Alt Summit 2013

I just arrived in Salt Lake City for Alt Summit 2013 and couldn't possibly be more excited. Over the next 3 days, I'll be mingling with blogger and design friends that I've met online  (it will be so nice to finally put real faces to some of these names and twitter handles!), exchanging ideas and learning from insanely creative and smart peers, and - quite selfishly - thinking about the evolution of CLOTH & KIND in 2013 and beyond.

Alt is actually perfectly timed because I've been majorly craving some time away from everything else in my life to dedicate to thinking really hard about where I want the blog to go and how I see it evolving. I do know this - 2013 is my year of diversification. And while CLOTH & KIND will always remain true to its textile-addicted spirit, I'm craving a wider variety of content - more interior design, a broader array of styles, a little lifestyle here and there, maybe even getting a little more personal than I have in the past. What do you think? I'd very much like to hear from you all about what you'd most like to see here so please share - no holds barred!

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to be blogging over the next three days as a I galavant around Alt with my roomie and dear friend, Tami Ramsay, but you'll be hearing from me a lot via Twitter & Instagram. Follow along! I'll be sure to share what I learned and how my Alt experience was next week. And who knows... you just may start seeing some changes around here.

L'aviva Home

My company is…. L'aviva Home

I’m the… Founder/Owner

We make/design/create… We work with artisan groups around the globe 'cultivating' collections of luxe home wares (and we're starting to dabble in accessories, as well).

Here’s how this company came to be… L’aviva Home was originally meant to be a two-week long online trunk show, featuring favorite finds from my travels - many encountered during the time in which I worked as a creative director at Travel + Leisure magazine. And now, unbelievably, it's almost 5 years later. What we are doing and how we do it has evolved, but we're still working under the same basic premise - we're drawn to beautiful things, rooted in tradition, with great stories behind them.

My absolute favorite thing we sell right now is… I love, love, love our newest collection, our alpaca 'frazada' pillows. We've been sourcing the vintage frazadas from Bolivia for years. On my last trip there (the main mission of which was to spend time with the ladies who make our incredible hammocks in a tiny village just outside of the Amazon), we planted the seeds for this new collaboration with a group of weavers in the highlands. The pillows draw on tradition in a way that really exemplifies how we most like to work. The process of bringing this collection to be has been incredibly gratifying, and the pillows are striking + luxurious + make me really happy.

Bolivian Alpaca Frazada Pillows

Here’s a sneak peek of something we’re working on now…. This spring, we'll launch our Chiapas deck chairs. It's a true North American collaboration - a joint venture between us, the group of weavers we work with in Chiapas, and a small company in Canada which makes incredible wooden frames. And we're also playing around with ideas for a collection of indigo-dyed scarves made from fabric done by the artisan we work with in Burkina Faso.

NEW FOR SPRING 2013 | Chiapas Deck Chair | Indigo-Dyed Scarf

I’m most proud of…. In a global sense, it's the process of forming these artisan partnerships and effectively bridging cultures that I love most. I derive immense satisfaction from that part of it all. More specifically, I'd say it's the project we have going in Kyrgyzstan, working with groups of artisans there on the creation of our shyrdak felt rug collection. It's been a long journey (metaphorically, and literally) to get to where we are now with this collection, and we've built a really strong team during the course of it. I’m proud of the relationships we have forged and of how we are working together to keep the tradition vital and move it forward via the creation of really beautiful pieces.

Shyrdak Felt Rug + Pillow Collection | Available in Custom Color Combinations

I consistently read these for inspiration…. Essentially the first thing I read every morning, no matter where I am in the world, is Remodelista's daily newsletter. I love what Julie + her team have been doing there since the very beginning. I go through a ton of shelter mags, too. My favorites being the Frenchies (Cote Sud, Marie Claire Maison), The World of Interiors, and Australia's Vogue Living + Travel. And design books a-many - the latest to arrive here in the studio is Roman & William's new book, which I'm flipping through right now. And I'm just delving into Instagram - my attention span for social media can be super short, but Instagram really speaks to me. I love the idea of inspiration via eye candy snippets.

I would like to share the limelight with… I have a long-standing love affair with Casamidy. Jorge + Anne-Marie have phenomenal style, all around, as evidenced in the pieces they design for Casamidy, in their homes, and beyond. I admire hugely what they have built with their company - their ethos, their design sensibility... and they keep it evolving, it always feels dynamic. They really are, to my mind, inimitable. Many try, some quite shamelessly, but none come close to succeeding.

#sharethelimelight

Palette No. 7

For the specific fabrics used in Palette No. 7, please subscribe to CLOTH & KIND’s emails. Details for each textile are provided exclusively to my email buddies. Happy Friday!

OFANTIQUE

Every once in a while I stumble across a company that is doing such unique and beautiful things with textiles that my breath is taken away. Something tells me you are going to feel the very same way about ofANTIQUE.

Birth Bag

Yoga Mat Bag

ofANTIQUE is the brainchild of a creative and talented woman named Rita, and was born during a voyage to South East Asia that she took with her children. While in Thailand she discovered a wonderful world of antique textiles made by the sublimely talented hill-tribe women whose cultures are rich with the ancient traditions of textile production. The result is a stunningly beautiful selection of handmade bags and garments made using original antique textiles. You can also choose your own vintage textile from Rita's stash to create a custom bag of your choice.

Happy shopping.

Role Models: Dolce & Gabbana

Fashion | Fabric

Palette No. 6

For the specific fabrics used in Palette No. 6, please subscribe to CLOTH & KIND’s emails. Details for each textile are provided exclusively to my email buddies. Happy Friday!

Serena Dugan

what is your idea of perfect design happiness? WHEN ALL THE DISPARATE POINTS OF INSPIRATION COME TOGETHER TO MANIFEST INTO A NEW IDEA

what is your greatest fear in design? LEAVING SOMETHING ON THE TABLE

which historical design figure do you most identify with? SONIA DELAUNAY

what profession other than design would you like to attempt? SONG WRITING

what is your greatest design extravagance? ART

when and where were you happiest with your design? JUST STARTING OUT AS A DECORATIVE PAINTER WHEN EVERYTHING WAS FRESH AND THERE WERE NO COMPARABLES

what do you consider your greatest achievement in design? OUR MOST CURRENT CATALOG, SEASON AFTER SEASON

if you died and came back as another designer or design object, who or what do you think it would be? FASHION DESIGNER

which living designer do you most admire? THIS IS SUCH A HARD QUESTION, BUT I LOVE WHAT NICKEY KEHOE IS DOING RIGHT NOW

what specific design related talent are you lacking that you would you most like to have? THE ABILITY TO ILLUSTRATE/RENDER

what is your most treasured design related possession? MY GRANDMOTHER’S ART

what do you regard as the lowest depths of misery in design? BEING ASKED TO GIVE OUR CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY WANT

what curse word do you most frequently use? THE F-BOMB

what is your favorite design related word? ANALOGOUS (IN REFERENCE TO COLOR)

what is your least favorite design related word? “ON-TREND”

what turns you on in design? RISK TAKING

what turns you off in design? DOING WHAT’S EXPECTED

what is your motto in design? IF YOU LOVE IT, IT WORKS

PROUST ON DESIGN | Answered by my design icons, these must-ask questions come from a 19th century parlor game made popular by Marcel Proust, the French novelist, essayist & critic. This interview technique has been used by many journalists throughout the years but my column was primarily inspired by The Proust Questionnaire, which appears monthly on the back page of Vanity Fair(my alma mater). The twist here on CLOTH & KIND is that I've repurposed each question to relate to interior design. To read all of my Proust on Design interviews, please click here. Enjoy!

Provenance: Kuba Cloth

prov-e-nance \ˈpräv-nən(t)s, ˈprä-və-ˌnän(t)s\noun. the place of origin or earliest known history of something.

ABOVE | Fabric Detail

Kuba Cloth is a rather magical kind of textile to me - it's organic and earthy, made in a primitive sort of a way, yet reads as quite modern when used just right in interior design. I've been drawn to it for a long time and have been collecting lovely vintage pieces that really strike my fancy whenever I stumble across them. Some I've used in my own home, like the one below, and others I'm saving for clients or to sell in CLOTH & KIND's online atelier which will be launching later this year (oh, if you'd like to be notified when the shop launches, please do sign up here).

ABOVE | My own vintage Kuba Cloth, mounted on nubby burlap and framed in a simple acrylic box, makes a total statement at the top of the stairs in my home.

Part of what makes ethnic textiles like Kuba Cloth so incredibly beautiful, at least to me, is knowing their history and understanding the time, technique, cultural significance and love that went into creating them. Is the same true for you? I hope so! It's because of this that I've created this new column. On a monthly basis Provenance will offer a scholarly nod to the history of iconic styles in textile & interior design. Since this is the first, please don't be shy about letting me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for styles you'd like to see covered in future Provenance posts.

ABOVE | Fabric Detail | Bedroom

ABOUT KUBA CLOTH Using the leaf of the raffia tree, the Kuba people of the Congo first hand cut, and then weave the strips of leaf to make pieces of fabric, often called raffia cloth. There are several different sub groups of the Kuba people and each group has different and unique ways to make the fabric - contributing to the wide variety of styles you'll find of this fabric. Some make it thicker, longer, shorter, or with different patches and/or colors. Each patch is symbolic and many times a piece has multiple meanings. When Kuba cloth originated it is thought that there were probably no patches used, but because the cloth is brittle it and tears easily, it's likely that the patches were used to repair the frequent tears. Later each patch developed a meaning and different patterns were uniquely arranged to tell a story. I love this... how the function ultimately became the form.

The process of making Kuba cloth is extremely time-consuming and may take several days to complete a simple piece. Both men and women contribute in equally important ways to the production of this fabric. First, the men first gather the leaves of the raffia tree and dye it using mud, indigo, or substances from the camwood tree. They then rub the raffia fibers in their hands to soften it and make it easier for weaving. After they've completed the base cloth the women set about embroidering it. They do this by pulling a few threads of the raffia fibers, inserting them into a needle running the needle through the cloth until the fibers show up on the opposite end. They use a knife and cut off the tops of the fibers, leaving only a little bit showing. Doing this hundreds and hundreds of times leads to the formation of a design. Kuba Cloth designs are seldom planned out ahead of time, and most of the embroidery is done by memory. In my opinion, this is part of what makes each imperfect piece so lovely and, clearly, so unique.

ABOVE | Bedroom | Chair

INCORPORATING KUBA CLOTH IN YOUR HOME Enchanted yet? There are so many ways that Kuba Cloth can be incorporated into interior spaces, and because of its dramatic design a single piece can make a major statement. Be sure to check out the shopping & inspiration resources below.

In addition to my own, I also wanted to share another Kuba Cloth wall hanging because I really, really love this as a way to showcase a long piece of this pretty fabric.

ABOVE | The Kuba Cloth above hangs in a long hallway of a gorgeous Streeterville condo in Chicago that belongs to a dear friend and former Condé Nast colleague of mine, Pam Dolby. It was placed by her talented designer Cindy Ilagan-Hengge, at the Kiran Design Group.

Admittedly, finding that one perfectly beautiful piece of vintage Kuba Cloth can be like searching for a needle in a haystack and the most stunning pieces are, not surprisingly, expensive. An alternative to finding an original piece of this fabric and transforming it for your space is to simply add a pillow or two. I've scoured the sources to share a few of my faves, some authentic Kuba Cloth and one awesome interpretation of it, complete with fun, shiny sequins, by Serena & Lily...

ABOVE | One | Two | Three | Four | Five

Kuba Cloth and the heritage of this type of fabric is so beloved by tastemakers that a few talented textile designers have created thoughtful interpretations. I simply love these three...

ABOVE | Mally Skok | Mark Alexander | Serena & Lily

Want to know more about Kuba Cloth and/or are you ready to shop? Check these out...

SOURCES | My Sources + More Information Africa Imports Kuba Textiles: An Introduction Wikipedia

SEE MORE | Kuba Cloth Pinterest Boards Inspired | Kuba ClothKuba ClothKuba Art Cloth

SHOP | Kuba Cloth Sources Africa and BeyondD. Bryant ArchieHaba Na Haba Hamill Tribal Textiles Kathleen TaylorL'Aviva Home Michael Donaldson AntiquesThe African Fabric ShopThe Loaded Trunk

Do you have a photo or story to share of how you've used Kuba Cloth in an interior space? Comment below and/or email it to info(at)clothandkind(dot)com and I'll post my favorites to my Kuba Cloth board on Pinterest, which will continue to grow and be an evolving resource for all things Kuba Cloth.

Happiest of Holidays

Card | Fabric

I'll be away from the blog for the next couple of weeks enjoying time with family & friends and planning for an incredible 2013 here at CLOTH & KIND.

Wishing you the most wonderful of holidays.

Palette No. 5

For the specific fabrics used in Palette No. 5, please subscribe to CLOTH & KIND’s emails. Details for each textile are provided exclusively to my email buddies. Happy Friday!