Category: Designer Spotlight

Designer Spotlight: Seema Krish


Inspiration board.

Seema’s studio.


It’s true, I blogged about Seema Krish last summer after interviewing her for “Designing Women” in Stuff Magazine. But although we had a long phone conversation, we had never met. She invited me to The Buttery for tea last week, and after devouring a carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting (all me, not her), we walked to her studio at 46 Waltham (and ran into Jill Goldberg of Hudson with her beautiful new baby Dylan).

After introducing me around to some stationary designers – it’s like a college dorm in there, very fun – Seema showed me her newest work. In addition to continuing production on her debut collection, “Bombay Bliss”, she is introducing a new line of 46 textiles to Seema Krish Collection. Her work is absolutely stunning. The photos don’t do it justice. The colors are gorgeous, and on top of the block printing – by hand, so not perfect, thus utterly charming – are hand stitched details, like French knots, cross stitched “X”s, dotted lines, subtle mirrored pieces, appliqué, etc.

Bombay Bliss pillows

New designs – drawings with stitching

Browsing through a David Hicks book.


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Sponsor Love: Fabricadabra Ikat Pillows

By now most of you avid blog readers and lovers of home decor are well-acquainted with Fabricadabra’s fantastic (and wonderfully priced – just $40) ikat pillows. But I bet you’re less aware of the company’s other designs. And since Fabricadabra is now a Style Carrot sponsor (yay!) I thought it best to tout those too. Love ’em all!

I K A T S

D U T C H   W A X   P R I N T S

F E L T E D   W O O L S

W O O L   K I L I M S

 

TV Alert: Sixx Design on Bravo


The Novogratz Family

The husband and wife design duo behind Sixx Design, Robert and Cortney Novogratz, plus their brood of kids (two sets of twins, a couple of singles, and a new baby), have landed a TV gig. Nine by Design premieres Tuesday at 11pm on Bravo, then moves to its regular time at 10pm.

The series follows the couple over the course of six months, during which they worked on six large-scale design projects including a 24-room hotel on the Jersey Shore, a 10,000 square foot glass house on the West Side Highway and a home conversion of a gun shop located on the edge of Soho.

With any luck, this reality docu-DIY will focus on the team’s talents as taste makers rather than the antics of their ever growing family, though apparently Cortney goes into labor with the newest addition at the end of episode one. I’m definitely tuning in and hoping to get a taste of the magic behind their funky interior transformations. And besides, I need a new show; a girl can’t exist on Gossip Girl alone.

For more on Sixx Design here’s a NYT article from last spring.

Fine Print: FLAIR Joe Nye

Los Angeles interior designer and party planner Joe Nye has put together his first book, Flair: Exquisite Invitations, Lush Flowers, and Gorgeous Table Settings (Rizzoli, April 2010). The table settings are beautiful. Almost makes me want to entertain. Definitely makes me want to shop for pretty china.

Handmade chargers in the Palladian pattern from Isis Ceramics Ltd., black bamboo flatware by Juliska, black water goblets and a chinoiserie-style tablecloth. More images from this table below.

Upper left: Singerie-inspired invitations and little favor boxes wrapped in fuchsia ribbon. (Singerie is the French word for “Monkey Trick”. It is a genre depicting monkeys apeing human behavior, often fashionably attired, intended as a diverting sight, always with a gentle cast of mild satire.) Upper right: Black bamboo flatware from Juliska. Lower left: A chinoiserie-styleparty table setting. Lower right: A prfusion of pink carnations in a silver mint julep cup.

Left: Contemporary Chinese Chippendale chargers paired with charming antique chinoiserie-style floral china and pretty aqua finger bowls. The natural wood handles of the bamboo flatware brings out the yellow and green tones in the plate. Right: Purple floral Mottahedeh dessert plates sit atop Charlotte Moss’s treillage pattern dinner plates. Green hydrangeas and amethyst goblets play up the green and purple theme.

Above: Red, printed silk-toile tablecloths, and blue and red glassware from Cost Plus World Market mix nicely with fancy sterling silver and Blue Canton dinner plates. The red lantern is a fun centerpiece. A single flower on the napkin dresses up the plate.

Left: A mélange of blue-and-white ceramics mixed with yellow gladioli and oncidium orchids dress up the sideboard.  Right: The blue and yellow theme is carried over to the table, with blue water glasses, inexpensive bunches of yellow chrysanthemums and single yellow Fuji mums placed in teacups. The dinnerware is Torquay from Mottahedeh. Like the flowers, the cobalt blue-handled flatware provides an informal touch.

All images by Los Angeles-based photographer Edmund Barr. Courtesy of Rizzoli International.

Designer Spotlight: Wellfleet Waters

Maryann Morley and Beth Dean, Wellfleet Waters

Last June I profiled three textile designers in the article “Designing Women” for Stuff Magazine.  I’ve already followed up with posts on Seema Krish Design and Mod Green Pod. Now that summer is approaching, it’s time to visit sisters Maryann Morley and Beth Dean of Wellfleet Waters.

Maryann and Beth said they were sitting on a Cape Cod beach when inspiration hit. “We were talking about porch furniture, saying we wished we could find vibrant designs in bright colors,” says Morley. Instead, they found a lot of earth tone stripes printed on acrylic. So they got to work producing a line that was lots more fun.

They came up with a collection of three whimsical patterns (flowers, paisley, and polka dots) in three bright, highly saturated colorways (grass, water, and sunset). Most importantly, they decided to use 100% cotton canvas fabrics, which they have treated to be water- and mildew-resistant.

The collection launched last year; it’s made entirely in the United States and printed in New England. “It costs a bit more, but we’re committed to the people we work with. And it keeps us close to home for our families too,” says Dean. (Both sisters are moms.)

Their inspiration is the nostalgia for summer vacation, the season of bare feet and canvas sneakers. They remember running into the garden to dirty up new pairs, so they wouldn’t be too white. Morley explains, “We want to bring people back to that place, whether it’s the bayside or the pond, where they relax with their families and are reminded of the good things in life.”