The Mad Silkman: Zika & Lida Ascher, Textiles and Fashion at the Czech Center New York

“Textiles, I know, do not make blockbuster shows, but this one is a must because it demonstrates how world history is interwoven with this story.” - Daniela Ohad

Screen-printed Giselle silk crepe, 1969. © Peter Archer.

Czech Center New York in collaboration with UPM, The Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague presents “Mad Silkman: Zika & Lida Ascher Textiles and Fashion,” the first U.S. exhibition focused on the life and work of Zika and Lida Ascher. The husband-and-wife duo left Czechoslovakia before the outbreak of WW2 and built a textile empire in the United Kingdom, which supplied fabrics to the international fashion industry.

Featuring more than fifty original patterns, textile samples, photos, drawings and videos, Mad Silkman is a scaled down version of UPM’s 2019 exhibition curated by Konstantina Hlaváčková, head of the Museum’s Textile and Fashion Collection. Most items in the exhibition have been generously lent by the theAscher Family Archive in the United States.

Zika (Zikmund) Ascher was born in Prague in 1910 into a family of Jewish textile businessmen, opening a popular textile shop with his brother, Josef at the age of 22. A successful Alpine skier, he represented Czechoslovakia in many international competitions, earning a moniker “Mad Silkman” for his daredevil style on the slopes. He married Lida (Ludmila) Tydlitátová in 1939 and left for a Scandinavian honeymoon just a few days before the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia. The couple found their way from Norway to London making it their new home, and, in 1942, founding a textile company Ascher (London) Ltd that printed fabrics for women’s clothes.

Evening Dress, Vanessa for Abelann, 1970, Screen-printed Byblos dégradé on Giselle silk crepe. Fabric © Peter Ascher, Ascher Family Archive

In addition to his own lively and unique designs, Zika approached leading artists of the time—Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, André Derain, Cecil Beaton, Alexander Calder, among others—to design prints for a collection of scarves and fashion fabrics to brighten up the dull postwar British wardrobe. Most agreed, resulting in a collection of approximately thirty extraordinary silk scarves, “the Ascher Squares,” which were soon recognized all over the world helping launch Zika and Lida’s glittering career. Ascher fabrics were immensely popular from the 1940s to the 1980s, frequently appearing in top fashion magazines, and used by European fashion houses including Christian Dior, Chanel, Balenciaga, Lanvin-Castillo, Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, Alberto Fabiani, Ronald Paterson, Mary Quant, David Sassoon.

Sunflowers, 1947, Sigmund Pollitzer, Screen-printed rayon crepe (© Peter Ascher, Charlotta Kotik’s archive)

Screen-printed shantung silk with hummingbirds, 1953 © Peter Ascher, Ascher Family Archive.

Read design historian Daniela Ohad’s review “The Man Who Invented Bouclé” on Daniela on Design.

Beacon Courtyard Townhouse by Hacin + Associates featured in Architectural Digest

Photo: Trent Bell. Courtesy Hacin + Associates

Hacin + Associates makes its debut in Architectural Digest with a feature on our Beacon Courtyard TH project, located in Boston’s Back Bay and photographed by Trent Bell.

David Hacin, Matthew Woodward, and Christine Rankin, as well as the client, were recently interviewed by Kathryn Romeyn of Architectural Digest and had the opportunity to discuss the architectural and design strategy behind one of the firm’s most recent residential projects, the Beacon Courtyard TH.

The feature walks through the townhouse in a series of thirteen images, noting the ribbonlike staircase that connects every floor. ‘“[It] really feels like a thread, unraveling and unwrapping from the ground all the way up to the sky,” Hacin says. “It’s almost pulling light in and pulling the dark accents up and out. It unifies the whole house.”’ Catch a glimpse into the living room, dining room and kitchen of this home, as well images of the client’s dressing room, game room, and courtyard spa pool, featuring a living moss mural by Plant the Future.

Read the full article here

"Capsule" by Tim Button for Nasiri Carpets

Tim Button and Nasiri Carpets collaborated closely to design a collection of graphic rugs that draws heavily on the knowledge of traditional weaving techniques, interpreting them through a 21st century lens. The resulting collection is a series of patterns that are asymmetrical but balanced: clean lines, abstract geometric forms, rich textures and simple, sophisticated detailing. Handwoven in Turkey using 100% hand-spun and hand-carded wool and natural dyes, and measuring 9 x 12 feet, each rug in Capsule collection is envisioned as high- quality staple that is both timeless and modern, understated, luxurious, and lasting.

1.Boogie Woogie

Boogie Woogie combines contemporary design with ancient Mazandaran Flat Weave weaving technique. The rug’s inspiration originates from the region below the Caspian Sea, the Mazandaran Province in Iran, where these rugs have been woven for hundreds of years for in-house use. Woven as narrow panels, which are then stitched together, Mazandaran rugs represent one of the most authentic traditions of Persian rug weaving yet appear strikingly modern in its graphic simplicity and are rarely seen outside of the region. The name of the rug pays homage to Piet Mondrian whose abstract, primary-colored compositions inspired its design. 

2. Offset

In Offset, the grid of Mazandaran was manipulated to turn its delicate stripes into blocks, which were then shifted to create a geometric, slightly off-grid pattern. The design’s bold geometry was softened with chic pastels—blue, brown, yellow, violet, rust—for a light, watercolor feel. The unexpected off-grid pattern combined with an ancient weaving technique has resulted in a design that is grounded in tradition yet thoroughly modern.

“Mazandaran rugs have timeless quality. You can put one in a room with a period chair – or the Eames chair – and it would work with either. These rugs have been produced for hundreds of years yet they are strikingly modern. “- Tim Button

3. Maze

Maze is an intricate pattern, inspired by traditional African Kuba cloths but altered to appeal to contemporary design sensibilities. Hand-drawn, the dense pattern is rendered in terracotta and ochre, which helps to tone it down and maintain visual balance. The softest in the collection color-wise, this rug features high-low pile for added dimension and textural touch.

Tim Button is partner and co-owner of Stedila Design, a NYC-based interior design firm with a wide-ranging portfolio of residential, retail and commercial projects across the U.S. and internationally. Since joining the firm in 1980, Tim has designed and managed hundreds of projects of every scale, from an exhibition space at the Whitney Museum of American Art and custom furniture to complete interior design work for Pelli Clark Pelli’s The Visionaire, Battery Park City’s most environmentally responsive high-rise condominium.

Tim holds a BA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design and is a graduate of its Environmental Design Program. Since the beginning of his career, he has balanced high-end aesthetics with sustainable function and environmental awareness. Tim’s expertise in green design has made him equally sought-after by commercial, retail, and residential clientele. Tim designs custom furniture for his interior design projects and has also created pieces for Desiron, a premiere American maker of hand-crafted custom furniture. He is currently working on residential projects in New York City, Connecticut, Boston, California, Vermont, Florida, and Washington, DC. www.stediladesign.com

Nasiri Carpets is a New York-based company manufacturing traditional and modern Persian carpets and kilim floor coverings. The combined talent of the Nasiri brothers has created a quality of area rugs that are considered to be on par with the great Persian collectible rugs of the 18th and 19th centuries. Nasiri designs vary from traditional styles to bold contemporary rugs. The modern designs have a tribal, yet sophisticated feel, using structured blocks of boldly colored stripes and geometric shapes that are drawn from the culture of its raring regions. The antique rugs combine traditional designs and colors conveying the sense of the classic age of Persian carpets, while the company’s modern creations accentuate the drama of contemporary interior design. Nasiri uses Persian wool, carded and dyed by hand, which brings out rich and harmonious colors. The works of Nasiri Carpets are preferred among contemporary designers because of its beauty and utmost elegance, as well as due to the high quality of the materials.  www.nasiricarpets.com.