Inspirations

“A Complex Tapestry of Emotions”: Zak + Fox’s Earthy New Autobiographical Textile Collection

How many cultural references, personal tales, and feelings can you layer into a fabric design? At Zak + Fox, Zak Profera’s textile house in NYC, each pattern comes with stories, both hidden and told.

The same goes for the places he chooses to present his new designs: Zak has photographed his designs in a 15th-century palazzo, a historic Connecticut nautical setting (see Swept Away: Zak + Fox Launches a Maritime Collection), and, recently, in Country Tyrone, Ireland, where Harvest, his earthy, multi-nuanced latest collection, was unveiled in the Ulster American Folk Park, an open-air museum of Irish and American frontier buildings.

Zak describes Harvest as “a fantastical journey into the intricacies of the human condition: at its heart, the collection represents a complex tapestry of emotions born from profound feelings of love, loss, and hope.” Come see.

Photography by Evgenia Arbugaeva, styling by Andrew Steward, courtesy of Zak + Fox (@zakandfox).

the textile collection was put together over a two year period of tumult for za 17
Above: The textile collection was put together over a two year period of tumult for Zak: “Just as my long-term relationship was coming to an end, I was having to take care of and say goodbye to my aging canine companion, Shinji, who is is the original Fox of Zak + Fox and the inspiration behind our brand story,” he tells us. Shown here, Kaminari, “a pattern of both filigree and geometry”—and lighting bolts—used as a lampshade.

Several locations at the Ulster American Folk Park were chosen as backdrops “for their sheer beauty,” says Zak, explaining that he wanted to present the new designs—which have no ties to Ireland—”in an unspecified land, in an unspecified time.”

mori is a handwoven cotton stripe evocative of “light wending its w 18
Above: Mori is a handwoven cotton stripe evocative of “light wending its way between layers of trees.” The textiles in the collection are designed for household use, and each comes with an origin story of inspirations and ideas.