One of the first things customers notice about Style Key West is the color. This happens rather organically since the shop displays are designed with that purpose in mind. But it's really achieved through far more involved planning than the effortless appearance would let on. One of the more subtle elements involved is the thought put into the selection of fabrics and upholsteries. This is where many people get a little lost and it's one of the primary reasons that they end up hiring decorators.
While I was growing up, my mother always seemed to be working on home design projects, whether professionally for clients or just for our own house. So there was a constant clutter of swatches and samples either spread out on tables or tucked away in shelves.
I would sometimes play with them and often pilfered scraps for my own little craft projects. For example, my short lived career as a designer of discarded jewelry boxes covered in wallpaper remnants. This ended when I had finished covering the three little boxes we had in our apartment - a shame since they were pretty impressive with ribbon detail and panel inlays. But I should have been doing my spelling homework anyway, so it was probably all for the best. Epilogue: I still have one of them and I'm telling you - it's GOOD!
With that level of immersion, it comes as no surprise that I LOOOOOVE textiles. My favorite task in my many stints as teenage shop assistant at
The Kellogg Collection (where my mother was a designer) was organizing the fabric shelves. It was then that I developed a bit of a Chinoiserie fetish.
But in spite of my own appreciation for such things, I assumed that such interests were really for older women who sipped tea from fine china while discussing plans for their new country houses. Fine fabrics seemed very...well, decadent I guess. And not for the masses.
And maybe it was - before DIY stopped meaning "poor" and started meaning "talented." Which you can now see as textile designers are targeting people online, not just people with design center passes. Anyone can hop on their computer and order beautiful fabric.
AND - as that demand has developed, a new form of marketing has created entirely new perspectives on branding. One which immediately springs to mind is that of "household name" designers. In the case of this topic - fabric designers whose names carry caché.
Did you recognize any of the fabrics above? Probably - since they are all popular
Amy Butler prints. It's next to impossible to visit a home design blog that doesn't reference Amy Butler at some point. And many use her fabrics in their own desgin projects and products. Even Etsy shops will make sure to label their products as being made with Amy Butler fabric.
And the good people at
Amy Butler Design know their worth. Just visit the website and see the virtual shop front filled with bags, rugs, bedding, paper... It's kind of unstoppable.
And there are other powerhouse design studios working toward the same thing. For example,
Joel Dewberry has a beautiful, user friendly website to go with his well recognized fabric designs.
Right now, you can only purchase Joel Dewberry fabrics through other sources, but you can find a whole list of those websites and shops on the
Where to Buy page. Not to worry though - an
online shop is "coming soon."
I could go on and on about all of the great indie lines sprouting up all over
Etsy (also visit
Spoonflower,
Repro Depot and
Purlsoho.com for more).
But this is getting epic, so I'll just leave you with some images of
Pine Cone Hill, another great home textile company that Style Key West carries:
Do you have a textile obsession? What are
your favorites?
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