Jack Lenor Larsen
Jack Lenor Larsen (born
1927) is a textile designer,
author and collector and
promoter of traditional and
contemporary craftsmanship
in all its forms.
• Larsen was born in 1927 in Seattle, WA to NorskCanadian parents.
• In 1945 he enrolled at the School of Architecture at
the University of Washington. The following year he
studied furniture design and began weaving, moving
to Los Angeles to focus upon fabrics.
• In 1949 he studied ancient Peruvian textiles in Seattle
and opened a studio.
• In 1951 he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from
the Cranbrook Academy of Art,Michigan, and opened a
studio in New York.
• Since the 1950s he has designed thousands of fabric
patterns and textiles, many associated with
the modernist architecture and furnishings popular
with post-1945 American consumers.
• In 1952, Larsen founded his firm,Jack Lenor Larsen,
Incorporated. From the beginning, Jack Lenor Larsen's
distinctive hand-woven furnishing fabrics with random
repeats in variegated, natural yarns were popular with
clients such as Marilyn Monroe.
• In 1958, he designed his first aeroplane upholstery,
for Pan American Airlines.
• His passion for international weaving and textile crafts
made him familiar with techniques such
as ikat and batik, which he introduced to the American
public, and by 1974, Larsen's company was
manufacturing fabrics in 30 countries.
• He currently lives in New York.
Since the 1950’s Jack had worked with numerous
traditional weavers including those in Haiti, Mexico and
Morocco to adapt their traditional skills to produce
contemporary fabrics for the interiors market. Having
worked with Thai Silk, founded shortly after the war by the
legendary Jim Thompson, Jack developed a number of
distinctive fabrics.
Among the most dramatic were the ikat cloths. Originally
the technique was used to create short lengths for
wrapped clothing styles, but Larsen persuaded the weavers
to create a heavier weight cloth in continuous lengths
which could be adapted to be used as upholstery fabric.
The production is very labor intensive requiring the pattern
to be resist-dyed into the weft threads before the weaving
begins. The strong graphic, variety of color ways (Azure,
Moongold, Papaya, Quick Silver, Fire Opal, Parakeet, and
Mahagony) and use of silk and metal yarns, resulted in a
bold, luxurious fabric that remained in the company’s line
for many years.
•
Larsen Design Studio
Laotian Ikat
Collection: An Homage to Jim Thompson
Materials: Silk, metallic
Classification: Surface Ornamentation- Dyed
Thailand
•
Jack Larsen
Remoulade, 1956-67
Collection: Spice Garden
Materials: Cotton, silk, Lurex
Classification: Woven Fabric
United States
In the 1950s Larsen became wellknown for fabrics that incorporated
a variety of yarns and random
repeats. Initially these cloths were
hand woven, but demand
eventually exceeded their
production capabilities and a
solution had to be found. Working
with an Italian textile engineer who
owned a small mill in New Jersey,
Larsen was able to replicate these
textiles using power looms.
Although it still proved to be much
slower than the conventional
power weaving of the time, it was
much faster than hand weaving.
Larsen Design Studio
Bobbin Cloth
Collection: Pre-Collection
Materials: Cotton
Classification: Woven Fabric
Germany
•
Eliza Wilcox
Chimu
Collection: Andean
Materials: Cotton
Classification: Surface Ornamentation- Dyed
Kenya
• Larsen Design Studio
City Blocks, 1994
Collection: Unknown
Materials: Linen, silk
Classification: Woven Fabric
• Larsen Design Studio
Diagonal Stripe
Collection: Brasil
Materials: Cotton, linen
Classification: Woven Fabric
Italy
The production capabilities of
individual workshops
sometimes limited Larsen’s
ability to maintain stock of a
particular pattern. The Italian
weavers who first fabricated
Diagonal Stripe soon ceased to
produce this challenging weave
with angled weft alignment.
Only after several decades did
Larsen find another
dependable source, Thai silk
weavers, whom the company
persuaded to use linen threads
because they were more
durable for casement fabric
construction. The company was
able to reintroduce the fabric
with a new name, Onward, in
2000.
•
Dona Raquel Vivas
Doria II, 1978
Collection: Pre-Collection
Materials: Wool
Classification: Woven Fabric
Colombia
Larsen was famous for producing cloth
that highlighted the distinctive qualities
of natural fiber. The company sought
out yarns that were not overly refined,
using them in woven structures that
enhanced their special effects. The
Doria and Haitian Primitive series were
handwoven in Colombia and the
Caribbean, respectively, and remained
popular for more than twenty years.
Frank Lloyd Wright specified Doria for
several homes he designed. Two of the
Doria Squares color ways were
commissioned for Air Force One in 1969
when Richard Nixon was president.
•
Larsen Design Studio
Gin Fizz, 1995
Collection: Unknown
Materials: Polyester
Classification: Woven Fabric
Germany
Larsen fabrics were known
in the industry for using
"unusual" fibers and yarns
in the textiles they
produced. The subtle
quality of black goat hair in
this upholstery fabric is
enhancd by the choice of a
relatively simple twill
construction
•
Jack Larsen
Horse Cloth, 1954-62
Collection: Pre-Collection
Materials: Linen, cotton, goat hair, mohair and wool
Classification: Woven Fabric
•
Lori Weitzner
Jacob's Ladder, 1993
Collection: Grand Additions
Materials: Cotton, rayon
Classification: Woven Fabric
United States
Jack Larsen
Jason, 1985
Collection: Millennium
Materials: Cotton, nylon, viscose, goat hair, mylar
Classification: Woven Fabric
United States
An important aspect of Larsen’s design
philosophy is the commitment to
maintaining a positive relationship
between the production consistency
and standardization demanded by the
interiors industry, and the individual
expression and spontaneity needed to
create distinctive environments. Since
the 1950s Larsen designers have
successfully combined these two
qualities in their innovative approach
to casement fabrics.
Although the interplay of irregular
transparent and opaque areas is a
relatively simple concept it took
extensive experimentation to discover
the correct balance of structural
stability. The design of this fabric
called for the use of soft, smooth
yarns, stabilized with periodic leno
warp locks, which would allow
spontaneous waves to modify a ridged
stripe. Jason was woven at the Bolan
mill from 1956 to 1968.
When Larsen was commissioned to design the
stage curtain for the Wolf Trap Theater in
Virginia, the company worked with Coral
Stephens, head of a handweaving studio in
Swaziland. The Swazi weavers had already
produced a series of casement fabrics for the
Larsen line and used handspun mohair yarns. In
1971 the cloth was the largest Swazi export.
Jack Larsen
Wolftrap Theater Curtain (commissioned), 1970
Collection: Commission
Materials: Mohair, nylon
Classification: Woven Fabric
Swaziland
Magnum is perhaps the most
famous of all Larsen fabrics.
Initially commissioned as the
Symphony Hall curtain for the
Phoenix Civic Plaza, the fabric was
installed in 1972. Still in use, the
curtain required 600 yards of
material and replicates the
boldness of the handembroidered mirror work of
northwest India. Designers
experimented extensively to find
the ideal materials and technical
adjustments of the mechanical
embroidery equipment to create
a stable fabric. Magnum was
Larsen Design Studio available in the original “flame,”
this “golden topaz,” and several
Magnum, 1970
Materials: Cotton, vinyl,other colors until 1992.
nylon, polyester; backed
with nylon scrim.
Classification: Surface
OrnamentationEmbroidered
•
Larsen Design Studio
Peking
Collection: Great Color of China
Materials: Silk, cotton
Classification: Woven Fabric
Italy
Color, an important element of
every collection, helps create a
specific mood and provides a
unifying presence. The richness of
the Larsen color palette has always
been a company strength, and
Larsen designers took particular
care with color specifications when
working with manufacturers.
The company also drew on the
psychological power of language
when it named fabrics and colors.
Peking and the colors
“pigeonblood,” “puce,” “black
pearl,” and “persimmon” suggest
the exotic East, as does the fabric’s
rich silk pile. That the fabric was
actually woven in Torino, Italy,
mattered little. Peking was first
introduced in 1971, and by 1993,
the line had thirty-one colors.
Larsen Design Studio
Pocket Pearls
Collection: Unknown
Materials: Spun viscose, polyester, linen
Classification: Woven Fabric
•
Larsen Design Studio
Swan Song, 1994
Collection: Unknown
Materials: Linen, silk
Classification: Woven Fabric