Paul Smith and Maharam document 20 years of collaboration in a new book

The longstanding creative partnership between Sir Paul Smith and Maharam is duly being documented in a book designed by Maharam Media. Ongoing for the last 20 years, the collaboration’s evolution over the decades can be experienced firsthand through a collection of photographs by Nick Ballón at Smith’s office in London and illustrations by Andy Rementer.

Together, Smith and Maharam have created more than 40 textiles, wallcoverings and accessories that adapt traditional sartorial references by experimenting with pattern, colour and scale. Ranging from riffs on Smith’s signature stripes to adaptations of flea market finds, each design has emerged from an interest in reinterpreting classic motifs while embracing interdisciplinary exchange. 

Paul Smith and Maharam’s 20 years

Smith and Maharam initially crossed paths back in 2002 when Smith discovered Maharam’s reissue of Gio Ponti’s 1930 textile ‘I Morosi alla Finestra’ (The Lovers at the Window) during a Gio Ponti retrospective at the Design Museum in London. Smith’s request to repurpose the figurative silk window covering as a jacket lining led to incorporating Maharam’s archival textiles in shoe, hat, and bag designs. Maharam subsequently invited Smith to design a textile of his own. In 2003, Bespoke Stripe, a textile comprised of vibrant multi-coloured stripes embedded in a quintessential menswear pinstripe, was introduced as the first upholstery textile of what would be a fruitful and ongoing collaboration.

‘Maharam has been a real pioneer in its field for over 100 years – and I consider it a privilege to have spent the last 20 of them working with their dedicated team,’ says Smith. ‘There’s an art to creative collaboration, and their endless energy and enthusiasm have undoubtedly made this one a success.’

The book will be celebrated in a series of events in Australia, where a series of Artek’s ‘Stool 60’ by Alvar Aalto upholstered in a selection of Maharam textiles by Paul Smith will be on display. The events not only nod to Maharam and Smith’s 20 years of collaboration, but also to the stool’s 90th anniversary (‘Stool 60’ was also recently reinterpreted by Formafantasma) and Maharam’s 20th year of business in Australia. Filled with 20 highlights from the partnership that span both textile and Maharam Digital Projects, the joyful paperback book captures Smith’s characteristic playfulness and originality.

The book is available from maharam.com