When textile designer Ruth Friend talks about her company, you almost can visualize the lithe hands of a weaver at work.
There`s a gentle starting and stopping to her gestures that suggests a shifting of colors and threads.
”The fabrics that we make take on a life of their own,” says Friend, whose firm is called Myung Jin Inc. ”They represent quality. There`s an attention to the hand in all the fabrics. There`s a sense of antiquity while being very contemporary.”
Myung Jin makes chenilles, cotton, and tapestries, which are used for contract and residential furnishings. The fabric is also used for upholstery, curtains, wallcoverings, and pillows.
Trained as a weaver, Friend started Myung Jin (it means bright star)
about 10 years ago in Sausalito, Calif.
”When I started my company I saw an opportunity to use my Korean-given name,” says Friend.
Her career really began 20 years ago when she studied with master weavers in Europe and India, where she learned the art of ikat, a method which includes tying and dyeing threads before putting them onto the loom to be woven.
In Chicago, Myung Jin`s fabrics, which are sold to the trade only, can be found at the Kirk Brummel showroom, Merchandise Mart Suite 629. Cottons range from $15 to $40; tapestries, about $50; and the chenilles from $75 to $85 a yard. For information, call 312-822-0760.