6262TEXTILE DESIGNPETRA BLAISSE

modernspring 2007

Photo: O ffice for Metropolitan Archi te cture (O MA)

“An entity that is always treated like an afterthought can be almost overpowering in its effect” REM KOOLHAAS

Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), Tim Ronalds and

Michael Maltzan.

She is often seen as softening the hard edges ofarchitects'

buildings,giving them a domestic sheen:in her twenty-year

collaboration with fellow Dutchman Koolhaas, Blaisse has

managed to introduce textiles into the most minimalist of

Photo:Inside Outside

structures. But in her view, the textiles themselves are as

important as the architecture.“The domestic doesn't really

cross my mind,”she says.“I do see that you can change

architecture,or the rhythm ofstructure,with a curtain.”

The only time she will consider the domestic,in fact,is when

playing with scale.Describing carpets she has created for the

OMA-designed Seattle Public Library,which opened in 2004,

Blaisse says:“For people entering such an enormous,modern,

light space,carpets give a kind ofliving room feeling.They also

define areas because they are in loose planes,not wall-to-wall,

so you can organise movement and use with rectangular or

round patches.”

Blaisse does have a headstart,though:her involvement with modern spring 2007

TEXTILE DESIGNPETRA BLAISSE63

Previous pages:

Left and right:Hackney

Empire Theatre, London with

curtain by Inside Outside, 2005

Facing page and this page:

Gardencarpets in the Norcliffe

Foundation Living Room,

Seattle Public Library by Inside

Outside, 2004

architects begins at the blueprint, so she’s not just adding

finishing touches.“We work with architects from a very early

stage,”she says,“so our pieces really become part ofthe whole

concept of the interiors, the organisation of space and the

connection between inside and outside.”Koolhaas agrees – he

has said about Blaisse’s work:“An entity that is always treated

likean afterthought – or as a decoration – can be almost

overpowering in its effect.I can make the buildings harsher

– more pure – because there is this counterpart.”

The curtains are so much a part ofthe building that they have

even been incorporated during construction – the tracks for

her sound curtain in the Rotterdam Kunsthal were poured in

place with the cement ceiling. It is an approach that has

encouraged constant innovation,often alongside very practical

considerations.“For public buildings,we’re limited because it

all has to be fire-resistant,easily washable,and quite strong,”

says Blaisse.“It’s always fun finding ways to treat something

completely banal in a way that you don’t expect,to reinvent it.”

Inside Outside – which Blaisse founded in 1991 – monitors

developments in markets as varied as aeronautics,sports and

agriculture,researching discoveries in wovens and non-wovens.

“We’re trying to work out how to use wovens ofcharcoal and

glass fibre at the moment,”she says.“They are unbelievably

expensive,very heavy,and don’t have the same microscopic

structure as textiles,so are difficult to sew and to treat.But with

laser you can do a lot,you can cut and melt and so on.”