How Christopher Farr Cloth is Helping Continue the Legacy of Josef and Anni Albers

Come early May, Christopher Farr Cloth will be among a select group of home design companies that will present a set offerings to King Charles for his interior use. But, first: a mission to uphold the legacy of the art world's arguably most famous and impactful duo.

Josef and Anni Albers are an emblem of 20th-century modern art. The former challenged color theory through paintings, and the latter exemplified tremendous skill in textile weaving. "Misfits of the Bauhaus" some may call them, but regardless, the ideology and work of the 20th-century artists continue to permeate into contemporary art. Now, fans have the opportunity to take some of Anni Albers's signature aesthetics and fashion them into different forms of home goods.

Forged from a 10-year relationship, Christopher Farr Cloth has recently introduced their third collaboration with the Albers Foundation (the foundation run by Nicholas Fox Weber meant to uphold the legacy and works of the duo). The collection consists of fabrics and wallpapers that take inspiration from some of Anni Albers's most prominent woven works.

In the first two collections with the foundation, the team at Christopher Farr Cloth paid close attention to Anni Albers's prints and drawings, which she created from the early 1960s to her death in 1994. "By then she was suffering from a muscular disease and she turned toward printing after a visit with Josef to Tamarind printers in CA," Michal Silver, Creative Director of Christopher Farr Cloth, tells Town & Country. The third collection focuses on her woven work. "Anni is considered the weaver of the 20 century. Where do you start and how do you capture the spirit of her work with 5-6 designs?"

For those who are not familiar, Anni Albers was a master at textiles, best known for not only her use of geometric patterns, but also for experimenting with printing techniques such as screen-printing, lithography, photo-offset, embossing, and etching. Since her time studying at the Bauhaus in the 1920s, her work essentially merged traditional craft and fine art. Within the new collaboration, there are six woven fabrics and two wallpapers that emulate this spirit.

There's a fabric that takes from Anni's Wall Hanging (1925) colorful geometric squares seen in the original piece. Though different, the chocolate, indigo, and charcoal colors used still echo Albers's vision in color narration. Verticals (1946) was a cotton and linen wall hanging that required Anni to create broken vertical lines within the weave. This piece has been transformed into both a fabric suitable for upholstery and a wallpaper that is suitable for minimal enthusiasts who want to add a few design layers to their space. Other works that inspired pieces of the collection include Rug Design for Child's Room (1928), Untitled (1944), and Triangulated Intaglios VI (circa 1970s).

This collaboration falls in line with Christopher Farr Cloth's dedication to the finest materials, traditional craftsmanship, and innovative collaborations with the renowned artist such as Josef Herman and Gunta Stölzl.

"When we work with a contemporary artist it’s a dialog and it’s a very collaborative process," Silver says. "But, working with an historical collection in this magnitude was a very humbling experience. There was a huge sense of responsibility in reintroducing her work and our mission was to maintain the spirit of the collection and make the designs accessible and relevant."

To learn more about or shop the collection, please visit christopherfarrcloth.com

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