An Exotic Inspiration for the Summer (with a Question about Design Education)

The summer season has finally arrived, maybe confusing most of us who have come out of lockdown between May and June, leaving us under the impression that we went from Winter to Summer, with Spring lost in digital whirlwind of Zoom meetings, online classes and Instagram stories. It is hard to think about Summer in a post-Coronavirus (are we really in a "post" phase?) world, as while some countries seem to be coming out of the worst, others are still struggling or have relapsed into it.

So, let's try at least to get into the summer spirit with this vibrant parrot silk satin textile from 1920. It was designed by Paul Poiret and manufactured by La Maison Martine (it is currently preserved in the Met Museum archives).

Owned and operated by Poiret, La Martine opened in April 1911 (so maybe it would be worthy to celebrate its 110th anniverary next year with an exhibition...). It included an experimental school for working-class girls, the École Martine; the design studio Atelier Martine, producing textiles and wallpapers, carpets, lighting, hand-painted glassware, ceramics, and even dolls dressed in Poiret's designs; and the retail and interior design service of the business called La Maison Martine.

While the shop at first only opened in Paris, by the early 1920s, there were branches in Marseille, Cannes, Biarritz, Deauville, La Baule, London, and Vienna, and the products were promoted and sold in department stores in America and Germany. The story of the Maison Martine could actually be inspiring to think about the future of education and of the design disciplines. Coronavirus has had an impact on education, with students all over the world staying at home and following classes online, and on retail as well as shops closed down. In future and to put emphasis on the physical, rather the digital environment, would it be worth it to reform the education and create schools with design studio and retail options attached? Maybe this could be an interesting topic for a debate that could be developed over the summer season.