Todd Nickey & Amy Kehoe

what is your idea of perfect design happiness? todd | WHEN YOU SIT IN A SPACE AND FEEL CALM AND HAPPY. amy | THOUGHTFUL, FUNCTIONAL DETAILS - ESPECIALLY IN KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS.

what is your greatest fear in design? todd | THAT I WILL DO SOMETHING EXPECTED AND BORING. amy | A MIS-MEASURE.

which historical design figure do you most identify with? todd | THOMAS JEFFERSON - I LOVE HOW HE COMBINED FUNCTION, BEAUTY AND INNOVATION. amy | I ADMIRE THE RANGE OF JOSEF FRANK - DESIGNING VERY STRUCTURED PIECES TO THE FLORA & FAUNA INSPIRED TEXTILES FULL OF COLOR AND WHIMSY.

which living designer do you most admire? todd | ANOUSKA HEMPLE AND MARK CUNNINGHAM. amy | HERVE VAN DER STRAITEN (FURNITURE), MARIA CORNEJO (FASHION).

what profession other than design would you like to attempt? todd | A VETERINARIAN. amy | MAKING THINGS WITH MY HANDS - FROM SEWING/WEAVING, TO COOKING, CERAMICS, ETC. LOVE THE INHERENT MEDITATIVE PROCESS THESE SKILLS  HAVE.

what is your greatest design extravagance? todd | SILK VELVET AND FRINGE...OH AND TOILE - LATELY. amy | THERE'S ALWAYS ONE ON EACH JOB - IT JUST DEPENDS. SOMETIMES IT’S THE STONE COUNTER TOPS AND SOMETIMES IT’S THE RUG! BUT EVERYONE HAS A GUT REACTION TO IT AND THE 'LET’S GO FOR IT' ATTITUDE!

when and where were you happiest with your design? todd | HASN'T HAPPENED YET. amy | WHEN THE PROJECT DOESN’T FEEL LIKE WORK ANYMORE.

what do you consider your greatest achievement in design? todd | MAKING DIFFICULT PEOPLE HAPPY WITHOUT FEELING LIKE I'VE SOLD MY SOUL TO THE DEVIL. amy | THE HONOR OF CONTINUING TO WORK WITH INTERESTING PEOPLE AND EXCITING HOMES.

if you died and came back as another designer or design object, who or what do you think it would be? todd | AN OLD WORN RUG... LOTS OF STORIES AND  UN-SELF CONSCIOUS. amy | A CHRISTIAN ASTUGUEVIEILLE PIECE.

what specific design related talent are you lacking that you would you most like to have? todd | I DON'T DRAW VERY WELL. amy | HONESTLY, I JUST WISH I COULD BE MY OWN HANDYMAN.

what is your most treasured design related possession? todd | I JUST BOUGHT A BEAUTIFUL MOBILE. FLOATING SHAPES - MADE OF THIN PLYWOOD AND PAINTED BLACK. amy | WILLIAM MORRIS WALLPAPER IN MY BEDROOM.

what do you regard as the lowest depths of misery in design? todd | PERGO. amy | LACK OF MOMENTUM IN THE PROJECT.

what curse word do you most frequently use? todd | I CAN'T' F'ING SAY IT. amy | DAMN IT.

what is your favorite design related word? todd | EASE. amy | TRANSPORTED, AS WHEN A ROOM TRULY MAKES YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE IN A DIFFERENT PLACE.

what is your least favorite design related word? todd | FABULOUS. amy | YUMMY.

what turns you on in design? todd | DEEP SIMPLICITY. amy | WHEN A SPACE IS BOTH UNEXPECTED & TIMELESS.

what turns you off in design? todd | GRANITE. amy | A 'SHOWROOM' VIBE.

what is your motto in design? todd | KEEP IT REAL. amy | BE OPEN & STAY CREATIVE EVERY DAY, AND TAKE A GOOD STEP BACK WHEN YOU NEED TO.

IMAGE CREDITS | Amy + Todd Headshot, Plein Air Seascape, Textile Gröna Fåglar 100 Linen, Josef Frank Headshot, Richard Saja Embroidered Toile, Jessica Light Kanazara Collection Fringe, Vintage Rug, Christian Astuguevieille Mirror, Nickey Kehoe Designed Venice Beach Residence, Amy Kehoe's William Morris Wallpaper.

Palette No. 9

For the specific fabrics used in Palette No. 9, please subscribe to CLOTH & KIND’s emails. Details for each textile are provided exclusively to my email friends. Happy Friday!

Fab Five: Fancy Feathers

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Winter III

Guest edited by Tami Ramsay

When I was in college, I loved to run along the side streets off Milledge Avenue in Athens, Georgia to take in the curb appeal of the all the little bungalows that dotted the way. I had no idea then that one of my favorite houses, a 1920s Tudor style stucco, would one day become a home for my family some 20 years later. One of my favorite visual vignettes about that particular house was its side porch which was beautifully flanked by a profusion of old fashioned pearl bush. It was a showstopper. By the time we bought the home, the owner, who I later learned had danced many a jig on that side porch, had suffered a long illness and ultimately died, and in the midst of that the home had fallen into a state of disrepair. The interior plaster walls and ceilings were badly cracked and crumbling, the exterior a long forgotten landscape having been overtaken by underbrush and bamboo, but the pearl bush remained a steadfast and bountiful bastion. That bush, along with the two mid-century brass and lucite light fixtures hanging from the barrel vaulted ceiling in the living room, had me at one foot in the front door. I bought the house on the spot.

Over the past few years, my design aesthetic with floral arrangements has gone the way of less is more with a keen appreciation for negative space. I find myself drawn to leggy stems, especially ones that lilt this way and that, and branches that that are gnarled and knotty, smacking of arthritic metatarsals. I am completely fascinated with the sense of movement created by those shapes and lines and the resultant dissecting and highlighting of the surrounding space. I recently discovered the beauty of charcoal and vermiculite, additives commonly used in terrariums as a soilless medium, but have been using them instead as elements in design. The charcoal, with its matte black and chipped face, is the perfect substrate and creates a fine gravel base from which these leggy stems emerge. A light sprinkling of coarse vermiculite, diamonds in the rough of the dark charcoal, add a nice touch of twinkle.

I especially love using vessels with a footed base to add height to an arrangement, and in this case, a milk glass chalice, to compliment the milky white pearl bush. Nestled in the corner of my mudroom, on the ledge of the original metal casement window, the pearl bush blooms march out along its branches, but unlike most plants, does so on old growth covered in dried pods from seasons past. For me, therein lies the beauty and wonder of the pearl bush. It reminds me that I need my past experiences, even the really hard ones, to inform the beauty of my new growth.

IMAGES | Floral styling, arrangements and photography by Tami Ramsay

Hue: Honey

Fabric: Indian Zag in Honey by Suzanne Rheinstein for Lee Jofa | Chandelier | Pillow | Bathroom | Wallpaper

India With Ace & Lotta

I lived in India for a year as a child and am fairly convinced that the entire experience had a rather profound effect on me,  instilling in me that irrational obsession for vibrant textiles with a global aesthetic. I have not been back there since I was in the third grade, but have long dreamed of the day I'd return. Truly, I thought it would happen before I had children but for one reason or another it never did. Michael and I had lots of other wonderful travel adventures during that time, but India wasn't one of them. For the last 5 years, I haven't ventured away from the kids for much longer than a few days at a time, and have always been within a quick plane ride home... nor would I have wanted to. Luckily, CLOTH & KIND has been instrumental in my life by helping to fill that international travel void. It has allowed me to spend my time dreaming about and posting on the very textiles and far-off locations that I hope to one day visit (again). However, I do believe the time has come to make my deep-rooted love of global travel spring back to life.

All of this is to say that when I saw the news of this journey to Jaipur, India with textile extraordinare Lotta Jansdotter and Angela Ritchie's Ace Camps there was this huge light bulb that went off in my head. I could actually do this! The kids are old enough... I have a wonderful and very capable husband and nanny who would easily be able to manage the kids... (I have intentionally not yet thought to how much I'd miss Alex & Tahlia, and for the sake of this fantasy I won't yet go there)... It's kind of the perfect time in CLOTH & KIND's  life cycle as well. The blog has grown into, dare I say, a somewhat well-known & respected design platform and my interior design business is actually more than I could possibly ask for, for which I am beyond grateful. So, yes, the timing is right and stars are aligned.

Now, if only I'm able to a) figure out how in the heck I'm going to pay for this and b) snag one of the coveted 10 spots. I'm already dreaming of the incredibly creative and talented people I'll meet on this trip. Will you be one of them?

Palette No. 8

For the specific fabrics used in Palette No. 8, please subscribe to CLOTH & KIND’s emails. Details for each textile are provided exclusively to my email friends. Happy Friday!

Andy Beers

ABOUT | Andy Beers & Cara Scarola are co-founders and principal interior designers at Ore Studios.

When my wife’s paternal grandparents sold the modern house they had built in the early1950’s just south of Seattle, we inherited a great deal of their mid-century furniture when no one else in the family wanted it. We were thrilled to get it, of course, seeing as it replaced a great deal of particle board and plywood we were living with at the time.

All of the furniture had been collected over a lifetime - nothing in the house was ever replaced in the 50 years my wife’s grandparents lived there. But the house had distinctly different décor throughout the decades, mostly because my wife’s grandmother sent things out to be reupholstered every 15-20 years.

Through photographs and family stories, we have deduced that the furniture we inherited is currently in its third incarnation. Sometime during the 70’s, all of the upholstery was sent out at the same time. A sofa (which we never owned) was covered in salmon colored cotton velvet, a large lounge chair was covered in a pink, green, and taupe velvet stripe, and three different Danish chairs were covered in a psychedelic floral just this side of tame.

When we got these floral chairs, I was definitely not enamored with the pattern, which is a woven design. Taking myself fairly seriously, I slip covered them in black. (This was during the time Cara and I were in design school). Once I got over myself, the covers came off. We’ve lived with this floral as the main pattern in our home ever since, and are quite fond of it. It reminds us of my wife’s grandmother, a ballet dancer and true aesthete.

But beyond sentiment, the fabric is also a daily reminder to me about quality in materials and lifecycle for home furnishings. Our furniture is sixty-plus years old, and the fabric is more than thirty. In an industry driven by aggressive consumption, textiles can be an enormous source of waste. Because of their inherent fragility compared to other components of an interior, they need to be replaced with more frequency than other things. But because there is also a particular degree of fashion related to fabric that changes faster than other surface materials, textiles are often discarded before they become obsolete.

When we’re specifying textiles, we think hard about lifespan and try to balance value with longevity. Good fabric is an investment worth making when you understand how to get the most use out of it - which relates not only to the technical qualities of different fibers, but also to aesthetics. These crazy green woven daisies remind me of that.

And as a final note, now that we’re firmly settled in Seattle and not moving in the foreseeable future, most of our furniture is finally being recovered again. One of these chairs was just repaired, refinished in a darker stain, and is about to be upholstered in an homage to my wife’s grandmother: another floral embroidery, but this time handmade, instead of machine-made, and a little more subtle in hue - dark brown to temper the sweetness of the embroidery’s subject material. My upholsterer is saving the daisies for me so I can have them made into cushions. ANDY

Cara Scarola

ABOUT | Cara Scarola & Andy Beers are co-founders and principal interior designers at Ore Studios. I tend to gravitate towards cool neutrals, so the vast majority of our home is done in gray, charcoal, and white.  I didn’t want the house to seem sterile and uninviting, so I felt it was important to introduce a textile that would lend the space both some warmth and an element of whimsy.  My husband and I have two small children, so our lifestyle is casual and often chaotic.  We love beautiful things, but because of the kids, function is of utmost importance.  As soon as our first child began to walk, we opted to get rid of our coffee table in favor of a slipcovered ottoman, which we had upholstered in this 100% linen print by Romo (that has since been discontinued) – soft corners to prevent injuries and easy washability for inevitable spills. We also had it made into a couple of throw pillows.

Andy and I are fans of Romo’s floral prints – fun, not overly feminine, and offered at a price point that is realistic for young families.  I like this particular print not only for its vibrancy, but also because it is equally appealing to adults and children – it doesn’t read as stuffy, but it also doesn’t scream playroom.

The ottoman is really the center of our living room – it serves a multitude of purposes: a surface to build legos, a place to put our popcorn on movie nights, a spot to spread out paperwork when doing the bills, etc.  Over time and with each washing, the fabric has become softer and a bit faded, but I have to say that I like these qualities – they’re indicative of all the time that we spend together as a family.  So, in this sense, this very basic piece of furniture and the textile that covers it have become somewhat sentimental to me – sort of silly for an ottoman, but it is what it is. CARA

paper-cut-project

Welcome to Curated. A new column featuring the art & artists of our time, guest edited by Tami Ramsay. I'm nothing short of totally blown away by the creative output from her first subjects, Nikki Nye and Amy Flurry of the paper-cut-project, and am certain you will be too...KRISTA

Evolution of talent is such a beautiful spectacle, albeit wrought with a myriad of growing pains and phoenix rising versions before landing at the right place at the right time. Timing helps for sure, but raw talent backed by sheer will and a completely unique spin, really seals the deal. This is especially evident in the case of Nikki Nye and Amy Flurry, the creative duo tour de force behind paper-cut-project.

Creating jaw-dropping art from paper is what these partners do, with unparalleled precision and vision. For those new to their handiwork, Nye, as lead designer, and her creative partner Flurry, create custom-made paper installations and sculptures that are fueled by a love of fashion and an appreciation for the grace and nuance of this humble material.

Build it and they will come has never been more true than in the case of Atlanta-based paper-cut project. Requests for custom, runway and private collections and installations have since come rolling in from the likes of Hermes, Cartier, Christie’s, The Victoria & Albert Museum, Jeffery, The Bay,Kate Spade, and Jen Kao. In their most recent project, Nye and Flurry created intricate wigs for mannequins as well as animal and nature scenes for REDValentino’s new flagship boutique on Corso Venezia in Milan. At once girly and fanciful, with a wink and nod to Victorian era aplomb, Nye and Flurry’s paper creations helped create a dreamy world of fairy tales for showcasing the Winter 2012/Spring 2013 fashion collection.

“This was certainly a "pinch me" moment,” Flurry said of she and Nye working with the creative team of a storied brand like REDValentino. “The inspiration that drove the fashion collection, characters frolicking in this dreamlike kingdom straddling reality and fantasy, was the same story they used to convey the direction for the wigs.” Getting from inspiration to final creation is quite a process though. “The pot of notions that needed to be stirred into one collection was quite full!” according to Nye. “The collection was meant to hearken a bit back to older Victorian-esque styles, though it had to be modern. There also needed to be a feminine aspect that was soft but also bold and adventurous.”  As you can see from the images in this post, just a few of my favorites from the REDValentino project, Nye and Flurry nailed it. Be sure to check out the entire series here as well as images of the boutique installation here.

I love the finished product but nothing thrills me more than a glimpse of how inspiration and concept, that alchemy of creativity, becomes a work of art. Because clients often come to paper-cut-project with a concept that is not fully fleshed out, “one thing we do understand is that our clients are looking for our interpretation of their idea, which is determined, in part, by the material we work with and by our particular point of view,” Flurry said. “We both bring to this project backgrounds in fashion.” Always though, the creative process begins with Nye sketching. “We iron out a final design with the client and, once that is approved, I as the lead artist will figure out how it needs to be constructed, from the base to the outer, finishing details, and will work on designs and elements that Amy and I can then both work on,” Nye explained.

These images share an intimate look at how Nye and Flurry work, the delicate nature of the material they work with, and the beauty of that process as captured by photographer Rinne Allen. Also, be at the ready for limited edition prints of their paper creations, available through paper-cut-project, in the very near future.

And since the world is their oyster, what other creative jaunts would this dream team like to see on their radar? On Nye’s list would be an installation for the Barneys New York holiday windows. For Amy, “We've long talked of doing a jewelry line - casting the paper pieces in precious metal - as guest designers for an existing fashion house. These situations do exist, right?!”

No matter how they slice it, paper-cut-project does it right. Eat your heart out Edward Scissorhands.

IMAGE CREDITS | REDValentino paper wig and animalia images courtesy of paper-cut-project | paper-cut-project process images courtesy of photographer Rinne Allen