Sandy Chilewich—Entrepreneurial Superstar and Famed Textile Innovator—To Speak At MATTERX

New York, NY - Sandy Chilewich, entrepreneur and textile innovator, will speak at MATTERX, Material ConneXion's symposium celebrating ten years of material innovation. Material ConneXion is also honored to present Sandy Chilewich with the first ever Material ConneXion Medium Award for material excellence in the category of Textile Design. The event will take place in New York City on May 17 and 18.

Inspired by both traditional and modern manufacturing techniques, Chilewich creates innovative textiles and original designs for modern use. Her award winning products are made entirely in the USA and sold around world. Throughout her career she has taken prosaic items and transformed them into desirable "must haves" and now she has totally transformed the tabletop category. Says Chilewich, "I am always looking for new ways to interpret fabric and create a new function from something familiar."

Sandy Chilewich is a true entrepreneur and a leader in the "business" of design. She has taken the style conscious consumer from legwear to tableware. Both Hue and Chilewich brands have been credited with waking up dormant, commodity driven industries with their innovations in yarn development and design—lifting both categories out of the mundane and repositioning them in the high fashion arena. Hue is credited with revolutionizing the legwear industry. She and her partner ran the company for 14 years before selling it in 1992 when sales were grossing over $40 million. Hue is still a thriving brand in the hosiery world today. Now, as her second company, Chilewich reaches its tenth anniversary history looks set to repeat itself. She has won several awards including, Best New Design Award at the 1998 New York International Gift Fair; in 1999 an award from the Industrial Designers Society of America for RayBowlsTM and an ICFF Award for Plynyl at the 2001 International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York.

Sandy Chilewich was nominated by Polly Leonard, Editor of Selvedge magazine, for the Medium award, and will be joined by nine other recipients in both receiving this inaugural award, and speaking at MATTERX.

Polly Leonard writes, "Sandy Chilewich stood out as an obvious nominee, enterprising and resourceful she has captured the innovative qualities of a techno fabric without sacrificing the qualities of texture and handle that are fundamental to a textile. I admire her ability to do justice to both requirements—function and beauty. It's a balancing act that seems effortless for Sandy and it made my choice simple too."

MATTERX: The event

Following the critical success of its 2006 symposium, TERRA MATTER, Material ConneXion is pleased to present its third annual symposium on material innovation, MATTERX.

Material ConneXion chose the name to reflect a decade of material innovation as well as the exponential effect that materials have on the creative industry. Over the day and a half program, all of the awardees will take center stage and present to the assembled audience.

Imagine a program filled with the biggest names in their respective fields bringing together the most creative minds in business to learn from one another. Product designers will learn from textile designers who will learn from landscape designers: and they will do so in the one language common to all of their disciplines—materials.

This dialogue will be moderated and analyzed by the multi-talented mind of Dorothy Kalins, who has successfully shepherded a variety of publications—from Garden Design to Saveur to Metropolitan Home. Her tremendous breadth and depth of knowledge will be put to the test of assimilating and interacting with each of the ten awardees.

The diverse industry perspectives coupled with international representation will make MATTERX a symposium of truly global significance, providing delegates with insight and knowledge about the potential of materials in all facets of design.

MATTERX is sponsored in part by Target.

Additional support from: ART PAPERS, ICFF, I.D. Magazine, Print Magazine, Selvedge Magazine, Surface Magazine, and Tupperware.

SOURCE: ConneXion