Designing women

by Marni Elyse Katz | June 29, 2009

Just as summer has us slipping into flirty dresses in pretty colors (yes, we’re taking a break from black!), we find ourselves wanting to freshen our living spaces, too. While new furniture isn’t as easy a purchase to justify (or afford) as a new Splendid tee, we can manage to spruce up the sofa with pillows, or even reupholster a cushion for our tiny slice of terrace. It turns out that the area is busting at the seams with fabric designers who are not only turning out pretty patterns, but showing their commitment to refueling regional industries and keeping things green.

Seema Krish, Seema Krish Design

Launching Seema Krish Design (www.seemakrish.com) was the logical next step for South Ender Seema Krish, who has been working in the textile industry for 15 years in various roles, from swatch cutter to design director. Krish’s motivation for the line came from a desire to revive the textile arts found in villages in India, where such crafts are becoming extinct in favor of more lucrative jobs in technology-driven fields. Her first collection of fabrics, all of which are handmade using natural fibers and low-impact dyes, combines hand-blocked prints with embroidery. The designs are inspired by Krish’s memories of Bombay, where she was born and raised before coming to the States to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology. She tells us, “They reflect the energetic potpourri of cultures in Bombay and are named after streets there.” Krish uses a particular craft as starting point, and she then dreams up patterns that can be adapted to it. Future collections will build on another technique, perhaps using a different type of weaving or kind of embroidery from another region of the country. As for how she will market them, by the yard to the design trade or as pillows and coverlets for retail sale, that’s still a work in progress.

Maryann Morley and Beth Dean, Wellfleet Waters

Sisters Maryann Morley and Beth Dean of Wellfleet Waters (www.wellfleetwaters.com) 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. In their research, they found that the outdoor market mainly offered acrylic fabrics in earth tones, along with a lot of stripes, so they decided to produce a line of 100% cotton canvas fabrics, treated to be water- and mildew-resistant, in highly saturated colors and fun patterns. The collection, which consists of three patterns (flowers, paisley, and polka dots) in three color schemes (grass, water, and sunset), launched this 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. It’s the nostalgia for summer vacation, that season of bare feet and canvas sneakers, that inspires the sisters. 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.”

Nancy Mims and Lisa Mims, Mod Green Pod

When textile designer Nancy Mims mentioned to her sister-in-law Lisa Mims that she was thinking of creating an organic cotton fabric line, Lisa, who had just quit a consulting job, hopped on a plane from Boston to brainstorm with Nancy at her home in Austin, Texas. Mod Green Pod (www.modgreenpod.com) was born at a picnic table in Nancy’s backyard, and their first collection was launched a year later, in spring 2006, with the funky and flirty signature print “Butterfly Jubilee.” Today, there are eight patterns, including Clara and Atticus, named after Nancy’s children. Nancy, who is the company’s creative director (Lisa serves as a consultant from her home in Beacon Hill), just came up for air after three frenzied weeks spent churning out 35 new designs, only three of which will make it into the next collection. The designs are all printed with non-toxic pigments on 100% certified-organic cotton grown in the United States. A recent visit to textile mills has motivated Nancy to continue to produce domestically. “My dream is to help our old mills go green and revive production in the US. We could bring back jobs and clean up the textile industry at the same time,” she says. As for other visions, Nancy would like to see the fabrics used in Malia and Sasha Obama’s rooms in the White House. She reasons, “Sasha is my daughter’s age, and I think she’d love the hot pink colorway with the butterflies. It’s US-made and organic, and since she has allergies, she needs clean, green décor.”