BLOG - Fabrics

Aerin for Lee Jofa

Lately I've spent a lot of time with our fabric collection and been brainstorming ideas for possible new collections. With the arrival of spring, I've been thinking a lot about our feathered friends, the birds, and trying to figure out an interesting way to abstract them into a pattern. I realized one of my favorite blogs, Habitually Chic, was on a similar wavelength when I saw this beautiful Aerin fabric posted on the blog today. This led me on a hunt for avian inspiration.

I'm a sucker for de Gournay paper and I'm loving this heron.

More de Gournay

Watercolor hummingbird

Fabric available at Lee Jofa

Textile : by Mary McDonald

Prints of birds : by Olof Rudbeck

Study of birds : by Rembrandt

Birds Nests : by Vincent Van Gogh

Last week we saw something familiar floating around the blogosphere : our Batik fabric! The New York designer, Lynde Easterlin, chose our fabric to cover the pillows in this Room With a View vignette. Thanks Quintessence for showing the room!

Sketch of a room designed by Lynde Easterlin

We have been working on schemes for a new client and I am just loving this project. The client is a young woman who is sophisticated and not afraid of taking risks. More than anything she loves discovering new ways to express her personal style.

The following two schemes are for the living room. We discussed keeping her existing sofa and adding deep cranberry and red tones to the room.

For the master bedroom she expressed her desire to go for a more neutral palette than what she currently has. The room has existing mill-work that can not be refinished with paint so we have been researching different ways of recovering the surfaces of these units. One thought is to cover the existing cabinetry with a grass-cloth. Another option would be the parchment wallpaper directly below.  What I love about both of these schemes is that they are subdued yet playful.

The guest bedroom is where the client is willing to really go all out with color. She knows that she doesn't have to spend everyday in this room and therefore isn't worried about being overwhelmed by the colors or patterns. Regardless, I wouldn't tire of the below schemes and the first and last one are my personal favorites.

Georgia and I are always working on new ideas for patterns and prints for the fabric line. These inspirations come from a wide range of places-travel, illustration, historical pattern books, texture, and our daily surroundings.  The below pattern is something that I have been doodling in some form or another for as long as I can remember. Whenever I was bored in school, I would fill the pages of my composition books with various markings and sketches. I never imagined that one day these designs would come in handy.

All of the prints shown in this post are still in the design and development phase. In addition to working the tweaks of a pattern out, this is also when we begin to play around with color. It is amazing how different a print can look when the colors are changed. A great example of this is below.

The above motif is something that I freehand sketch last week. I am really loving a cool mint green and was surprised to see how well it paired with orange. We will have to see the strike-off before unleashing this daring color combination on the world!

The below design is another doodle. You can see my shaky hand here where the hatch marks of the lines are crossing! Sometimes I like seeing these things and other times I feel it looks unfinished. Again, we won't know until the strike-offs arrive.

The circle pattern below is taken from a manipulated photograph of some old book binding paper.  It is similar to something one would find under a microscope, but still graphic and interesting.

Below are some strike-offs that recently arrived from the printer....

Now that our first collection of fabrics is complete, we are looking forward to introducing new prints and color ways. We are also pleased to announce that we are taking orders for custom fabrics. Want one of a kind tablecloths for your next wedding or event? How about your very own print for your living room windows? We would love to design something unique for you!

Below are a few prints that we have been working on lately. These are first round designs and we will keep you posted as to which prints make it into production. So, which are your favorites? We love hearing from you!!