So far this year, Luna Textiles has introduced work that remains true to its brand history and ethos – a fashion-forward boutique brand with its finger on the pulse of West Coast modernity. Its most recent introductions, unveiled at NeoCon 2017 in June, were inspired by the wide-ranging influences of French fashion fabrics, 1980s New York City street art, and Bauhaus weaving techniques.
But the contract textiles brand is also quietly preparing for a new focus. Dena Molnar, Luna’s new head of design sought out by designer Michael Vanderbyl, signals the convergence of what people love best about the brand with something new. This new addition to the team prompted us to see what Mr. Vanderbyl, founder and principal of Vanderbyl Design and husband of Luna Textiles’ beloved late founder Anna Hernandez, has in mind for the future of the brand, as well as for his own work.
Ms. Molnar’s career follows a path of tech-savvy textiles design, beginning with a BFA in textiles from RISD and an MDes in technology at Harvard Graduate School of Design. She has over 13 years of industry experience, including time spent as a textile technology consultant to Google, a consultant for MIT, a senior designer at Maharam textiles, and cofounder of WOVNS. Her presence at Luna opens up the possibility of using new technologies and electronics to reshape textile design, development and manufacturing.
“This is an opportunity for us to move the company in a new direction,” Mr. Vanderbyl said. “As unique as we were when we started the company – a small company that was able to be innovative and agile and smart – we want to make sure Anna’s legacy is maintained. Here we are in the middle of the technology epicenter. We want to see what’s out there in the future for us, to differentiate us like we had when we started.
“In replacing Ray [Wenzel, Luna Textiles’ previous VP of Design], I went straight at Dena right away. What the future might be was really exciting to me. It was really intriguing to me to have her help us think differently about what textiles can be. We’re thinking a lot about how patterns are developed, and using programming to create patterns that never repeat – things like that.”
Ms. Molnar echoes those sentiments.
“I’ve come from a sort of artsy, prototyping perspective, and Luna shares a lot of that perspective. We’re thinking about how we can push new boundaries, and how to push textiles into new domains – especially new domains of technology. With our proximity to Silicon Valley, we’re well positioned to form those relationships. And the Bay Area has a history of constantly questioning and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.”
So what exactly, and when, might customers expect from this fresh focus on R&D?
“We’re integrating new technologies into fabrics to take on a new performative language,” said Ms. Molnar. “That could involve electronics or a new manufacturing technique.”
Ms. Molnar hinted at fabrics with more comfort, speaking to residential trends, and textiles with a drier, more natural hand – for example, lines that have no SR, no backing, or no finish – which she noted as a current West Coast trend. Luna’s next introductions will be fashion-forward and high-performance, and then further out (one-to-three years) customers will begin to see products that reflect the new hyper-focused R&D goals.
While Ms. Molnar’s leadership will definitely inject a renewed sense of innovation at the company, she noted that Luna’s creative design process seems to make that transition easier.
We’re always looking at what’s current in that world, so you’ll continue to see that language,” noted Ms. Molnar. “Our history of being fashion-forward will continue. But one thing that makes Luna so exciting and special is that it brings a more boutique feel to contract textiles; we have the ability to turn corners very quickly and change directions if and when we want to. That quality speaks to Anna’s vision and energy. The energy she built the company on is still there.”
The communication of ideas will remain at the center of the Luna’s design process.
“We start with inspiration and then design around that inspiration,” said Mr. Vanderbyl. “It’s always about ideas.”
Ms. Hernandez’s legacy will also live through the Anna Hernandez/Luna Textiles Education Fund (IIDA), a fund Mr. Vanderbyl and the IIDA started to empower women in design.
“When she passed away, I wanted to find a way to honor her and her work and her legacy.” said Mr. Vanderbyl. “The fund aims to help women in design who have started a business. When Anna started out, she scrimped and saved and got all of her samples ready, and everything went really well at the start. I thought about how she needed an extra push after that beginning phase. Whether it’s a woman starting a small design firm or manufacturing business, it’s meant to help someone who’s a little further into the process of starting a business. It’s meant to help them get to that next level.”
To learn more about or donate to the fund, visit the Anna Hernandez/Luna Textiles Education Fund website.
Mr. Vanderbyl’s prolific body of work reflects a similar design ethos. In designing products, graphics and advertising, he and Vanderbyl Design have imprinted new ideas onto the masses for companies in a multitude of industries: furniture – most notably in the contract sphere with Teknion, HBF Bernhardt Design and JANUS et Cie, to mention a few – wine and spirits, fashion brands, aviation design, and the list goes on.
“The core of it is about communicating,” he continued. “Everything communicates. It’s thinking about how to distill the symbiotics of something down to alter the way people think.”
As an example, he noted Apple, and its all-encompassing 360-degree branding experience.
“The commercials, the store you buy it in, the packaging and the box – that consistency is at the core of everything I do.”
Consistency in shaping the way we think about an object, a product, a brand or place, finds its way into the Luna Textiles showrooms, created by Vanderbyl Design; Luna is affectionately known for showing its fabrics wrapped around actual objects, usually non-furniture pieces, alongside the more traditional practice of laying the fabrics out on a counter or hung flowing from some type of installation.
“People always talk about the ‘hand of the fabric,’ but it’s so much more than that,” said Mr. Vanderbyl. “It’s not just about weaving – the fabric is going to be wrapped tight around whatever it’s being applied to.” So whether it’s a purse or a show, it shows you how it seams, how it looks wrapped around an object.”
For Canadian contract furniture company Teknion, Vanderbyl has provided all-inclusive branding concepts, including showroom design. A recent showroom renovation included a library reception concept, where all of Teknion’s published books are showcased in an open, social space.
“The idea of a more informal reception works very well for furniture companies and their showrooms,” Meetings are often scheduled in advance, and employees in the showroom can usually work anywhere they want.”
Forgoing the formalities of someone greeting or checking visitors in at the front of a space is challenging the way companies interact with customers, visitors, and their own staffs.
“It seems like a barrier dropping. The idea of walking into a social library space instead of a reception – people are dressed more casually, the informality is there.”
Teknion’s reservoir of published books also serves as a means of communicating a clear message. As we move to more muddled digital means of operating a business, the concept of a book of ideas showing people what a company is doing, producing and thinking about, is an appealing one.
“Western civilization has trained people to not throw books away, and the idea of a book is a lasting one,” said Mr. Vanderbyl. “When you hand someone a book, they think they got a gift. But it’s about the ethos of a company. There’s a thoughtfulness there, something more permanent.”
Mr. Vanderbyl’s work with HBF, which began many years ago when he helped convince the company to fully rebrand from its original Hickory Business Furniture identity to a more modern one, will continue. As a follow-up collaboration to his Conexus Chair, introduced in 2016, the brand will release a new lounge piece by him in the next year. He’s happy to see the brand begin to turn a new corner with the appointment of Dan Chong as its new president.
“It’s really a breath of fresh air. This is what they’ve needed there for a long time. They’re having to find themselves again, and that’s a good thing.
From our count, Luna Textiles is in great hands, along with the many companies and clients Vanderbyl Design interacts with. What comes next has the potential to be surprising, cutting edge and mindful – always.