21 July, 2010
Interior Design Marketing Strategies need to reflect the modern technological age as well as the creativity and organisation skills of the designer.
We have previously covered on this blog many aspects of the business of interior design often focusing on sales and marketing issues. Mostly marketing on the internet using sites like Facebook but also covering sales issue for interior designers with retail spaces. The following articles give more…
21 July, 2010
The Cigarette & Match Tests BS 5852 are fire retardancy tests for residential upholstery. This document is intended to be read by interior designers and as such you do not need to understand the details of the tests. Interior designers must, however, ensure that they comply with the associated British Standards by ensuring that the fabrics they specify are fit for that purpose.
You can download this document by clicking on the pdf icon.
The cigarette and match tests fall under BS 5852. The test(s) involve the fabric being exposed to different ‘ignition sources’ essentially simulating possible real life causes of domestic fires. The ‘ignition sources’ are ways that the fabric could plausibly be burnt. There are 8 different sources/types of combustion but you only normally need to deal with sources 0, 1 and 5.
Source 0 = Cigarette (smouldering cigarette)
Source 1 = Match (simulated match)
Source 5 = Crib. (Wooden crib or Crib 5)
Source 5, or Crib 5 as it is frequently know as, is usually a contract standard for upholstery. In contract upholstery you might also come across BS 7176 which determines specific risk or hazard areas that your fabric is being installed into. In simple terms, BS 7176 covers all 3 of the above tests. Furthermore, whilst Crib 5 is the highest standard of the 3 tests it does not follow that a fabric which passes Crib 5 will also pass the cigarette and match test – even though it is likely to.
Exceptions, Mandates & Exemptions
19 July, 2010
BS5867 part 2 type B is a contract standard for fire retardancy for CURTAINS.
As an interior designer you do *NOT* need to understand the details of the test nor the performance criteria that needs to be achieved.
However interior designers are responsible for the project/installation and because this is a serious are concerning fire risk you DO NEED to:
- Be certain what standard is required for your project/installation;
- Know that you are specifying fabric that meets the appropriate standard; and
- Prove that the fabric you have installed is up to the job.
So here is what you need to do to achieve that, essentially what you need to do to do your job and to ensure you have covered the bases of your responsibility.
1. Determine the fire retardancy standards that need to be adhered to. This may involve contacting the local fire officer. Determine what documentation you need to provide them.
2. Liaise with your fabric supplier to determine if the fabric either:
- inherently meets the standards; or
- requires treatment.
3. On purchasing the fabric, specify the treatment required. You would say to the fabric company “Treat the fabric to the contract curtain standard BS 5867 part 2 type B, and provide me with documentation showing this has been done”.
4. What you have done now is to specify what standard of treatment has to be undertaken. By doing that there is no guarantee that the fabric will pass the appropriate test even though it has been treated to a standard where is should pass the test. Normally you will receive a document saying that the fabric has been treated to the standard. THIS DOES NOT MEAN IT HAS PASSED THE STANDARD. You need to determine if you want your specific batch of fabric to be specifically tested (after treatment). For larger projects this will almost certainly be prudent to undertake. You will need to purchase additional fabric prior to treatment and engage the services of a fabric testing factory (not treatment factory). At the end of that process you will receive documentation stating that the fabric meets the required standard.
Here is related information on fire retardacy for contract upholstery (Crib 5, BS7176 BS5852) and durability of fabric for contract and domestic upholstery. More…
The following test details are not normally required to be known by the designer:
Test method
A sample of the fabric, vertically held, is exposed to a small flame.
For type B (Hotels, etc) the ease of ignition is observed. It is also noted if the flame reaches one any edge of the specimen and/or if any burning pieces of fabric fall down.
For type C (NHS) the fabric is further analysed to see what happens once the flame stops but when the fabric still may be glowing.
NB: The fabric is tested before and after laundering
type B (12 wash cycles at 40°c)
type C (50 wash cycles at 40°c)Test Performance Criteria
Type B Performance Criteria: The edges must remain completely intact and no burning debris should fall.
Share & Enjoy!
13 July, 2010
Martindale Rub Test Information for upholstery has been updated in one downloadable pdf document. I have put together a few posts I have made into this one file.
Share & Enjoy!
8 July, 2010
Cashmere Throws are about as good as you can get.
We are in the advanced stages of launching a substantial new range of bespoke Cashmere Throws with standard and custom sizes; custom colours and great standard designs and colourways. Quite a big leap ahead of many companies, certainly in the UK.
We will be introducing new yarns of a higher ply rating than any we know to be available in the UK, offering the thickest and most luxurious feel.
We already have exquisite hand-woven linen throws and are considering other yarns for throws like Chenille.
8 July, 2010
We have recently had to change most of our Velvet production to mills in Europe. Along with some other fabric companies, we have been experiencing quality issues with Chinese produced silk velvet. It’s probably only happening at one or two mills but it has been a big headache for us as we have had to return some significant orders due to less than perfect quality issues. And it’s sometimes hard to get the mills to accept returns that are of OK quality but not excellent.
Anyway, just a heads-up. Check where your silk velvet is being manufactured and double check the quality.
29 June, 2010
Cashmere Silk Velvet is one of the world’s most luxurious fabrics. But is it THE most luxurious? Now this is a good question! and a little tricky to answer.
Perhaps the most expensive yarn is from the vicuña (vicuna, vicugna), which is a camel-like animal found in the high alpine areas of the South American Andes. Whilst not an endangered species it is a rare animal and difficult to farm as it tends to escape!
Cashmere yarn comes from the cashmere goat and other goats such as the pashmina goat.
Cashmere and Vicuna have an outer layer of hair which is coarse and rough but protective for the animal. This is the guard hair. Underneath the guard hair is a warm layer of much, much softer hair. This underlayer consists of hollow-fibred hair that is an excellent insulator. The vicuna has the finest of these fibres of any (resultant) wool anywhere in the world.
About 400g of yarn can be produced from one Vicuna compared to 150g from the Cashmere goat, the latter being a smaller animal. There are many more Cashmere goats in the world and I suspect this is why Cashmere is relatively affordable – as it is produced in much larger volumes in a more competitive market.
As an indication a Vicuna scarf would cost in excess of US$1000. As far as I know it is not produced in sufficient quantities to be available in a suitable form for interiors use (I could be wrong). But if it were it could be woven with silk to produce THE MOST EXPENSIVE AND BEST woolen silk velvet in the world. A further problem is that the Vicuna fibre can readily be damaged when dyed, again making significant production quantities problematic.
Now, as much of the Cashmere yarn produced comes from China, Australia and other countries…in fact just about anywhere other than Kasmir! it strikes me that is an opporutnity waiting to happen for some illustrious, economically-minded, goat breeder out there with friends in the textiles industry. If the production problems could be overcome I could see that there still would be a market for an interiors fabric retailing at in excess of GBP800/m (US£1300/yard) – albeit a small one.
Share, Accredit & Enjoy!
23 June, 2010
Some nice yacht images on this blog
21 June, 2010
Interior Designers are sometimes asked for the environmental credentials of their specification. Here are some figures that give you an idea of the greenness of different yarns used in fabric production. The figures show the energy consumption (per kilo in KWH) required to make the fibres. Of course this is far from the total carbon footprint of the finished delivered and fully made up cushion or sofa or curtain. But it is a starting point often covering the more energy intensive part of the process.
17 Wool
27 Viscose
32 Polypropylene
35 Polyester
69 Nylon
Clearly natural wool wins hands down!
As a side note, the “Campaign For Wool” should start to get media coverage throughout the rest of 2010 with the patronage of HRH Prince Charles. The society of British Interior Design are planning to give wool a big push “All we are saying is…give fleece a chance”. Their tagline. Great! Well it made me laugh!
|
26 July, 2010
Cashmere Throws – Luxury Refined From KOTHEA
Posted by KOTHEA - Passionate About Fabrics For Top Designers under Domestic Fabric, home decor, interiordesign, interiors | Tags: cashmere throw, domestic fabric, domestic fabrics, throws |Leave a Comment
Cashmere is the most exclusive wool practically available for interiors use. It is sometimes called Pashmina, and a few other things, but essentially Cashmere is what the wool really is and it rarely comes from Kashmir!
There are one or two wools that are possibly ‘better’ (ie warmer or softer) but they are extremely expensive (such as Vicuna). They are SO expensive and ‘rare’ that you will never come across them in reality unless you work in a very niche area of the fashion fabrics market. I have never even heard about such fabrics being available for interiors use, let alone seen or touched them. Although I would imagine it would not be dissimilar from cashmere!
Which brings me back to Cashmere Throws.
Maybe you already have a Cashmere Throw, or possibly a Cashmere scarf. They feel wonderful. It is not just marketing hype either, there are a variety of technical reasons why the Cashmere yarn makes fabrics that are warmer and softer to the touch than any other woolen yarn.
Yet there remains a huge variation in price from one Cashmere throw to the next. Why?
We have struggled to answer that question ourselves. Cashmere Throws can retail at £2,000. Yet the quality is only very good. Scarves too can easily cost several hundreds of pounds (and upwards).
So we are about to release Cashmere Throws that are better than everyone else. We are using: higher quality, thicker yarns than anyone else; sourcing our own designs, qualities and colours from the best mills.
I can guarantee that if you put one of our throws next to any competing alternative you would always choose a KOTHEA Cashmere Throw. We would even let our competitor choose the criteria that they wish to compete on! We are SO confident that our throws win on all counts.
Or you could go and buy one for £2,000 from somewhere else and be unsure that you have the best.