Over the past few months, we have been excited and honored to work with artists participating in Structure and Surface, the Philadelphia Mural Arts Textile Project, as they research the local textile industry.

Katherine Shozawa shared these snapshots of Dorothy Liebes textiles that inspired her during her visit to The Design Center:

“What captured my interest in Liebes in addition to her wonderful, visually interesting and unexpected use of materials is a statement she once made: “Design is an interpretation of your life experience.” The historian Alexa Griffith Winton also describes her work as “interdisciplinary, multi-cultural, highly personal, inherently collaborative and above all colorful.” This interest in personal experience (like storytelling) along with details of her collecting unusual, modest and cheaper materials during World War II, like ribbon and foil strip from San Francisco’s Chinatown (where, incidentally, I grew up after my family moved from Vancouver, BC) are what compel me to keep following her story and work. Additionally, the mid-century, World War II period is a prominent part of my work since I became an artist.”

For more about Structure and Surface, check out the project’s website here.