modern workshop on Flickr

With all the excitement around here this spring, I neglected to tell you that there is a Modern Workshop Flickr group for the collection. I would be thrilled if you would add your photos. After all, the best part about designing a fabric collection is seeing what other people make using the fabrics!

And as long as I’m on the topic of Modern Workshop, I thought I would give you a little background on the collection that I don’t think I’ve shared to date.

I always tell myself stories when I’m designing. I think stories are what keep me interested in what I’m doing and help me to create a coherent collection, whether it’s fabric or apparel. And I love to hear the stories that other artists and designers tell themselves. (I’ve been reading the catalog from the spectacular Alexander McQueen show at the Metropolitan Museum and have been mesmerized by the stories Lee McQueen told in his collections.)

In the case of Modern Workshop, my stories focused on the culture of the Viennese artists and craftspeople of the Wiener Werkstatte. For the most part, they were an affluent, culturally sophisticated group. So when I was working on the prints, I talked to myself about what their lives were like. I envisioned them gathering to discuss their work at salons, meeting at museums and galleries, and going to Viennese cafes and clubs.

So somehow during the course of my stories, the color palette began to focus on what they were drinking at those cafes. The prints took on names like French Curve, Studio Stripe, and Artisan Floral, while the colors became Coffee, Orange Fizz, Citron, Frothy Pink, and Artisan Aqua. Moda assures me that these names don’t get seen by anyone once the collection is finished, but I think they help to keep the group together. And I think you’ll be able to match the colorway names to the groups below without too much trouble now that you know the names.

And if you’re not able to find Modern Workshop in a fabric store near you, we still have a small number of fabric packs from the line available for sale in the fabric section of our website.