Textile Design & Silk Screening

Humans have been dying fabric ever since times started. It is no secret that there are countless of techniques, industrial and DIY involved in the process of putting color and prints into woven surfaces. Some of the most artisanal techniques are Batik, which is based on wax to create patters, the most well known tie-dye, woodblock printing, which is an Indian specialized technique, and one of the most common, yet sophisticated techniques – silk screening.

This technique can be practiced at home, at the same time that the most high-end labels also use it to print unique motives into their fabrics. A silk Hermès scarf can be silk screened with more than 40 different patterns – one for each color – at the same time that someone at home can make a cool t-shirt or a canvas tote out of one and only screen. The possibilities are endless, and the process is pretty much 100% manual.

In order to work with silk screens, the specialized textiles designer or artisan uses a woven mesh that acts as a blocking stencil. The fabric has to be placed on a flat surface. After the screen in located in the right place on top of the fabric, ink is poured horizontally on the screen, and a blade is then slid across the length of the screen, and back. This enables the ink to flow uniformly within the mesh pattern on the screen, and no residues are left behind. Only the open mesh areas can transfer ink into the materials, and it’s possible to see the result instantaneously.

Also, any kind of flat surface can be printed, starting with natural fiber fabrics to canvases, and even knits.

Erica Tanov's totes being silk-screened

Take a look from the Hermès demonstrations in San Francisco, and Erica Tanov’s unique tote designs and production.

Final Tote

Hermès printing demonstration

Erica Tanov's images via http://ericatanov.blogspot.com/

More videos of Hermès - Festival des Métiers

I hope you've enjoyed the videos on the Hermès Festival last month in San Francisco.

Here is another video of some of the other crafts presented within the same tent!

Enjoy!

Silk-Screen Demonstration

Take a look at this scarf silk-screen demonstration from the Hermès - Festival des Métiers event in San Francisco

Enjoy!

Hermès Silk Screen Demo

Hermès Festival of Crafts

A luxury brand is nothing without its artisans.

Inside a big tent in the middle of Union Square Park in San Francisco, in celebration of its 175^th anniversary, the house of Hermès hosted a free event for everyone interested in craft, fashion, style, and heritage to have a hands on experience. For five days, the horse-carriage brand, with its authentic orange color and 10-year wait lists on the most coveted celebrity-named handbags is celebrating the best thing they have – their métiers and craftsmen.

Leatherworker

About nine stations for different Hermès products took place, in which Lyon-based artisans worked side by side to an English translator, and pretty much gave the audience a tutorial of what goes on behind the scene of the charming boutiques we all drool over.

Tie marker

The art of sewing, threading, polishing, framing, beading, cutting, and printing are no joke to the house. Artisans usually have to go though a 5 year apprentice period before they can actually be hired by the house, and be the experts of crafts like gilding glasses, making watches, and sewing silk ties by hand – a process that can take 20 minutes after the printed tie has been cut.

Watch station 

Gilding

Some of the most coveted stations were the one from the Leatherworker Dominique Michaux, who was sewing a blue leather Jypsière bag (a process that takes 20 hours to complete, and only one artisan for each bag), a unisex product for huntsmen and women on the go. But certainly the showstopper was the silk printing station where one artisan printed 14 silkscreens over the 90cmx90cm silk scarf square. The process lasted about 90 mins. Silk printer Kamel Hamadou took the audience over the process of printing scarves, a craft that takes about 6 years to learn, and more time when it comes to fabrics like chashmere. Hamadou’s French charm gave him enough patience to respond all kinds of questions from newcomer visitors, and talk about the creative process for scarves. In order to present the customer with 10 new designs each season, the developing process lasts two years from beginning to end, and evolves, designers, engravers, colorists, communications between the Paris headquarters and Hermès New York workshop. Classic scarves continue to be produced, and ordered each season by each boutique’s buyers. They can produce Asian pastels and a Brazilian jungle explosion for the same design.

Silk screen demonstation

Scarves engraving

Another popular station was Faustine Pancin’s gem setting. Women can’t stay away from some diamond bling! The specialized gem setter has the task to set diminute diamonds over the whole contour of the best seller “Collier the chien” (dog-collar) bracelet. She used dentist tools and her own saliva to catch tiny diamonds and set them on specific wholes – as there are five different gem sizes –, before securing it with the same metallic structure. Viewers got the chance to see her in action and look through the microscope.

Gem Setting station

Twin-set lining station

Another insider tip, the brown, pink and orange scarf required one silkscreen to print the Hermès name and the design’s one in a specific tone of dark brown. Mr. Hamadou stressed on the fact that there are no special orders at Hermès. Each scarf has a 10-color palette option. However, no queen jubilee, or any special celebrity can order an exclusive print for him or herself. See, "when you buy Hermès, you don’t buy the signature, you buy qualité," and its the same for everyone.

Images by Laura Acosta