WASHINGTON, DC.- The Textile Museum has announced that Jack Lenor Larsen, internationally renowned textile designer, author and collector, is the recipient of the first George Hewitt Myers Award. Named for The Textile Museum’s founder, the award recognizes exceptional contributions to furthering the field of textile arts. Larsen will be honored and presented with the George Hewitt Myers Award at a Gala Dinner to be held Thursday, October 20, 2005 in Washington, DC.

“Jack Lenor Larsen is not only an innovative and influential weaver but an avid collector and world traveler whose designs have been influenced by artisans and textile traditions from around the globe. The Textile Museum’s mission is to further understanding of textiles and the cultures that produce them. Clearly Jack Lenor Larsen’s life work has also been guided by this philosophy, nurturing an awareness of the depth and richness of textile traditions worldwide. It is only fitting that he be the recipient of The Textile Museum’s first George Hewitt Myers Award,” said Bruce P. Baganz, president of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. Larsen was selected to receive the honor by The Textile Museum’s Board of Trustees.

Born in 1927 in Seattle, WA, Larsen studied architecture, furniture design, ancient Peruvian textiles and weaving in the early years of his career. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1951, and in 1952 founded the firm that bears his name. Over the last five decades the Larsen Company has become a leading resource for signature fabrics for the international design trade, setting a new standard in textile design. His award-winning hand-woven fabrics of varied natural yarns in random repeats have evolved to become synonymous with modern 20th-century design at its pinnacle of style and sophistication.

In addition to his contributions as a textile designer, Larsen is a scholar, author, collector and one of the foremost authorities on contemporary crafts. He has published books on weaving, textile dyeing, art fabrics and interior design. His home, LongHouse Reserve, located on 16 acres in East Hampton, NY and inspired by the famous Japanese shrine at Ise, was built as a case study to exemplify a creative approach to contemporary living. Larsen has received numerous honors during the course of his career, including awards from the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Interior Designers, the Royal Society of Arts, London, the American Craft Council, Design Magazine, and the Museum of Art and Design (formerly American Craft Museum). His designs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, among others. He is one of only two Americans to be honored with an exhibition in the Palais du Louvre. The retrospective exhibition “Jack Lenor Larsen: Creator and Collector,” organized by the Museum of Arts and Design, is currently travelling in the United States.