The Center for Craft is excited to be working with the Asheville-based design firm Shelter Collective on an immersive reading lounge within the National Craft Innovation Hub in downtown Asheville, NC, opening to the public on November 16. The Center has a long working relationship with Shelter Collective, including exhibition design of the 2015 exhibition Made in WNC, and two collaborative holiday pop-up shops.

“We were drawn to the fact that the reading lounge is a somewhat public space within the physical structure of the Center for Craft,” says Karie Reinertson, co-founder/principal designer of Shelter Collective. “It's a place where members of the co-working space can collaborate with each other, take a moment for themselves, or invite members of the community in. We are excited that this area will be an entryway into a space filled with creative individuals and other incredible work by professional makers.”

The Shelter Collective team designed the lounge to be a collaborative and inviting physical space for coworkers featuring publications related to the fields of craft and entrepreneurship in addition to incorporating the work of makers primarily from the western North Carolina region. The lounge’s design beautifully reflects the Center’s mission to advance the field of craft by fostering new ideas and supporting the next generation of makers.

The key feature and cornerstone of the Shelter Collective-designed space is a large hanging textile installation. This piece, which serves as both a source of illumination and sound control, brings attention to the area’s rich textile history by incorporating cotton-tencel string from Echoview Fiber Mill. The natural dyes selected lend a color palette ranging from terra cottas to pinky-creams and potentially some grey-greens. The thoughtfulness that Shelter Collective invested into every component of this central fixture will culminate at a gathering of regional textile artists invited to tie the hand-dyed strings to the main structure, furthering the story of the varied and interwoven textile and maker community in western North Carolina.

Learn more about the National Craft Innovation Hub and Shelter Collective.