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Fabric Design

Ever had a bad day and wanted the sky to reflect that? These fabric prints were created with shapes cut out of paper. Each features some combination of celestial bodies who don't seem very pleased to be there.

A stack of five folded fabric bolts in different colorways — black and white, teal, mustard, navy, and coral — each printed with the same grumpy sun, moon, and star pattern

Overview

This started when I spent too long looking at textile swatches from Knoll, specifically "Eclat Weave" by Anni Albers. I wanted to make my own version of it, and thought it would add some character if I made it out of shapes cut from paper. The suns, moons, and stars were inspired by Alexander Girard. I had it professionally printed and it's just waiting for the perfect project.

A digital mockup of a lounge chair upholstered in the teal colorway of the fabric, cushions covered in the sun, moon, and star pattern The original paper collage: a mustard-colored triangle grid cut from paper, with separate moon, sun, and star shapes cut out below it The green and white colorway coming off a large-format printer, sun, moon, and star icons speckled across the triangle pattern Close-up of the teal and white printed fabric draped over furniture, showing the dense repeating triangle pattern A hand holding up a folded length of the black and white colorway, showing the printed canvas texture up close

In brass

For our anniversary in 2024, my wife had the sun and moon from this print cut out of brass, sized to hang above our mantle. I polished the metal, added hanging hardware, and backed the cutout faces in black velvet so the features would stand out against the wall. The pair was meant as a more personal (and more affordable) stand-in for the Girard Sun wall relief Herman Miller still sells, which was part of what inspired the fabric's grumpy suns and moons in the first place.

A polished brass sun and crescent moon, each with a grumpy cutout face, mounted on the wall flanking a framed vintage Herman Miller Textiles & Objects poster above a wood mantel
Close-up of the brass sun piece on the wall, its triangular rays and grumpy cutout face backed in black velvet to make the features stand out Close-up of the brass crescent moon piece on the wall, its grumpy T-shaped cutout face backed in black velvet to make the features stand out Another view of the brass sun and moon flanking the framed Herman Miller poster above the mantel, with carved figures and letterpress blocks arranged below
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