Mary Jaeger

My work is about modern elegance and rich traditions. Uncluttered textiles and accessories reflect my aesthetic—melding ancient Eastern and contemporary Western design. Drawing on years of study and work in Japan and other areas of Asia and Europe, I create timeless collections and items for fashion and interiors that seamlessly move between seasons, places and occasions with a keen eye toward sustainability.

The core of my niche women’s and interior accessory collections are inspired by my passions for color, texture and pattern. I use shibori, shaped resist dyeing techniques, synthesized with simple silhouettes and a love of hand crafted and couture sewing details. Beginning with solid colored, knit or woven, classic natural fibers (cotton, silk, wool, alpaca, cashmere), I proceed to dye, or dye then shrink, portions of the fabric or garment multiple times. Then selectively, the textiles are stitched, hand-painted, embellished, pleated, deconstructed, layered and wrapped. My signature Tucked Wool Collection demonstrates architecturally designed surfaces that explore three-dimensional fabric manipulation and sculpture, both as solid colored, multi-colored and layered patterns. My Unfolding Project: Accordion Silks is a series of collections that embrace sustainability by repurposing my post-production remnants. The pieced and pleated works are worn as soft sculptures, wrapping the body in multiple ways. Personalized Shirts look at reshaping and re-energizing worn garments by dyeing, stitching and appliqueing.

The work is created in my Brooklyn atelier. Foremost concerns include beauty in our everyday lives, design functionality and innovation, traditional textile design and embellishing techniques, tactile combinations of fabrics and motifs, eco-consciousness, circular fashion, and up-cycling and re-creating materials. I strive to help make our world a more enjoyable place to live by preserving and offering the art of one-of-a-kind and limited edition handmade clothing and interior textile objects.

Contact us to learn about our in studio workshops and private classes to learn shaped resist dye techniques.