Ultrasuede® Designer’s Choice Debuts at Showtime

New York — Barclay Butera, Rick Lee, Vladimir Kagan and Stanley Jay Friedman Name Signature Colors for New Ultrasuede® Upholstery Fabric Collection

Ultrasuede® names four top designers with distinctive points of view to develop signature colors for its line of luxury suede fabric. The designers and their colors are Barclay Butera, Barclay Butera Blue; Rick Lee, MagentaModern and South Beach; Vladimir Kagan, Kagan Red; and Stanley Jay Friedman, Stanley and Iris. The new colors for Ultrasuede® upholstery fabric collection will debut at Summer Showtime 2008, June 1-4, in High Point, North Carolina.

The program is the brainchild of Jane Matteson, creative consultant for Toray Ultrasuede (America), Inc., TUA, who calls the program “an organic concept.” She added, “Ultrasuede® does a great deal of work with Kravet in the design trade – it’s a designer-based, highly sophisticated product with a loyal following at the top echelon of the trade. I looked to the best of the best to define signature colors associated with designers of note – I call them the color boys.”

Barclay Butera – Barclay Butera Blue Ultrasuede®
Uniquely adept at blending furniture styles with layered patterns of fabrics and textures, Barclay Butera is known for his love of iconic mid-20th century Old Hollywood, as well as for mixing influences of American, European and Far East styles to create his transitional, fashion-forward design. Barclay Butera Blue Ultrasuede®, a calm ocean blue, was chosen to work with Butera’s fabric collection for Kravet, which will debut later this year.

Rick Lee – MagentaModern and South Beach Ultrasuede® by Rick Lee
Award winning San Francisco industrial designer Rick Lee finds inspiration in everyday objects. An innovator at the vanguard of modern design, Lee combines rational thinking with radical influences to create minimalist pieces with deft whimsical touches. With his Bauhaus-tipped brushstroke, Lee has created MagentaModern Ultrasuede®, a thoroughly modern deep pink hue with soft purple highlights – ideal for fun, livable and clean-lined furniture designs. A vibrant teal called South Beach Ultrasuede® is another signature Lee shade for Designer’s Choice.

Vladimir Kagan – Kagan Red Ultrasuede®
Vladimir Kagan is an avant-garde designer known for innovative, sculptural designs and whose career has spanned more than 60 years. He developed Kagan Red Ultrasuede®, a balance of red and orange that makes a perfect accent for the latest generation of Ultrasuede® neutrals developed by Matteson. The neutral palette ranges from pale, cool fog tones to warm French greys.

Stanley Jay Friedman – Stanley and Iris Ultrasuede®
Stanley Jay Friedman, originally a contract designer, made his first foray into residential design in 2001 with a line of upholstery, accessories and case goods for Weiman featuring pure and clean architectural lines. Now a mainstay on the contemporary and modern furniture design scene, Friedman conceived the forward-thinking deep purple-blue called Stanley and Iris Ultrasuede®.

TUA will debut the new designer colors, along with a host of fresh patterns and embossed finishes, at its first-ever Market Square Textile Tower showroom during the Summer Showtime 2008 fabric fair.

A unique showroom display is planned on the third floor of the tower, space 370, to attract attention for the company’s home furnishings initiatives. Ultrasuede® customers may contact their representatives directly to secure Showtime appointments and view the new products.

For more information, contact:
Toray Ultrasuede (America), Inc.
Corporate Communications Department
212-382-1590 (tel)
marketing@ultrasuede.com