Cotton Inc. awards honor five designers

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 11/26/2001 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

The designers from five home furnishings companies were winners of the 2001 Cotton Inc. Textile Designer Awards.

The awards program, now in its 20th year, salutes designers who bring aesthetic creativity and functional effectiveness for all cotton or cotton-rich fabrics. The winners received crystal prisms with the Seal of Cotton in a presentation headed by Dean Turner, senior vp, global product marketing, Cotton Inc. The awards program also cited designers from four apparel companies and a special designation to four apparel textile firms for Market Achievement.

The home fashions winners were Eileen Sarrasin, Shannon Yow and Frances Curtis, all of Doblin, for decorative fabrics; Motif Designs for printed fabrics; Vivie von Walstrom of Venus Home Fashions for bath fashions; and Julie Freimuth of Keeco for the Fiori bedding collection.

The award for technical achievement went to Kea Capel Meacham of Capel for a collection of cotton and cotton-rich tufted or flat-woven rugs with an all-cotton backing.

Cotton Inc. also unveiled two new commercials to its long-running Fabric of Our Lives TV ad campaign. The new spots are targeted to a younger consumer, 18 to 34 (previously women 18 to 49), said Ita Livingston, senior vp, consumer marketing, Cotton Inc.

The commercials will be aired on the WB, UPN and VH1 networks, as part of the company's thrust to attract younger consumers, as well as on NBC primetime programs. The commercials, supported by American cotton producers and importers, also were a major part of Thanksgiving Day commercials and will be an integral part of the advertising during the February 2002 Winter Olympics.