Brentano Fabrics in Redesigned Smart Home

PR Log (Press Release) – Sep 18, 2009 – Brentano has once again provided eco-fabrics for the interior of the Museum of Science and Industry exhibit Smart Home: Green + Wired, Powered by ComEd. This year’s redesigned exhibit maintains the mission of the 2008 Smart Home, but also offers a bolder color scheme, a redesigned use of space, and the latest environmental technologies. Named “Chicago’s Greenest Home,” the Smart Home is a free-standing, fully-functioning modular home that showcases the big and small ways to make eco-friendly living part of daily life. The exhibit focuses on environmentally-conscious architecture, practices, technology, and products, including an array of fabrics from the Brentano Green collection of eco-friendly interior textiles.

Smart Home Interior Designer Michele Fitzpatrick, owner of Verde Design Studio, selected several of Brentano’s eco-friendly faux leathers for use in the dining room, lounge, and kitchen areas. She said that the home is designed for “an urban family with adventurous tastes,” and that the polyurethane-based textiles were not only a durable and sustainable choice for upholstery, but also show that “quality does not have to be expensive.” On the second floor, Fitzpatrick selected eco-fabrics with a soft hand to construct tailored bed linens. For the boy’s bedroom, she used a saturated teal color of Casita, a 100% post-consumer recycled polyester, while for the master bedroom, she chose an elegant grey eco wool.  

The Smart Home—designed by Michelle Kaufman Designs, built by All American Homes and assembled in the museum’s own backyard—is a must see exhibit for anyone who wants their home, and life, to be smarter, more efficient, and more in tune with the environment. The exhibit runs through Jan. 3, 2010, and requires an additional timed-entry ticket. Please visit www.msichicago.org for more information on schedules and to purchase tickets in advance.

About the Museum of Science and Industry
The Museum of Science and Industry’s mission is to inspire the inventive genius in everyone by presenting captivating and compelling experiences that are real and educational. Located at 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, the Museum is open every day of the year except December 25. Regular Museum hours are 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday. Extended hours, until 5:30 p.m. are offered during select times of the year. The Museum offers indoor parking and is accessible by CTA and Metra. The Museum is supported in part through the generosity of the people of Chicago through the Chicago Park District. For more information, visit the Museum’s Web site at www.msichicago.org or call (773) 684-1414 or (800) GO-TO-MSI outside of the Chicago area.

About Brentano:
Founded in 1990 by Design Director Iris Wang and her husband and President E-Kwan Chen, Brentano has grown from a modest beginning of eight patterns to an internationally represented textile house. Brentano’s fabrics stem from Wang’s philosophy of balancing beauty + performance. Our growing collection of eco-fabrics expands this ideology by demanding textiles to meet thoroughly researched standards of environmental consciousness while maintaining their beauty. Brentano offers a variety of innovative and interesting eco-friendly faux leather, as well as high performance upholstery, fire-resistant, outdoor and Crypton and Nano-Tex fabrics. Please visit www.brentanofabrics.com for more information.