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Brooklyn-based Textile Designers Gunny + Galloon
Encore exclusive interview with Shiva Sadri
Silk-screened gold leaf on organza gown for Reem Acra’s "Fairy Tale" themed collection
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Textile design may seem like a trumped up way of describing some industrial cotton mill, but at Gunny + Galloon it’s anything but. Based in Brooklyn, the G + G team dreams up (and executes) bespoke fabrics in a manner completely their own. Always looking for the next way to make fabric more than just a base for clothing design and putting its level of beauty on par with any couture gown you can find. Shiva Sadri chats with Encore about what really goes in to an art that most of us don’t know a thing about (but should).
Everyone gets how clothes are made: fabric, scissors, sewing machine. But no one seems to know much about textile design. Can you give us an overview of how it goes for you at Gunny + Galloon?
Textile design, development and production are all really large industries and only a small part of it directly caters to fashion. If you look around you, from the clothes you are wearing, to the materials that are in your living space, there is an over abundance of textiles that surround us in our everyday lives. We are so used to seeing them and relying on them that we hardly see them but our daily life would certainly not be able function as efficiently without these materials. When one thinks of a textile company, one imagines a factory with heavy machinery mass-producing thousands of yards of fabric.
Gunny + Galloon is different in that we specialize in the design of surface techniques, treatments and embellishments that are created by hand. We do not produce cloth; rather we do our work on top of fabric provided to us by our client and with the use of the tools and techniques that we specialize in, we transform its appearance and texture. We work in the areas of fashion, interior and bridal design.
The majority of our work is done in collaboration with fashion designers for the collections that they show on the runway each season. Because of the hand-done nature of our work, we mostly work on special one-of-a-kind pieces and small-scale production. Because we are based locally in Brooklyn, we have the ability to work closely with our clients, often meeting in person with the designer during the development and sample making process. This allows for a great degree of personalization—every project that we work on is entirely custom and unique to each of our clients.
Along with that, you always hear about people wanting to be fashion designers but never hear about textile designers. What inspired you to take that route?
I studied surface design for my undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis. Initially I was interested in pursuing a career in the fine arts but I was drawn to design because of the constraints that it placed on the ‘artist’—the notion that one had to consider the idea of form and function in the creative process really appealed to me.
When I was painting, I was often lost and could never “finish” a project. With design, the limitations gave me direction and discipline to actually become more productive; the constraints were very freeing! So upon deciding to pursue a degree in design, I had tree choices at my school—landscape architecture, graphic design and textiles—and I chose to concentrate in textiles. My major was very interdisciplinary, spanning everything from history, sociology, sculpture, environmental studies and even the science of fibers and upon graduating I had an arsenal of knowledge but unsure of who might find it useful.
I decided to relocate to New York and attend Parsons, the new school of design in order to receive a more traditional fashion training—patternmaking, sewing, fashion marketing: the more obvious areas of study if you are a student hoping to pursue a career in fashion. But as luck would have it an internship with a textile designer based in Queens drew me back to fabrics and I realized that there was a market for the skills that I had previously gained. Combined with the skills I gained at Parsons, it turned out to be a winning combination.
How do your processes differ from the processes behind some patterned clothing you would find at a department store?
At Gunny + Galloon we create designs for prints that can be manufactured through traditional processes but what we really try to specialize in is the creation of innovative techniques that cannot necessarily be produced through conventional mass-production means.
We like to experiment with ancient fiber techniques and figure out ways to not only modernize them but also make them relevant for the market and our clients. Hand techniques are dying out because they are too time consuming and labor intensive to create.
But this is really a shame. Fabric has such a long and rich history. The knowledge, artistry, craftsmanship and skill that is required to create cloth by hand is so valuable and I really feel strongly that it needs to be preserved. I don’t know to what degree the work of G+G is aiding this mission but I really like to think that we are somehow in service of the idea to try and make the hand-made relevant for a really fast paced, competitive, profit driven industry.
So far the reception from designers has been really positive and it’s encouraging to see that there is a need and a place for the hand-made in this city. What we want to do is firstly, become educated about textile traditions and then find ways to utilize and recreate them in new ways that make sense for the markets that we cater to.
What’s the story behind your name?
Both Gunny and Galloon are textile terms. Gunny refers to a burlap type fabric with a coarse weave often made from hemp or jute – something similar to what rice bags are made from—and very ordinary and utilitarian.
Galloon refers to a braid that is usually made from a fine fiber of silver, gold or lace and embroidery. It mainly serves a decorative function. The juxtaposition between the soft versus the hard and the useful versus the decorative was appealing to me. I have always been interested in languages and word origins and Gunny—though pronounced goo-knee has the same meaning in Farsi (my mother tongue) so this was another motivation for choosing the name. Perhaps most importantly though I liked the way the two words looked next to one another in print.
You’ve worked with big designers like Jason Wu, which sort of makes you like the (wo)man behind the curtain. Ever want to get the credit?
Yes and no! Naturally I would love my studio to get more exposure and to be better known both within the industry and to the public. I think it’s important to support and encourage local independent business.
It’s actually been a really positive experience to learn just how supportive and small the New York fashion industry really is—we’ve had the good fortune to meet so many clients through the referrals of other contacts that we worked with in the past. It’s always feels good to be acknowledged and we appreciate it when designers go out of their way to mention our contribution to their collections.
But the reality is that what we do is one step in a very long chain of steps that need to happen for a garment to make it’s way down the runway. If every person that contributed to the creation of a runway sample were to be credited, it would make for a really long liner note on the program.
I feel lucky to be able to do the work that I do and having the chance to collaborate with incredibly accomplished and talented designers in such a direct way is a complete privilege. Having a happy client and seeing a beautiful garment that we worked on go down the runway and be received well in the press is all the affirmation that I need.
Maybe even get the urge to do your own collection of ready-to-wear?
Yes, of course. It’s always been a wish for me to create a finished product and it’s something that I hope is in the near future for Gunny + Galloon.
And finally, where do you find your inspiration?
Nature. I am humbled by and in absolute awe of the beauty in it.