Hue: Midnight

FABRIC // Dashes in Midnight from Rebecca Atwood // Chair // Art // Pillow // Cutting board // Interior

EDITOR CREDIT // This post was developed and written by guest editor Molly Velte

Fab Five: Marbleized

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EDITOR CREDIT // This post was developed and written by guest editor Molly Velte.

Hue: Coral

FABRIC //  Mughal Flower Rose in Coral from Lisa Fine // Exterior // Outdoor Chair // Hardware // Rug // Pillow // Pillow

EDITOR CREDIT // This post was developed and written by guest editor Molly Velte.

Brit Kleinman of AVO

My name is... Brit Kleinman.

My company is... AVO.

I am the... Founder and Creative Director.

I make/design/create... Handpainted leather goods.  My flagship product is the full hide painted rug but I also make pillows and clutches. I like to fully explore one material and see what I can create with it,  and right now that material is handprinted leather.  I was first inspired by a trip to New Mexico where I experienced the hide painting by Native Plains Indians and their handprinted bags known as parfleche.  I then looked at a lot of different cultures that had this technique and I decided to modernize it.

Something you need to know about me is... I like to get my hands dirty.   Although I previously worked in the design field in different capacities, I wanted to work with my hands again.  I wanted to make things.  I think I function best as a designer when I actually touch the materials.

You first knew you were a creative type when... It seems like I always knew it. Certainly, from a very young age.  I come from a creative family and as a child I spent endless amounts of time in art classes and doing crafts.  Creativity is in my blood.

Here is how the company came to be... It all started with a college trip to Gautemala in 2006. While visiting and working with the textile artists in the Chichicastenango market, I was struck by the fact that design and culture were one and the same.  The name "AVO" comes from a vivid memory I have of a man carrying a huge sack of avocados in a string bag in that market. While that might seem mundane, it made me realize that different cultures used products and materials in their own unique way and fostered my anthropological way of thinking about design. I want to know what the back story behind all of my designs even if it isn't apparent to others.

My absolute favorite thing I sell right now is... My full hide rugs and I love the rugs and pillows I am doing in indigo resist patterns.

Here is a sneak peek of something I am working on right now... I am playing with leather tiles for interior spaces.  I see them as wall tiles, perhaps as a wainscot.

I am most proud of... Finally taking that first leap to start my own business, after years of thinking about it.

I really detest... Bookkeeping!

I could never have done it without this person... Definitely my Mom, Sherry Kleinman, who herself is a textile artist. She first showed me that a creative passion could have a large role in your life.  Also my husband because he is so supportive of my passions and taking the risk to start my own business."

I constantly read these for inspiration... I don't read! I just look at the pictures.

That said, I do like to leaf through Damn Design Magazine and Surface Magazine, and I sometimes go down the rabbit hole of the interwebs.  I have two books, Patricia Rieff Anawalt's The Worldwide History of Dress, and Jean-Philippe and Dominque Lenclos' Colors of the World that are staples in my library, but I am a visual person. In fact I don't measure when I create my product, I just eyeball it.  

I would like to share the limelight with... My longtime art mentor David Limrite, who is a fabulous artist in his own right and always pushes his students to enjoy the process of creating. 

IMAGE CREDITS // PIctures of Brit's mom and her art from Brit.  Pictures of David Limrite and his art from Outside the Lines blog. All other images by Lynn Byrne, all rights retained.

EDITOR CREDIT // This post was developed and written by guest editor Lynn Byrne.

Fab Five: Painterly Dots

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EDITOR CREDIT // This post was developed and written by guest editor Molly Velte.

Young Huh

ABOUT // Young Huh is the founder of Young Huh Interiors, a NY based full service design firm specializing in residential and commercial interiors. 

I am sharing with you two pillows that I have in my living room.  These are special to me because they were the first purchases I made for myself.  I absolutely adore Fortuny fabrics, but I couldn't afford to cover an entire sofa or even a chair, so I had four pillows made in one of my all time favorite prints - Persiano.  I chose the color seafoam green and white.  It’s a classic persian flower motif that you see globally in textiles, but the Fortuny printing process gives each flower a unique quality - like a painting.  The white background is not a pure uniform white, but slightly mottled and the green flowers have undertones of blue which gives the fabric a depth and singularity that continually interests me.

To accompany the Persiano pillows, I had others made in Fadini Borghi's Subbiano in color azzuro.  The print looks like marbleized paper but it is woven - not printed - giving it wonderful color depth, sheen and texture.  I love to get lost looking at the waves - its like looking at the ocean.  While the green and blue colors carry me away to the sea and to a very peaceful place, the gold silk threads add glamour and contrast. 

I made sure my workroom slightly understuffed the feather and down filling for the pillows.  I don’t like pillows that look or feel too dense.  Silk fringe and rope trim from Rogers & Goffigon complete their look.  I sink into these pillows daily.  I lay my head on them to read or take naps, behind my back for extra support.  These pillows have become soft and pliant over the years, but they haven't lost a bit of their beauty or charm. 

Hue: Lavender

Please welcome a new and extraordinarily talented guest editor to CLOTH & KIND! Molly Velte has joined our team and will be periodically writing in our Journal as a contributor to our Hue and Fab Five columns. 

Molly is a textile artist & stylist based on the east coast, by way of France & California. Her surface patterns are represented by select studios in New York, whose clients include Kate Spade, Anthropologie and Free People amongst others, and she is regularly commissioned to create custom textile prints for companies around the globe. Molly is a past contributor to Bri Emery's wildly popular and well-loved blog, Design Love Fest... check out her Patternfest posts here, and also be sure to spend time on her fantastic personal blog ROOT for a peek into her process, inspiration & creative happenings.

With a similar vibe for textiles, color & interiors, we are nothing short of thrilled to have Molly contributing to CLOTH & KIND's Journal. Welcome aboard, Molly! We hope you all dig her first Hue post below, inspired by Madeline Weinrib's Lavender Remy Ikat fabric, as much as we do.

FABRIC // Remy Ikat from Madeline Weinrib // Lamp // Fabric // Art // Pillow // Accent Table

EDITOR CREDIT // This post was developed and written by guest editor Molly Velte.

Fab Five: Animalistic

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Not all animal prints are created equal. Our design philosophy is to use them oh-so-sparingly and with great tact. The chair above is an example of how we recently used a ZAK+FOX print with stunning and sophisticated results. But just as the quote above (which we adore) indicates, you need not lose sleep over the opinion of others. If you love it, it works. Period. So tell us... what's your take on animalistic interiors?

Jean Nye (My Mom!)

ABOUT | Jean Nye is Krista's mother, a world traveler, a retired children and family minister, and a talented writer and musician.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel to India frequently because of my husband Jim’s work.  Our first trip, when Krista was 8 and her sister Elise was 11, took place in 1982.  We lived for a year in the lovely city of Pune, about 100 miles from Mumbai.  Krista traces her love of fabrics back to this time.  She delighted in watching the women going about their everyday tasks in their brilliantly colored saris.

India is a feast for all the senses, but particularly for the eyes.  Jim and I have collected a variety of things on our trips, from old brass kitchen utensils to folk art animals to fabrics. On a recent trip I picked up several antique fabric fragments in the Hauz Khas Village area of New Delhi.  Situated near royal tombs dating back to the 13th century, Hauz Khas is a delightful jumble of small shops and restaurants.

The fragment pictured may have originated in Rajastan, as it is decorated with mirror work and cowrie shells.  I mounted it on a natural linen pillow and had fun embroidering a “frame” around it in chain stitch.  I love seeing India throughout our apartment in the rugs, furniture, pictures, and accessories.  These tangible objects remind me of the intangible, things that I can’t pack up in my suitcase and take home:  the scent of jasmine in the air, the moon rising over the Indian Ocean, or the taste of a perfectly ripe Alphonso mango.  India has enriched my life in so many ways.  I just keep wanting to go back for more.