Fil Doux Textiles and Clodagh Collaborate | Nomad Collection
A shared respect for the environment and passion for design brought Fil Doux Textiles and designer Clodagh together to create the Nomad Collection of upholstery textiles and bed throws for hospitality spaces.
The Nomad Collection provides a glimpse into the eco-philanthropic designer’s journeys across the world. “Experiences create no excess baggage,” says Clodagh, who, having travelled to over 100 countries, employs the cavalcade of memories and nostalgia of the sounds, tastes, colors, shapes, light, touch and fragrances to provide her with the greatest design inspiration.
“When I first met the Fil Doux Textiles team, I felt as though I had expanded my family. We speak the same language—including a dedication to nature and life-enhancing green design,” says Clodagh. Leonardo Novik, president of Fil Doux Textiles adds, “We’re proud of this collection, and working with a designer whose values mirror our own. It’s warm and thoughtful, and like all our offerings, upholds our high environmental standards.”
The collection includes woven and printed cotton-blend fabrics in 15 earth-inspired colorways and a coordinating series of throw blankets. Fil Doux Textiles’ eco upholstery and multi-purpose fabrics are woven from the company’s proprietary FabuTouch yarn that mixes the fibers within the yarn to create superior durability while maintaining a soft hand, reminiscent of residential products. The tactile throw blankets are pre-shrunk and machine washable, making them a perfect selection for hospitality and residential environments alike.
“I’m a nomad at heart; while travelling I’m inspired not only by the weaving techniques of other countries but also architectural details, colors and smells of the local markets, the native music, and the indigenous people,” says Clodagh. “By weaving and printing with an eye on ancient traditions, in a sense we are uniting nations in our textiles.”
The Fabrics
Bayon. Creating order among disorder, this graphic pattern is inspired by the lyrical geometry of Cambodian temples.
Douro. Winemakers in this Portuguese valley adapt to steep slopes by placing rows of grapes on alternating terraces. Douro’s shifting lines resemble the region’s geometric landscape.
Lamu. Named after a small island off the coast of Kenya, Lamu was inspired by the “kuba” – or grass – cloths sold outside local stores.
Lhasa. This pattern was inspired by the wabi-sabi, or imperfect beauty, of plaster on ancient Tibetan temples.
Mali. In the namesake African country, designs decorating the outside of huts are achieved by pressing textural objects, such as corn cobs, into their malleable walls. Clodagh reflects this practice in the graphic repeat of Mali, a double-sided and multi-functional fabric.
Nara. Referencing the elegant restraint and silence of Japanese fabrics, Nara’s irregular stripes are reminiscent of the country’s shibori dying technique.
Sevan. Named after the Armenian lake, Sevan features multiple thread colors and heights to achieve a complex plane of texture that is reflective of the region’s own rocky landscape.
Sadhu. A religious traveler who owns nothing and lives in a zen-like state, Sadhu’s texture asks for little and functions as the collection’s support system.
Throws
Kerry. This large scale knit reflects Clodagh’s Irish heritage, and the traditional cable knit sweaters worn by Aran Island’s fisherman.
Corrib. The perfect complement to a larger scale cable motif, this textural, striped knit blanket belongs anywhere and everywhere.
For more information on The Nomad Collection, visit fildoux.com.
About Fil Doux Textiles
Fil Doux Textiles produces timeless, luxurious upholstery and drapery fabrics for the hospitality design and contract furnishings industry. Beginning in Chile with a family-owned mill 80 years ago, today the business—operated by Leonardo Novik—controls two fully vertical mills in Chile and Brazil, allowing personalized customization and a superior lead time on its woven fabrics, sheers, Vinylife, leather, and digital textile prints. Fil Doux Textiles’ commitment to always embrace beauty has led the company to introduce game-changing new products to the market, including their eco-friendly Vinylife upholstery and Pro-Tech, a powerful ink and stain protectant. Fil Doux Textiles upholds significant environmental standards, using wind power, recycling dye water, and reusing fabric for packaging.
About Clodagh Design International
Internationally acclaimed designer and philanthropist Clodagh passionately believes that good design supports well-being and that it can transform people’s lives. She feels that clutter can undermine serenity, but minimalism should not be self-denying.
A believer in the tenets of integrative medicine that address the entire body and psyche as a whole, Clodagh embraces both ancient and cutting-edge methods in an effort to comfort not only the body, but also the mind. Among the earliest adopters of Feng Shui in her design practice, Clodagh is always ahead of the curve by incorporating such cutting edge modalities as chromatherapy and biophilia, while including comfort, into all of her projects and products.
One of the world’s leading innovative multi-discipline design practices, Clodagh Design’s award-winning portfolio spans over 30 countries and a wide range of eco-conscious projects and products that include million-square- foot hotels, residential buildings, international spas, private residences, restaurants, retail stores and showrooms, offices, women’s apparel, cosmetic packaging, branding, furniture, home furnishings, healthcare and even private jets and luxury yachts.
Fil Doux Textiles x Clodagh Nomad Collection
Q+A with Clodagh, October 2016
What attracted you about working with Fil Doux Textiles?
When I first met the Fil Doux team I felt as though I had expanded my family. We talked the same language, shared the same loves- laughter, authentic hard work, good wine and a dedication to nature and life-enhancing green design.
I lived for seven years in Spain where the Spanish proverb “tell me who you walk with and I will tell you who you are” was a life guide for me because it summed up how humans perceive others. Early on when I did not speak the language, I scanned people for non verbal signals of their truth and commitment and talent and surrounded myself and my studio with these people and have continued to abide by that proverb ever since I came to the USA.
Fil Doux is a green vertical mill with endless possibilities for the execution of design and deep attention to detail. Their textiles focus on the senses both touch and visual by offering a broad menu of techniques and yarns from woven, to digital printing to finished goods. A playground for our studio.
Tell me about the hospitality centric aspect of this collection. What about it is distinct for you?
We are all in the hospitality business in our homes, in our hotels, on our boats and in our airports- the boundaries have blurred. They are even putting hospitality back into hospitals. Hospitality to me means ease of self for guests – low maintenance fabrics that are luxurious and perform well. We tap into the guests’ nostalgia and spirit through symbolism and often through the use of ancient patterns and techniques.
We have designed for over twenty firms, from wall-to-wall carpet to glamorous hardware, with a view to brand enhancement for our projects, and also to offer a broad spectrum of selections to other designers and architects for their projects.
We like to spec our own product because we can vouch for its authenticity,
This is a complete collection – from base fabrics to throw pillows to throws.
The collection steers away from brash colors. Our colors are more ‘Not Quite Colors’, hard to describe and easy to work with – haunting indigos, clay, not-quite-black, faded hibiscus together with complex neutrals in subtle weaves.
What do you like most about designing fabrics?
I am a nomad at heart and indeed I have traveled in over a hundred countries. When I Google my inner video to replay colors patterns and weaves from the market places and tribes I have visited, it is almost like creating a memory painting, and this way I double the pleasure of design as I can relive the trip. Also, I bring back pieces of cloth, hundreds of photos, objects and knits from each trip. My suitcase can contain a kuba cloth from Kenya, Zulu baskets, antique Persian rugs, Korean patchwork cloths, Amazon grass weaves and my head which creates no excess baggage whatsoever but brings the sense memories.
The name of the collection is Nomad. Are there specific groups / tribes / people / regions that inspired the collection?
By weaving and printing with an eye on tradition, in a sense we are uniting nations in our textiles. I am inspired by the Samburu pastoral nomads of Kenya- their nomadic pastoralist way of life is thousands of years old, but it is rapidly changing as they face the challenges of the 21st century.
In 2002, when I met with the Samburu people, they had a dream- to get more of their children to go to school. Today, not-for-profit The Thorn Tree Project provides education for their children from Kindergarten through to College, offering mentoring and support targeted towards sustainable employment. The Thorn Tree Project is making their dream a reality.
Are there specific weaving techniques or types of handcrafted textiles that you referenced during the design process? What were they and to which patterns from the collection do they apply?
While I travelling I’m constantly inspired not only by the weaving techniques of other countries but also architectural details, colors and smells of the local markets, the native music, and indigenous people.
These inspirations always make their way into my work whether it be designing a hotel or designing this collection with Fil Doux Textiles.
With the Nomad collection, I was particularly inspired by the indigo and mud cloths of west Africa, shibori dying of Japan, traditional knits of my mother country Ireland, African zulu baskets, the mud homes built by women in Ghana, and the endless “not quite” colors of Tibet. To name a few.
