Textile, Jalousie

Modern architecture in 1950s America presented Larsen Design Studio with a lot of interesting work. The fabrics, according to Larsen, were "very utilitarian" and with the advent of highrise buildings and glass facades, drapery was needed to screen the sun’s glare. Jalousie would have been a perfect contender for this providing a neutral color and subtle striped pattern for a modern interior. The integration of linen, goat hair, and rayon is surprisingly subtle and adheres to Larsen’s aesthetic of allowing the material, especially when using hand-spun yarn, to speak for itself: "We use more neutrals than anyone else because we have so many handcrafted textiles with great materials and hand-spun yarn. They don’t need much excitement. Fifty years ago, when people were collecting modern art, they didn’t want their furnishings to compete with their million-dollar paintings. Something durable and substantial but without color and pattern was what they wanted most. We were very good at that. "Texture" was the buzzword." (1)
(1) Interview with Jack Lenor Larsen by Kelsey Keith, Dwell (September 5, 2013)

Textile, Jalousie; Designed by Larsen Design Studio (United States); Produced by Jack Lenor Larsen Incorporated (United States); linen, goat hair, rayon; H x W: 309.9 × 123.2 cm (10 ft. 2 in. × 48 1/2 in.); Cowtan and Tout Larsen Archive Collection, Gift of Longhouse Reserve; 2016-32-13