Design Icon | Textile Artist
Barbara Beckmann was a prolific textile artist with over 500 different patterns brought to market. Her textiles draped the White House windows and adorned lobbies of hotels around the globe including The Helmsley Palace, Four Seasons, Wynn Hotels and Silicon Valley’s Rosewood Hotel. Her fabrics can also be seen on movie and TV sets like The Butler, Ocean’s 11 and dozens of episodes of Miami Vice in the 1980’s. She was highly sought after by the top interior designers to create hand-painted fabrics for A-list clients who became lifelong fans of her work.
She transformed the world around her into lyrical line and pattern drawing on her everyday experience in the San Francisco Bay Area and prolific travels around the globe. She was an early proponent of using environmentally friendly all-natural fibers and non-toxic agents and used only premier fabric grounds. Her proprietary techniques for experimental coloring effects produce groundbreaking results.
As a mentor and teacher she inspired a generation of textile artists and supported up and coming textile based businesses. Barbara Beckmann received her BFA at the University of Illinois, studied at the Chicago Art Institute, Pratt and UC Berkeley. She taught at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and UC Berkeley extension. She was an active member of ASID, HIA, NEWH, DFA, and the Foundation for Design Integrity. In 2008 she received the IFDA Trailblazer Award for Achievement in the Interior Design Industry. Her influence on the world of textiles is ongoing through an annual scholarship, The Barbara Beckmann Textile Design Scholarship available through the IFDA.
Next week, April 19-24th there will be a special sale of Barbara Beckmann’s final inventory. Over 300 bolts of fabric will be available online and in person. The sale will be held at the Sonoma Community Center in Sonoma, CA. For more information visit https://kearsleycouture.com/
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