get your dose of fiber
A few weeks ago I had a chance to visit with Merida as they launched 3 new rug collections: Sweater, Pure, and Veledo. Merida’s products are beautiful and sustainable: They’re made from renewable materials such as sisal, jute, paper, wool, and grasses. I love their natural look and the layer of texture that the materials add to an interior. Here’s a quick look at the new patterns:
Sweater
Creative Director Maegan Fee has always been inspired by textiles and knitted constructions so she wanted to create a collection that looked like a knit but is actually woven natural wool. In the Sweater line, there are two woven patterns and one tufted. I’m a huge fan of things that look like sweaters or cable knit; I think it’s psychological since I’m allergic to wool. But, don’t they look cozy?
Veledo
Perhaps their most revolutionary collection, Veledo is made of recycled leather. It’s the company’s first hard-surface flooring and the leather comes from sources such as shoe heels and briefcases from Italian factories. There are four embossed styles, including Croco and Angus, which come in a variety of colors.
Pure
Pure is the most outwardly environmentally-friendly, though all their products are. Pure is made from undyed wools and organic jute backing. Available in five colors, it’s 100% biodegradable and compostable, and contains no VOCs.
Merida also relaunched Broadway—their first product—a 100% sisal diamond pattern woven on a Jacquard loom.
While there I had a sneak peek at a collection from Barclay Butera Lifestyle. It just launched officially last week at High Point. The natural fiber woven rugs are inspired by men’s haberdashery and will be available in the colors for which Barclay’s best known – blues, chocolates, and neutrals. Stay tuned for a future issue where there will be more on the collection.
I spent some time with Barclay and Merida creative director Maegan Fee. Can you tell which one of us didn’t spend much time outside this summer?
Categories: Design, floors, Home, textures | Tags: Barclay Butera, eco friendly, fibers, flooring, jute, Maegan Fee, Merida, natural, rugs, sisal, wool, woven
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bon anniversaire!
This week, Sabine and I visited Pierre Frey for a presentation honoring the family-owned company’s 75th anniversary.
“Exhibition 1935-1955: Inspiration & Realism of Fabrics” celebrates the whimsy of Pierre Frey’s early years and brings to New York a curated collection of textiles, drawings, and paintings usually held in their Parisian archives. The beautiful patterns are lively, and feel as fresh now as ever.
Categories: Design, fabric, fabrics, Home, textures | Tags: 1935-1955, anniversary, Design, fabric, Genevieve Prou, Irene Rohr, Janine Janet, Jean Chatanay, Jean-Denis Malcles, Patrick Frey, Pierre Frey, Sophie Rouart, textiles
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How Color-Confident Are You?—Lessons from the Old World
I’ve always admired the Europeans for their bold confidence with color. (Eighteenth-century English country houses equal sunshine-yellow walls, right?) Fast forward to today’s offerings of raspberry, fuchsia, acid green—nothing meek about these hues, yet Europeans love them. And not the way we do in America. For example, the French, English, Italians, and Spanish don’t confine these fresh-to-brazen palettes to their teens’ rooms or to modern-only spaces. Or even to a single space in need for a swift kick of coomph, as we Americans tend to do.
That’s what so great about how the Old World embraces color. They have no problem upholstering an 18th-century French settee in an up-to-the-minute fuchsia or grape.
New "Kavana" from Spanish fabric house, Alhambra
