Online/ Talk / Textile Technique
INTERIOR TEXTILES TODAY: A NEW YORK PERSPECTIVE brings together designers, educators, and industry voices to ask a simple but pointed question: what does it actually take to build and sustain an interior textile practice in this city right now?
Presented by New York Textile Month, FIT's Surface Design program, and Textile Eye, the evening will center on inspiring presentations and open discussion about where New York's interior design landscape stands today.
Whether you're a working designer, a student, or simply curious about the forces shaping the rooms we live in, join us for an evening built around one central question: what does it mean, and what does it take, to make interior textiles in New York today?
Program
6:00 PM: Doors open
6:30 PM: Event start time
6:30 PM - 6:40 PM: Welcome Susanne Goetz Chair | Textile/Surface Design and Ragna Froda Director New York Textile Month
6:40 PM - 6:55 PM: Presentation Saana Baker (FIT alumna), Textile Eye
6:55PM - 7:05 PM: Presentation Lori Weitzner
7:05 PM - 7:15 PM: Presentation William Storms(TSD alumnus)
7:15 PM - 8:00 PM: Panel discussion, moderated by Saana Baker
8:00 PM: Event wrap up
Saana Barker - Textile Eye
Saana Baker is a textile designer, consultant, and Editor-in-Chief of The Textile Eye, an independent quarterly report devoted to high-end textiles and surface design. She studied textile design at FIT before holding design leadership roles at Schumacher and Barbara Barry and consulting on collections for Jiun Ho, Kravet, Clarence House, Crypton, and McGuire Furniture. She founded The Textile Eye to provide in-depth international fair coverage, trend analysis, and industry interviews. Baker is also a frequent speaker, a Trend Spotter for Home Accents Today, and has appeared in Business of Home, Arch Digest Pro, Aspire Design and Home, and HUE.
William Storms
William Storms (b.1991) is a Brooklyn-based artist and textile designer exploring handweaving and material development. A graduate of FIT, he studied at ENSCI–Les Ateliers in Paris before developing Jacquard fabrics as a designer at US Textile Mills, like Sunbrella and Crypton. Through his namesake studio, he creates custom fabrics, sculptural woven works, and site specific installations in collaboration with the A&D community.
Lori Weitzner
Lori Weitzner, Principal Designer of Weitzner limited is internationally known for her contributions to the world of textiles, wallcoverings, rugs, passementerie, stone and tile, bedding, and other products for interiors and gifting. Her work is in the permanent collections of such museums as the Cooper- Hewitt in New York and The Victoria Albert in London as well as a special exhibition about color during the Venice Biennale 2022. She is the recipient of more than thirty five prestigious design awards and her work is featured regularly in such media as Elle Décor, Architectural Digest, and The New York Times. She has authored her first book, Ode to Color: The Ten Essential Palettes for Living and Design, published by HarperCollins, and lectures around the world on the effects of color on our well being. Including an extensive partnership with Google XI.
Brian Delp
Brian Delp is a consumer goods and retail strategist with executive leadership experience across global, product-driven organizations, including President at Himatsingka America and CEO at New Sega Home. He has operated across the full consumer ecosystem, holding leadership roles spanning manufacturers, importers, brand portfolios, and retail-facing organizations. In parallel, he teaches leadership, marketing, product strategy, and design research at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design. He serves as Vice President of the Board of the Home Fashion Products Association and President of the HFPA Foundation, and contributes as a writer, speaker, and advisor across the retail and consumer landscape. He holds a B.A. in Business Administration from Elon University and an MBA from the Cornell SC Johnson Graduate School of Management.