In a world often feeling fragmented and yearning for deeper connection, a remarkable collaboration between Designtex and nanimarquina emerges, offering more than just new materials. Their two textile collections, ‘Join’ and ‘Mending,’ are profound reflections on connection, repair, and the art of creation with purpose.
This multi-year partnership seamlessly blends Designtex’s renowned expertise in high-performance contract textiles with nanimarquina’s poetic mastery of craft, tactility, and the inherent beauty of imperfection. For both teams, the alliance was born from an immediate sense of kinship – a shared commitment to material integrity, a sensitive approach to color, and a deep respect for heritage techniques reimagined for contemporary environments.
A Tapestry of Kinship: The Genesis of a Unique Partnership
“We wanted to capture nanimarquina’s material sensibility in durable constructions that would make these textiles especially useful in commercial settings,” explains Catherine Stowell, VP of Design at Designtex. “We did that by using performance yarns and intentionally embedding imperfections into the weaving process.”
This deliberate tension – between the industrial and the handmade, the scalable and the intimate – became the very heart of their creative synergy. It’s a testament to how thoughtful design can bridge seemingly disparate worlds.
Mending: Finding Beauty in Visible Repair
If ‘Mending’ evokes a sense of nostalgia or even emotion, it’s entirely by design. This textile is a quiet meditation on visible repair, challenging the modern impulse to flawlessly ‘fix’ everything – an endeavor that often feels both exhausting and impossible.
The Philosophy of Holding Things Together
“When we see something hand-sewn, something irregular, we understand it,” states Nani Marquina, founder and designer of her eponymous studio. “Maybe we don’t need to fix everything; maybe we just need to hold it together… We understand a thread. We understand a stitch. That’s enough.”
The fabric’s woven patch motifs beautifully echo the tradition of mending, not as an act of concealment, but as a revelation – repair as tangible evidence of care. Subtle irregularities, a muted palette, and a comforting texture imbue this textile with a human presence rarely found in commercial materials.
Crafting Care Through Double-Cloth Construction
Designtex ingeniously utilized a double-cloth construction to translate the layered logic of hand-mending into a material that is both manufacturable and profoundly expressive. The composition is structured by literally pulling a second woven surface forward, creating the effect of a stitched intervention.
Join: Harmony, Rhythm, and the Mediterranean Muse
While ‘Mending’ speaks to care, ‘Join’ embodies harmony. Its slightly irregular stripes, imbued with a visual vibration characteristic of Marquina’s work, possess an almost musical quality, reminiscent of piano keys in motion. The pattern masterfully balances repetition with variation, offering architectural clarity alongside a sense of breath.
Stripes That Sing: A Balance of Repetition and Variation
The palette for ‘Join’ is deeply inspired by the Mediterranean landscape where Marquina finds her daily rhythm. It captures the quiet poetry of nature: tones weathered by stone, moonlight, plants, and the sea. The result is a textile that feels lived-in, simultaneously rooted and relaxed, perfectly at home in both outdoor environments and serene, hospitality-driven interiors.
Versatility for Modern Living: Indoor/Outdoor Elegance
Engineered for indoor/outdoor applications, ‘Join’ boasts high UV fastness, bleach cleanability, and robust performance without compromising its inherent softness or nuanced appeal. It stands as a study in rhythm and restraint, a surprising reminder that surface pattern, when thoughtfully conceived, can invite calm into an unsettled world.
The Art of Unhurried Creation: A Commitment to Lasting Meaning
In an industry often driven by the relentless pace of seasonal releases, both Designtex and nanimarquina embraced a slower, more deliberate approach. This allowed for a valuable cross-pollination of processes: Designtex benefited from nanimarquina’s intuitive, artistic methodology, while nanimarquina gained insights from Designtex’s technical mastery, scalable production capabilities, and understanding of the American contract market.
Bridging Artistic Intuition and Technical Mastery
“We were not in a hurry,” affirms Maria Piera Marquina, CEO of nanimarquina. “If we launch products, we have a commitment to launch products that are really interesting, that will last, that will have a meaning.” This commitment translated into years of meticulous trials, overcoming technical hurdles, refining yarn styling, and conducting weaving experiments. The challenge lay in translating the tactile sensation of handmade textile traditions into scalable, high-performance constructions. Highly technical yarns had to convincingly mimic the irregularity of natural fibers, while industrial looms were tasked with approximating the gestural logic of human hands.
Designing for Shared Values
What might have been perceived as a limitation ultimately became the cornerstone of the project’s philosophy: thoughtful creation in a world saturated with quick, disposable solutions. “It has been an opportunity to discover that we can also design for brands that share the same values,” notes Marquina. “Choosing the right partner is key. Then you need to be generous, humble, and learn from the other.”
‘Join’ and ‘Mending’ are more than just quietly beautiful and subliminally impactful textiles. They prove that materials can transcend mere function. They can communicate profound ideas, restore a sense of softness and humanity to the built environment, and gently remind us that repair is not a flaw, but a powerful form of beauty and care.
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