Custhom launches Hayward textile as tribute to Brutalist classic
London Design Festival 2014: Custhom has created a new upholstery textile based on the variety of forms found in the architecture of the Hayward Gallery on London's Southbank (+ movie).
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
Custhom, the London studio founded by two former Royal College of Art students Nathan Philpott and Jemma Ooi, have based their latest textile design on the Hayward Gallery, a classic of the Brutalist architecture movement that forms part of the Southbank Centre complex and was completed in 1968.
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_5.jpg)
To create Hayward, the designers reinterpreted the shapes of the concrete building – designed by a group of young architects that included Dennis Crompton, Warren Chalk and Ron Herron – in a 2D pattern of grids and solid blocks.
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
Philpott and Ooi said they wanted to "capture the shapes and variety of forms that emerge as you walk around the building, the dynamism and non-repetitive nature of the composition".
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
The fabric is made from a woven cotton and flax mix and produced by a traditional British mill, that has been operating since 1720.
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
"The decision to express the design as a woven fabric lay in the process," explained the designers.
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
"As Brutalist buildings were designed with strong geometric forms, it seemed apt that the designs should be created in a similar way, using the warp and weft to form pattern through a grid system; the contemporary digital pattern given depth, while retaining its precision, using a traditional process."
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
For last week's London Design Festival, the duo used the fabric to create a limited range of kitchen items including aprons, table runners, tea towels and a throw, for Brompton Food Market. It was also used to upholster a special edition of the iconic D.270.2 armchair by Italian architect Gio Ponti in a collaboration with furniture brand Molteni&C.
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_21.jpg)
Custhom's previous projects have included textured wallpaper designs that combine traditional embroidery patterns with digital stitching technology, as well as commissions for London's Design Museum and department store Liberty.
![Hayward collection by Custhom](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Hayward-collection-by-Custhom_dezeen_468_22.jpg)
The studio's work is produced exclusively in the UK with British craftspeople.