Tactilion: The Washington Design Center

Our class took a trip to the Washington Design Center focusing on textiles. We visited 3 showrooms as a class and then I did some exploring on my own. The Edelman Leather showroom was the most informative. I learned a lot about the way leather is made and processed. They had every embossed type of leather imaginable and they even make leather floor tiles! Leather can be pretty pricey but good quality leather will last 5 times longer than other textiles. It was also impressive that the leather was water resistant. The pictures below show the water beading on the leather....

Water on leather

Notice how the water beads vs. soaking in

Leather floor tiles (INSANE!)

The final place we visited was the Holly Hunt 2 floor showroom. I saw some really great pieces, overpriced, but you pay for quality work. Below are some items that stuck out to me...

This mirror is made up of 4 different mirrors. It had a really interesting effect as you walked across it.

This was a bowl on a coffee table and I thought the ridges were very textural and visually interesting.

Here is a close up view of a display case that is faced with rope. It is handmade and intricately inlaid. Very impressive and VERY expensive and rightfully so. I can't imagine how many hours it takes to lay, wrap, and stick the rope onto the piece.

I liked these bottles because they had barnacles like they had been under the sea for a long time.

The details on the back of this chair makes me swoon!

I like the contrast of the dark brown piping on this cream linen chair

Interesting rustic, bubble mirror

Orbit chandelier. Holly Hunt had some really great and diverse lighting and this was one example.

These next few pictures are from the design center. I think it would be a really great idea if they opened a room up to students and let them take a stab at designing a room!