The Mitchell Group has introduced three new Sta-Kleen Silicone digital print upholstery fabrics. Ideal for healthcare, hospitality, and contract markets, the trio of patterns— Bloom, Fleur, and Song—offer the same performance and style as the original, award-winning Sta-Kleen Silicone fabrics.
Yet rather than launch a dedicated line of fabrics, the company takes an of-the-moment approach, introducing a few materials when the time is right rather than following the traditional seasonal cycle of spring or fall groupings. “I used to like bringing out collections, but I think that they get lost. It’s unorthodox, but by listening to our customers and bringing out two or three products, we’ve had continued success,” said Bill Fisch, president, Mitchell Group.
Because the process takes less time, not only can the textile company respond to demand, but now the designs are unlimited, which has forever changed their business. The Mitchell Group can usually have a digital print ready in just 60 days, an agility that’s more common among smaller boutique textile houses. “It is phenomenal how fast that you can have a design, and then alter it to meet the needs of an end-user, whether for healthcare or education,” Fisch explained. “When we look at a design that captures us, we are then able to put it forward right away.”
Quality styles are just as important as speed to market, so the Mitchell Group called on frequent collaborator Géraldine Blanchot Fortier to create the latest patterns. A trained artist, she utilized a variety of methods to give the fabrics an expressive look, a departure from the styles that were introduced last year. “The first round of silicone prints featured geometric designs, so this time we wanted more botanical or organic type looks,” Blanchot Fortier said.
She was particularly inspired by the lush beauty of nature during a visit to France, and quickly put her ideas to paper. The Fleur pattern was based on a floral she had painted after spending time in her mother’s garden in Provence. “I took a watercolor that I had done and scanned it. There’s a textural woven on the ground, and the brushed effect in the flowers so that it looks handpainted. And we pushed the envelope with color,” Blanchot Fortier noted. The result is an updated take on a classic residential flower print that’s meant to enhance hospitality settings with added vibrancy.
The fluid lines of Song evoke different elements for each user, and for Blanchot Fortier, it was a return to earlier in her career when she designed privacy curtains. She drew upon that experience to create a seemingly simple but versatile upholstery. “Anything that looks organic and flowing is well-suited to healing environments, and I wanted to go back to those roots. I created a design that is non-specific, a chameleon pattern. It can be trickling water or ribbons blowing in the wind, and it tells a different story depending on how it is colored,” Blanchot Fortier said. In cooler blue and green tones, for example, it can promote a sense of wellness, but in brighter hues it can energize education spaces.
Bloom is another modern twist on all things flowering, and echoes a combination of media that Blanchot Fortier used during her creative sessions outdoors. “I started sketching, and then doing these watercolor gradations. By adding a smudge effect, I was able to make it look more like pastels,” she explained. Blanchot Fortier also noted that just as a painter mixes on canvas, she works with the computer to bring her vision to life—with dimension. “When you are painting, you are really just playing with a brush and layering. I did much of the same, just digitally, to create all of these different increments of texture. It is important to me that the fabrics don’t look comic book-flat.”
The fabrics can stand alone or be paired together, but they are each an impressive example of what can be achieved. “The idea was to showcase the platform and the breadth of possibilities that it offers, from the saturation of color to recreating the look of a woven. These patterns run the gamut in terms of aesthetics,” Blanchot Fortier added.
Fisch said that the material has many benefits, and interest continues to grow with each launch. “Our silicone, I believe, really is the polymer of the future, because it checks all of the boxes. It can be decorated differently, but then it also has an incredible environmental and performance story behind it that makes it truly unique.”