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Object Timeline

2006

  • Work on this object began.

2007

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2024

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Textile, Kingfisher Floats

This is a Textile. It was designed by June Swindell and manufactured by Salt.. It is dated 2006 and we acquired it in 2007. Its medium is cotton, viscose and its technique is hand-woven plain weave with supplementary warp patterning. It is a part of the Textiles department.

Kingfisher Floats uses a supplementary warp infrequently bound in to create a loose, rippled surface. This combines with the subtly shifting colors of the blue-green palette to create a sense of movement. Kingfisher Floats was designed by Salt, a textile design firm that specializes in custom window treatments for commercial and residential interiors.
Since 1997, the Salt has been experimenting with the ways in which materials and textures absorb, reflect, and filter light. Because the firm has focused on window treatments, it is concerned with privacy, with managing light, and with the appearance of different materials in day and evening lighting. Many of Salt’s textiles play with sheerness and opacity—areas to look at and to look through, surfaces that attract the eye, and others that allow light and vision to pass through. Kingfisher Floats, together with Horsehair and Longitude, will update a collection of casement and architectural textiles with similar concerns from such important designers as Anni Albers, Marianne Strengell, and Jack Lenor Larsen.

This object was donated by June Swindell. It is credited Gift of June Swindell, Salt UK Ltd..

  • Hair Ornament (China)
  • kingfisher feathers, lacquer, silk-covered wire.
  • Gift of William Dangaix Allen.
  • 1939-73-11

Its dimensions are

Overall: 250 x 78 cm (8 ft. 2 7/16 in. x 30 11/16 in.)

Cite this object as

Textile, Kingfisher Floats; Designed by June Swindell (British, b. 1972); Manufactured by Salt.; England; cotton, viscose; Overall: 250 x 78 cm (8 ft. 2 7/16 in. x 30 11/16 in.); Gift of June Swindell, Salt UK Ltd.; 2007-10-2

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Rebeca Méndez Selects.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18707917/ |title=Textile, Kingfisher Floats |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=20 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>