of vibrant textiles and collections. And books! Color rules.
When a book has compelling content plus is a beautiful object, I call that “having it all.” This handsome volume takes us inside the nature-centric world of color and is an admirable, elegant treatise on the subject.
I enjoy sitting with this book, flipping through the pages, rewarded on every spread with engravings, etchings, color swatches, marbled end papers, and tasteful typography. I can either dig deep and explore an unrivaled tutorial on the subject, or I can focus on the endless visuals—either way, the enduring beauty of Nature is richly represented in this stately volume.
A gorgeous expanded edition of Werner's Nomenclature of Colours, a landmark reference book on color and its origins in nature
First published in 1814, Werner's Nomenclature of Colours is a taxonomically organized guide to color in the natural world. Compiled by German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner, the book was expanded and enhanced in 1821 by Patrick Syme, who added color swatches and further color descriptions, bringing the total number of classified hues to 110. The resulting resource has been invaluable not only to artists and designers but also to zoologists, botanists, mineralogists, anatomists, and explorers, including Charles Darwin on the…
As a mixed media artist, I use color every day. Color is my language and my Secret Decoder Ring. It allows me to create moods, tell stories, illuminate a message (or a mystery), and express/expound/explore. What’s my favorite color?–All of them! My approach is “more is more,” and I use color in abundance. Nothing is as lavish as a canvas or journal page slathered in bold colors, and nothing makes me happier than a color-soaked room full of vibrant textiles and collections. And books! Color rules.
This book is a visual banquet revealing a lavish historical collection of color charts and swatch boards. Thanks to the astute full-color reproductions I felt I was holding these rare sample books in my hands; and the fulsome text satisfied my urge to know every back story.
I discovered charts for textiles, feathers, fibers, automotive paints, ribbons, yarns, felt, paint colors, cosmetics, and more. Although I frequently search for images of color charts online, this impressive volume consists of a wealth of new-to-me examples—literally, the mother lode.
A beautifully illustrated history of the many inventive, poetic, and alluring ways in which color swatches have been selected and staged
The need to categorize and communicate color has mobilized practitioners and scholars for centuries. Color Charts describes the many different methods and ingenious devices developed since the fifteenth century by doctors, naturalists, dyers, and painters to catalog fragments of colors. With the advent of industrial society, manufacturers and merchants developed some of the most beautiful and varied tools ever designed to present all the available colors. Thanks to them, society has discovered the abundance of color embodied in a…
As a mixed media artist, I use color every day. Color is my language and my Secret Decoder Ring. It allows me to create moods, tell stories, illuminate a message (or a mystery), and express/expound/explore. What’s my favorite color?–All of them! My approach is “more is more,” and I use color in abundance. Nothing is as lavish as a canvas or journal page slathered in bold colors, and nothing makes me happier than a color-soaked room full of vibrant textiles and collections. And books! Color rules.
This impressive volume brings together two of my favorite topics: art journals and color. A unique idea sparked a round-robin collaboration between fifteen noted mixed-media artists: Each artist was invited to select a color and create a beginning for an art journal.
The volumes traveled throughout the United States for over a year and were worked on by all the participants. Eventually, each journal returned home, absolutely bursting with creativity. The inclusions ran the gamut of custom musical CDs, found objects, poetry, fold-outs, quilted textiles and embroidery, and more.
The lavish photography on each page makes this book a feast for the eyes, and the emotional stories from the artists provide insights into the healing nature of art journaling. From pure white to mysterious black (and every color in between), the true colors in this book lifted my spirits.
Somerset Studio Presents True Colors: A Palette of Collaborative Art Journals Reflective. Explosive. Playful. Heart Felt. Monochromatic. Riotous. No rules. No boundaries. No wonder the 16 extraordinary color journals black, white and all the colors in between burst out of their covers and into our imaginations.
Fifteen amazing artists wanted to see what they could do with a single color scheme. Each artist contributed a journal cover in her chosen palette and a page in each journal. The finished works are filled with page after page of techniques and mediums, including stamping, painting, sketching, fabric art, metalwork, transfers and layered…
As a mixed media artist, I use color every day. Color is my language and my Secret Decoder Ring. It allows me to create moods, tell stories, illuminate a message (or a mystery), and express/expound/explore. What’s my favorite color?–All of them! My approach is “more is more,” and I use color in abundance. Nothing is as lavish as a canvas or journal page slathered in bold colors, and nothing makes me happier than a color-soaked room full of vibrant textiles and collections. And books! Color rules.
Just call him “The Color King”! Vivid, vibrant color is Kaffe Fassett’s vocabulary, and he has brought his command of the entire spectrum to textiles, knitwear, ribbons and trims, quilts, and mosaics. And more!
I have every Kaffe Fassett book in my personal art library but his lavishly-illustrated autobiography is a favorite. This bountiful volume is full of remembrances, insights, revelations, and stories. It turns out that this incomparable designer is also a masterful storyteller, and I loved learning more about his lifelong creative journey.
Kaffe Fassett has led an extraordinary life and is a captivating storyteller with a vivid memory. Born in 1937 in San Francisco, he spent much of his youth in Big Sur, where his parents bought a log cabin from Orson Welles and transformed it into the world-famous Nepenthe restaurant, a gathering place of artists of all sorts (Kaffe has many stories to tell about mingling with the likes of Olivia de Havilland, Elizabeth Taylor, and Henry Miller). After attending a boarding school run by the disciples of Krishunamurti, an Indian guru, he studied painting on scholarship at the School of…
I'm an internationally recognised opinion leader in sustainable fashion. My career started as a designer with the pioneering upcycling label From Somewhere, which I launched in 1997. My label’s designer collaborations include collections for Jigsaw, Speedo, and 4 best-selling capsule collections for Topshop. In 2006, I co-founded the British Fashion Council Initiative Estethica at London Fashion Week, which I curated until 2014. In 2013 I co-founded Fashion Revolution, a global campaign with participation in over 90 countries. I'm a regular keynote speaker and mentor, and Associate Visiting Professor at Middlesex University. My first book Loved Clothes Last is published by Penguin Life, Corbaccio Editore in Italy and in France by Edition Marabou.
A very detailed and beautifully written history of the textile industry throughout time, this book really underlines how our industriousness has turned into a multibillion-dollar industry, disregarding many of the principles and values it stems from.
As a go-to a history of the textile industry, you can’t read much better than this, an unbroken thread of useful knowledge for whoever thinks fashion is frivolous.
From colorful 30,000-year-old threads found on the floor of a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, The Golden Thread weaves an illuminating story of human ingenuity. Design journalist Kassia St. Clair guides us through the technological advancements and cultural customs that would redefi ne human civilization-from the fabric that allowed mankind to achieve extraordinary things (traverse the oceans and shatter athletic records) and survive in unlikely places (outer space and the South Pole). She peoples her story with a motley cast of characters, including Xiling, the ancient Chinese empress credited with inventing silk, to Richard…
My latest picture book was conceived when I participated in art fairs as a weaver and quilter. I was struck by how each craft, whether it be woodworking, metallurgy, glassblowing, pottery, etc., had a unique vocabulary and origins in many different cultures. My goal is to cultivate appreciation of the work of artisans around the world who are carrying on cultural traditions. I also saw an opportunity to expand vocabulary by sharing the language of the crafts, and to encourage children to think about a craft they may want to try. It is my hope that art teachers, parents and grandparents, artisans, and lovers of crafts will enjoy sharing this inspirational book.
This story is about how a garment called a gabi is made in Ethiopia, from the planting of cotton seeds to the weaving, trimming, and wearing during festive occasions. It shows the significance of carrying on a traditional craft through lyrical text and colorful illustrations.
I love the idea that children can see how clothing and other items around the world are not necessarily made in factories. In this case, the creation of a traditional piece of clothing involves many artisans of all ages working by hand. (Illustrated vocabulary is included.)
From seed to harvest, from loom to shop, to a gift for Girma, this lyrical story of the Ethiopian Gabi is a beautiful celebration of weaving, community and culture.
Written in the cadence of The House That Jack Built, this vibrant and lushly illustrated tale pays tribute to the Gabi- a traditional Ethiopian cloth that is used to celebrate both community and culture. From the tiny seed to the fluffy white cotton, from the steady hands of the farmer to the swift fingers of the weaver, from the busy shopkeeper, to a gift for a loved one, follow the journey…
