Finally! Our summer collections have been decided and we will begin to introduce the new designs and colourways throughout the remainder of this year. We have been inundated with new work in the first part of this year causing our blog posts to be curtailed and our ‘spring’ collection to nearly be an autumn/fall collection. Not that we really do seasonal collections in any case.
I will return later in another post to KOTHEA’s quite remarkable sales figures for the financial year just finished. Most surprising, especially considering we are in the midst of a recession. We had our best ever year and by quite a large margin.
We expect some coverage of the new collections in World of Interiors and Elle decoration but, again, more on that at another time.
Where can you see our collections? Well, we are as elusive as ever but we are starting to digitize some images to our flickr feed (click the images on the right or here). The flickr update is ongoing, there is information on flickr now but some of the images are not final and some images do not have full associated descriptions / product details but we are woking on that this week. Our usual clients will receive the new collections in due course starting in late summer; if you need them more urgently for pressing projects of course we will be happy to oblige. Please get in contact in the usual way.
Not all are in production yet but most sampling is available now.
As a very broad summary we have:
1. New colours of several existing ranges including faux leather;
2. More velvets including patterned and crush;
3. Striped, double width linens;
4. Upholstery weight linen; and
5. A few more interesting one-off designs in limited colourways like the one heading up this blog post.
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KOTHEA Release New Fabric For Interiors
KOTHEA was recently asked “Do sheer fabrics have a double rub test?”
BS7176 BS5852 Crib 5
19 July, 2010
What is BS5867 / BS 5867 part 2 type B? type C?
Posted by KOTHEA - Passionate About Fabrics For Top Designers under Contract Fabric, Curtain Fabric | Tags: contract fabric, contract fabrics, curtain fabric, faux silk, silk fabric, silk fabrics |Leave a Comment
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:
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