Assembled Check by Paul Smith 06.16

Maharam introduces Assembled Check, designed by Paul Smith in collaboration with the Maharam Design Studio.

Since 2002, Paul Smith has worked with Maharam to transform traditional apparel references into new classics—or as Smith describes them, “classics with a twist”. In keeping with that approach, Assembled Check is based on a printed silk blouse from Smith’s SS15 Black Label women’s collection, which drew upon the sun-soaked shades and art-deco architecture of Miami. The concept emerged from one of Maharam’s two annual design meetings at Paul Smith’s London offices and developed over a transatlantic exchange of woven prototypes supported by close email contact.

While Houndstooth (2015) was also lifted directly from the runway, Assembled Check required a technical feat in order to successfully translate its complex and vibrant pattern into a jacquard-woven, upholstery textile. A layered patchwork of colorful horizontal and vertical bars made dimensional through highlight and shadow, Assembled Check is woven in Germany by the same resource that manufactures such intricate and highly specialized designs as Bavaria by Studio Job and the Maharam Design Studio’s Massive Paisley. In the end, Assembled Check surpasses its predecessors as the most densely woven textile the resource has ever produced, with over 350 picks per inch as five-to-six weft colors alternate throughout its 20.75" h x 28" w repeat. While fine cotton yarn offers a soft hand and subdued luster enhanced by a calendered finish, a tapestry construction of tight rib and twill weaves provides graphic precision and clear color.

Color 004 closely interprets the pastel shades of the original print: with seafoam, peach, lilac, and pale pink offset by chartreuse and true blue. The rest of the palette expands upon this template, finding balance in manifold warm and cool tones intermixing—with combinations like rust and slate, crimson and goldenrod, Kelly green and aqua, burnt sienna and cobalt—all driven by Paul Smith’s unique sense of color.

This is the eleventh woven textile, and the first check, that Paul Smith has created in collaboration with Maharam. A new interpretation of a classic plaid will follow in early 2017.

About Paul Smith
Paul Smith’s ability to combine a flair for eccentric detail with a dedication to the highest standards of craftsmanship has made him among the most successful fashion designers in British history. In business for over forty years, Smith continues to be an integral part of every aspect of the company as both chairman and designer, producing 14 collections sold in 66 countries worldwide. With an enthusiasm for wide-ranging cultural references and idiosyncratic combinations of pattern and color, applied with understatement, Paul Smith expresses a truly contemporary aesthetic.

Assembled Check by Paul Smith
Width: 55"/140cm
Colors: 5
Content: 73% Polyester, 27% Cotton

Assembled Check by Paul Smith 004

Hi-Resolution file size: 5.53 MB

Assembled Check by Paul Smith SS15 Campaign

Hi-Resolution file size: 2.87 MB
x