News & events

ARTS THREAD was in Paris for Indigo Paris, part of Première Vision. Held at Parc d’Expositions, Indigo featured 179 exhibitors showing a wide range of textile surfaces, from prints and jacquard weaves, to knits, embroideries and all manner of variations. There were 18 new exhibitors to the show, as well as 14 design schools and universities. In addition, the spring/summer 2014 trend influences proved popular, with visitors viewing the details around the display of a giant flying fish.

Around the flying fish could be seen the five themes for the season, Primitive Elations -ethnic and artisan in a modern graphic style, Funny Stones – geological data in bold and brilliant colour, Botanical Euphoria – delicate and dreamlike botanicals with play on scale, Fantastical Ordinary – outsider art, strange dreams and fantasy utopias and finally Coloured Modulations – layers of colour, overlapping, uneven and endless.

New to Indigo, Solstudio Textile Design from Moscow had an extremely successful show, selling 70% of the collection brought over to France. Specialising in prints, Alexandra Kaloshina told us that the studio had done particularly well with scarf designs and florals, with an emphasis on eveningwear.

This February was Cake Studios fourth Indigo – not bad for a studio only 18 months old. Carol Martyn, founder of the studio, told us that tropicals were selling well and designs were sometimes florals, but also often featured predominantly leaves or palms. Orchids were also popular as were fluorescent pink and yellow tones. Ethnic and tribal geometrics, fitting in with Indigo’s Primitive Elations theme, were also strong, as were black and white designs.

Concurring with the importance of ethnics this season, Westcott Design also noted optical and kaleidoscopic effects and acidic colours. Bex Whattler from print studio Bay & Brown from Shoreditch in London agreed with the trend for black and white designs and also with the trend for tribal geometrics.

We were delighted to come across first-time exhibitor Marta Bettiga from Atelier Ippocane, who is based in Milan. Maria is primarily an illustrator and creates bespoke pieces with a fairytale, delicate gothic, handwriting featuring doe-eyed girls, birds and quirky houses; all with feminine details.

Eye Dazzler from Brooklyn in the US told us that photo-real designs were a hot trend for them, used for florals, especially tropicals. The studio’s backdrop featured compact black and white fine-drawn foliage with accents of brilliant colour in the form of parrots and other exotic birds. Following this trend, conversationals were also strong, with sealife and aquatic motifs, such as shells and fish.

The Design Factory is the well-established knit studio of the effervescent Jean-Noel Bissessur who is based in Mauritius, after having started out studying knitwear at Nottingham Trent University. Jean-Noel told us: ‘We had a good show. For knitwear the summer edition of Indigo is never as busy as winter but we sold more than last summer so we consider the increase positive. We also attracted a bunch of new customers so we are satisfied with the overall result. ‘Surprisingly enough we sold a lot of stripes – multicoloured, Mexican-inspired. The other good group was embroidery combined with knitwear which was the best seller last season and carried on this season. Many customers were still looking at winter knits and we sold almost equally winter and summer designs. Customers went for multicoloured or monochrome. Metallics were popular, black and white, pastels. This season the best customers came from France,the States and the UK – brands (some of them specialised in knitwear) and designer labels. We also had customers from Korea, Italy, Spain and Bulgaria.’

New to the fair was Joana Joubert with her Geronimo studio. Based in Lyon, the designer has worked across interiors, fashion and sportswear and creates prints, illustrations and graphic design/visual identity, all with a modern fresh handwriting. Visitors at the show picked up on her conversationals -animals, tattoos and architecture being three strong trends.

Karolina York offer handwriting from not only their Australian headquarters, but also from their US studio in Los Angeles. Speaking to the studio’s Erin Brooks, the trend for the show was florals, especially tropicals and the request for tribal, scarf prints and black and white continues. In addition, mixes are strong, such as florals with stripes and animal prints plus a contrast design. Eastern European influences and folkloric are important, as are summer paisleys.

Pour quel motif Simone? is a four-strong collective from Paris and this February was the first time they had exhibited together at Indigo. Having worked together for two years, the group consists of Christine Légeret (vintage-inspired prints with an updated 50s feel), Esther Marti (eclectic knits and embroidery with a playful touch), Alise Demongeot (delicate floral prints) and Laure Roussel (fresh colourful prints, with an emphasis on childrenswear).

Made in Brighton told us that for them, key sellers were embroideries with a feminine feel, with a lot of high-sparkle beading and the use of neon colours.

Set in the middle of the Keelergordon stand was a giant high-heels sandal lit by theatrical lights – one not to miss. Key sellers at the show were paisleys and ikats, florals and prints featuring neons.

Pinar Yilmaz was a young designer with the Mimar Sinan University, one of three Tirkish universities showing at Indigo for the first time. The other two institutions being Isik University and Mamara University. All three stands were fully sponsored by ITKIB, the Istanbul Textile and Apparel Exporters Association.

Based in Philadelphia, Printfresh enjoyed their most successful Indigo ever, explained the studio’s Laura Lertdarapong. Best sellers were multi-colour florals, 20′s flapper-inspired embellished dresses and animal graphic t-shirts and best customers were juniors and womenswear brands from London.

Chelsea College of Art UAL was one of several UK universities at the show and, as with others, the stand received visits from high-end designer brands looking fresh ideas, concept surface techniques and innovation.