Dream Weaver: Scott Bodenner

Scott Bodenner at his loom. Photo: Material Intelligence Magazine

Georgina Rice & Co. proudly represents The Bodenner Collection; weaver and textile artist Scott Bodenner founded the Brooklyn-based studio. The Wisconsin native's deep love of fabrics started at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he initially pursued a degree in architecture but discovered his artistic tribe in the Textiles Department, where he learned to experiment with traditional techniques and unconventional materials to design and create innovative fabrics. Bodenner's first job out of college was with the great American textile designer, author, collector, and promoter of craftsmanship, Jack Lenor Larsen (1927 – 2020).

Dorothy Liebes in her Sutter Street studio, San Francisco. Photo: Charles Steinheimer

Like Larsen, The Bodenner Collection draws on archival fabrics for inspiration. Bodenner stores remnants of indigo cloth, French jacquards, ikats, and ribbons in an antique Korean medicine chest. Another influence on the weaver's work is Dorothy Liebes (1897 –  1972), the "Mother of Modern Weaving." Liebes was a leading 20th-century weaver and textile designer. After studying traditional weaving forms in France, Italy, Guatemala, and Mexico, she opened her first studio in San Francisco, specializing in custom hand-woven pieces for architects and interior designers, including Frank Lloyd Wright. 

Decorator Blend series. Photo: Graham Friedman

Bodenner follows Liebes' precedent of juxtaposing a timeless craft with unexpected materials. For the Mother of Modern Weaving, it was plastics, metallics, and ticker tape. Bodenner's exquisite textiles might incorporate cassette tape ribbon or lamp ball chain pulls. His dedication to recycling is a part of his company's ethos, including one mercerized cotton called Decorator Blend,  made with surplus cones from designer fabric dye lots. A small artisanal mill in the US produces the textile. Bodenner works with two American mills, four Italian, one Turkish, and one Indian. He weaves samples of his new ideas to send to them.

Do you want to see and touch The Bodenner Collection? Make an appointment at Georgina Rice & Co.