âTruth wins. A textile drama about historic Black ownership plays out in the pages of the New York Times. â - Seth Tillett https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/28/style/tillett-textiles-design-works-reissue.html READ this updated article! Textile HISTORY! Tillett Fabrics / d.d. and Leslie Tillett D.D and Leslie Tillett designed and created custom, hand printed textiles in NYC from 1946 to 2008. Their decorative fabrics adorned the great houses of the period including the Kennedy White House. Their textiles and fashions were treasured by the cognoscenti, from presidents and titans of industry to Hollywood stars. During their lives d.d. and Leslie Tillett devoted much of their creative energies to progressive projects, one of the most significant being the co-founding, in 1968, of The Design Works of Bedford Stuyvesant, the first fully Black owned textile printing works in the United States. All DWBS designs were based in traditional African motifs and created by craftspeople and artists from the community with whom the Tilletts shared their techniques. Images: > Jacket Design using the Fish Scale textile design made by the Design Works of Bedford/Stuyvesant and D.D. and Leslie Tillett. > Sherl Nero - creator and organizer of the DWBS > Black-owned business produced African-inspired designs for fabrics, accessories, and home wares > Fish Scale - textile design detail. > Masks available @yard.sail My personal story: I feel so lucky to have connected with the Tillett familyâŠthrough fabric and conversation. Fish Scale Fabric: I was given this magical textile as a special donation from an amazing family in Brooklyn. It was hand silkscreened and I ended up including it in the âChromatic Hi-Five!â artwork âŠaka, the truck piece. I received an email from Seth Tillett, one of the sons of designers D.D. and Leslie Tillett. He shared his struggle with the NYTimes and how they had eliminated the designers and collaboration between his parents and DWBS. . PLEASE check out @yard.sail and https://yardsail.net. Purchase MASKS that are made from vintage Tillett Fabric and support music and creative groups of the South Bronx. #designworks #dwbs #southbronx #blackhistory #textile https://www.instagram.com/p/CKjrVnqFq2r/?igshid=1c52jgqz2ztjp
