Andrew Dahlgren is an entrepreneur whose company is building a 21^st century knitting mill that combines technology, craft, and design to produce high quality and long lasting woven products. He has entered the Chase Mission Main Street $100,000 Grant Competition and plans to use the funds to purchase a commercial scale knitting machine and to start an apprenticeship program to train two new employees if he wins. While he is creating a facility with the newest knitting machines and highly skilled creative technicians and designers, Andrew will still focus on local production, small batch manufacturing, and a supportive community. To read a more detailed account of his plans, check out this interview. Andrew needs 250 votes to proceed to the juried round and he is almost there! Please click here to vote. Anybody with a Facebook account can vote!

A project in the works using Langhorne’s wool (Photo: Andrew Dahlgren)

Andrew has earned a reputation of being an innovative and exciting product designer in Philadelphia and beyond. He weaves his work, which includes scarves, housewares and art objects, using six domestic-scale knitting machines. One of his current projects is pictured above and uses wool from Langhorne Carpets. His other work includes Window Cell, which was shown at Moda 360 International. Window Cell is a modular fabric screening system that can be used to create planar and 3D surfaces and the overall dimensions can be made to fit any space. Andrew is currently working on swatches and sample fabric for Amanda Stearn’s (Macy’s Fashion Incubator Designer) new line of knitwear. Andrew was also featured in the Home and Design section of the Inquirer, and you can check out the article here.

Langhorne is very pleased to support Andrew Dahlgren and we wish him luck in Chase Mission’s Grant Competition.