Feathers, plastic, ticker tape, string, cork, leather and bamboo – just some of the materials that textile designer Dorothy Liebes (1897–1972) used to weave her custom creations. It was these unexpected elements, along with fearless combinations of colour that, in the early 20th century, made her a pioneer in the world of fabric design.
No wonder, then, that the California-born innovator – who collaborated with architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Dreyfuss and Samuel Marx, as well as working in fashion, film and even the automotive industry – was widely regarded as ‘the mother of modern weaving’.
It was while studying art education at the State Teachers College at San Jose that she first bought a small red loom. After several years as a teacher, she enrolled in weaving classes and in 1923 graduated from the University of California with a BA in decorative art, architecture and applied textile design. Next was an MA in art education at Columbia University, after which she travelled to France, Italy, Guatemala, Mexico and beyond to learn about traditional weaving techniques.
In 1930 she launched her San Francisco studio, specialising in hand-woven pieces for architects and interior designers, with commissions including drapes for the San Francisco stock exchange, curtains for the Plaza Hotel, screens for the United Nations Delegates Dining Room in New York, and drapery and upholstery fabrics for the Minneapolis house of Frieda and Henry J Neils by Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1952, she opened a second studio in New York, where she eventually relocated full time.
A skilful and forward-thinking designer, Liebes referred to her studio as a ‘laboratory’ and to colour as ‘magic elixir’. So prolific was her output that it became widely known as the ‘Liebes Look’. Aware that only the wealthy could afford her textiles, she forged partnerships with companies such as Goodall Fabrics, DuPont and Dobeckmun, the makers of Lurex, a metallic yarn that was to become a signature in her designs.
Working with these manufacturers, she replicated a hand-woven feel on machine looms, allowing the fabrics to become accessible to a wider audience. As a spokesperson she ushered in a new era for synthetic fabrics and machine-made textiles such as polyester and rayon.
The recipient of countless awards over her five-decade career, in 1970 Liebes received the American Craft Council Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship, and her work is held in institutions including the V&A Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. cooperhewitt.org
