Design Changemakers 2021: How William Storms Marries Form and Function With His (Super Stylish) Textile Work

Who: William Storms, textile designer
Nominated by: Molly Haynes, a Los Angeles-based textile artist
Where to follow him: Instagram

Why Storms is part of the Class of 2021: “William Storms is a textile artist, designer, and a true weaving wizard. We met through Instagram and found out we were leading parallel lives — working by day in the interior textile industry and by night on a floor loom. We met up in person on our lunch breaks and instantly bonded over our heddle-over-heels (textiles joke!) passion for weaving. William’s name is on the rise within the interior design world as he gracefully balances his senior designer role at Crypton fabrics with his personal practice of woven textile art. He recently partnered with NYC’s Crosby Street Studios, translating his handwoven work into an eponymous line of rugs available to the interior design trade. I’m blown away by his way of blending technical ability with innovative materiality to create a body of work which pushes the limits of the loom into uncharted directions.” —Molly Haynes, a Los Angeles-based textile artist 

Growing up a twin, textile designer and weaver William Storms saw himself as the antithesis to his brother — the quiet to his outgoing, the creative to his athlete, with a self-described “Olympic-level” passion for artistic pursuits like drawing, painting, and the hobby of every ’90s child: friendship bracelets. “I was very interested in the intersection of art, and my favorite subject, math,” Storms says. 

However, it wasn’t until he took a weaving elective during his time at the Fashion Institute of Technology that Storms found just how closely those two passions could link. “I passed the textile lab at FIT, saw a loom, and I think my eyes popped out of my head,” he says. “I totally snapped and was like, ‘This is structure, this is binary code, this is analysis.’ It ticked all the boxes for me.”

Storms’ career now (as a senior designer at Crypton, a performance fabric company, as well as a collaborative artist with the likes of Crosby Street Studios), seamlessly weaves together his love for the technical, business side of fabric creation with more personal creative pursuits. 

“At work, I walk through the mill and I hear this symphony of looms turning, and know that I am part of the reason as to why they’re weaving and why they’re running,” Storms says. “Meeting with a customer and having them telling me what they’re looking for, and then making it work — not only in an aesthetic way, but a performance way, using the yarn, the colors available, and then having to work out all of the engineering and the math behind it — that is intoxicating. On the other hand, though, it’s exhausting. When I get home, there’s no plan. It’s just me cathartically sitting down at the loom and figuring out whatever I want to do. I don’t have to worry about anyone else’s aesthetic goal or anyone else’s performance requirements — it’s more fun. You could say looms are definitely interwoven in my life.”

Apartment Therapy: What were your design inspirations growing up? What is your inspiration now?

William Storms: It’s always been technique. I like when people look at my work and ask how I did something, because at the end of the day, it was a structural decision that got it to look the way it [does]. My jaw used to drop when I would see something I didn’t know, like a friendship bracelet stitch that a friend of mine learned from one of the girls’ ’90s magazines — I would be craving for the knowledge of how to do it. 

AT: What’s your favorite project you worked on in 2020, and why?

WS: I think I’m going to say commissions. With all of this reinvestment in the home and time indoors, I’ve had a lot of interest from people wanting custom artwork commissions for their interior spaces, and this is where my artist and design brain mix. It’s so personal — I love working with them and seeing the colors and textures that they have in their home, and really working to complete the picture so that it’s their best vision of their own space, rather than just being an artist and making something. I like the collaborative energy.

AT: What three words would you use to describe your work or style?

WS: I’m thinking playful, structural, intricate. Oh, and balanced. The balance one in particular is something that I’m drawn to that sets my work apart. I’m often weaving on multiple work systems, so you have to balance the whole thing out — sometimes you have to raise your density in one area so that you can use a larger material in another. There are times when I’m weaving four different trim pieces on one loom and they’re all using different yarns and different densities. Making them all synchronized and dance at the same rate is fun for me. I’m a structure junkie, 100 percent.

AT: Is there a specific piece or design of yours that you think is particularly indicative of who you are or what you’re trying to do?

WS: My series Passementerie, which is the traditional word for French ribbon weaving. No one ever taught me how to do it necessarily — I did a little workshop in France, but in the past few years, I’ve picked it up again and started using modern materials, like industrial boat rope, poly-coated vinyl, and felted wools, and started doing exaggerated large-scale versions of what used to be an inch wide. I did a residency with this artist named Raul Martinez — he is an artist from Spain, and he was really the first one that introduced me to artwork with a ‘concept’ in a way that was easy for me to digest. Together we made a bullet rug that is a ballistic map — on the head stamp of each bullet, you can see where it was manufactured, and all the bullets were collected within 100 miles of where the rug was woven.

Taking information from the world and putting it through the loom makes sense to me. I really love working with data and presenting it in a different format.

AT: What makes you feel at home in your own space?

WS: Making, honestly. Having moved three times within the past year, I know I’m home and comfortable when I have my accent lighting on, my candle lit, and I’m sitting there weaving and just making in that calm. I think a lot, and the only time that I really feel focused is when I’m at the loom, because it requires so much concentration. Right now, with COVID, I’m thankful to have this proximity and ability to wake up and walk upstairs and see the loom sitting in the sunlight with what I just finished the night before. It’s like Christmas morning.

AT: How has 2020 changed your perspective on or approach to your work?

WS: If there were ever a time to have a personal, intimate, solitary, indoor practice, it’s now. To have the ability to wake up and know how I want to spend my day, I’m super thankful. I’m super thankful I moved before the quarantine. I’m happy I’m settled in my space. I don’t know if my design process has changed other than I finally slowed, I’m back home in New York with experience from my last job and moving, and my priorities have shifted into focus. 2020 gave me more clarification around my purposes — and the death of FOMO.

AT: Any big plans for 2021 or beyond you can share with us?

WS: Honestly, I’m looking forward to seeing what my next leap is. I think that might be traveling abroad and working with artisans. I’d like to see a William Storms home product, but I do love collaboration, too. So definitely more commissions and potentially branded products.

AT: What, in your mind, is the power of good design?

WS: I think the power of good design is its ability to elevate your mood without you even being aware that it’s happened. Like, if people have micro-expressions, then I guess design does too. Comfort in your space is just a mood elevator.

AT: What do you hope your legacy is in the design world?

WS: I’ve worked with artists and executed their vision or their concept, and that’s great. And I’ve worked with designers that have a very specific aesthetic, and that is also great. But I think my legacy or mark will be as a weaver. I think weaving is my superpower, so to speak. I always loved magic as a kid, so I love weaving something and showing it to someone and seeing that ‘How’d you do that?’ look on their face.

Interview has been edited and condensed.