June 15 - July 28, 2002
From the inherent beauty of natural fibers, from Haitian cotton to Thai silk, the Larsen Design Studio was always innovative. In its first decade during the 1950s and 1960s, they went beyond the loom to design machine-made laces that exploited the unique qualities of newly developed synthetic yarns. In the 1960s bold printed velvets led the field. The 1970s emphasized silk and extra-wide fabrics; the1980s saw refined cloth of quiet eloquence, sophisticated muted tones and neutral color schemes flourished; and the 1990s emphasized casements and technical innovation. Acquired by Cowtan & Tout in 1997, the studio carries the Larsen tradition of technical innovation and design excellence into the 21st century.
Jack Lenor Larsen: The Company and the Cloth was organized by The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Samarkand, Larsen Design Studio,
screen printed cotton. Collection of The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
It has been said that Jack Lenor Larsen could have been a painter, an architect, or a poet, but he chose to be a weaver because, through textiles, he could be painter, architect, and poet all at once. Yet, more than a weaver, more than an extraordinary designer, Larsen is also an entrepreneur, a gardener, a traveler, a patron of young artists, and a collector of crafts.
Jack Lenor Larsen was born in Seattle, Washington in 1927. He studied architecture and interior design at the University of Washington before turning to weaving. Upon graduating from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1951, he opened a New York studio. Two years later he founded his legendary company, which grew to become a global organization with production centers in 30 countries and showrooms in major cities around the work. His company was bought in 1997 by the British firm Colefax & Fowler, and is run by its American subsidiary Cowtan & Tout. Larsen is still actively involved in the company, which carries the Larsen tradition of technical innovation and design excellence into the 21st century.
Larsen is a Fellow and President Emeritus of the American Craft Council and Fellow and Honorary Royal Designer for Industry of the Royal Society of Art. He is also a Gold Medalist with the American institute of Architects. In 1992 he established the LongHouse Foundation to showcase remarkable collections of crafts, sculpture, textiles, and other works of art and to encourage creativity in landscape design and the arts.
