Ready-to-Ware

Designer Sandy Chilewich is the ultimate material girl.

Chilewich, co-founder of HUE leg wear, has moved into product design, using the same flair for fabric and color that she used for her bright, bold socks and tights.

Her first collection, Raybowls, are lightweight vessels made of bent steel wire frames and mesh fabric. Anchored onto the frames by a hook mechanism, the fabric stretches taut and becomes concave. The design enables the bowls to support substantial weight, making them ideal for holding fruit, vegetables, bread, rocks, marbles, keys and the like.

Left empty, Raybowls become a piece of colorful sculpture.

Each fabric piece is removable for easy laundering and the fabric pieces are interchangeable to suit your mood or room.

“I like to lift materials out of their accepted context, to stretch conventions by combining unrelated forms and textures,” says Chilewich. “Starting with Raybowls, the concave textile mechanism is more flexible in terms of presentation, color and use. As a system, it an be applied to all different kinds of household containers.”

Raybowls (range from $32 to $47, depending on size) come in three shapes--the tripod, the disc and the ellipse. They are available at the Museum of Contemporary Art stores, 250 S. Grand, Los Angeles, (213) 621-1710, 152 N. Central Av., Los Angeles, (213) 621-1727 and 2447 Main St., Santa Monica, (310) 396-9833 or through the Museum of Modern Art catalog, (800) 793-3167.