Clay McLaurin

Hi. I’m… Clay McLaurin Todd Piercy

Our company is… Clay McLaurin Studio

We’re the… Clay: Creative Talent Todd : Numbers Genius

We make/design/create… Clay McLaurin Studio is a line of printed textiles for interiors.  Each pattern is painted by hand then printed onto beautiful Belgian linen or 100% cotton fabrics.  The collection is inspired by our travels and love of nature whether it be an object found on the coast of Maine or a textile technique learned while visiting Japan, to the tranquil hillsides of Spain.

Something you need to know about me is… Clay: I am a nature admirer.  I love taking walks through gardens, exploring woods or hiking a mountain.  I am constantly mesmerized by the beauty of our natural world.

Todd: I’m a closeted mixologist. When I'm home and find time behind our bar, I transform into this Mad Scientist of molecular libations. The drink of the moment?  The 316: The Botanist Gin, Lime, Absinthe and a good quality tonic.

Here’s how this company came to be… Clay:  Todd and I both have southern roots so when we moved from our NYC digs back to the South we realized this was a perfect opportunity to start the collection.  Ever since I studied fabric design at the University of Georgia. I've always wanted to own my own textile line.  Over the years, I've been collecting ideas and information from various jobs I've had until one day I realized I'm not getting any younger.  Both Todd and I bit the bullet, and we haven't looked back.

My absolute favorite thing we sell right now is… Clay:  This is a hard one as everything still feels so new, but if I had to choose, I would choose one of the patterns that surprised me most, Wave in Tahoe.  For many months I saw a small 8"x8" piece of this fabric.  Recently I was able to view 3 yards of it, and I was blown away by the movement, scale and color - something I didn't notice when looking at such a small swatch.  It's been a lot of fun to see the yardage for each fabric.

Todd: I am really surprised the impact Medallion has when it is printed in yardage. On a trip to visit our sewer, he had 5 yards in Peony rolled out on the table. That was the first time I saw this design, and it was a moment I won’t forget.

Here’s a sneak peek of something we’re working on now… Clay: We're currently working on a custom design for a client and we're calling it Weeping Willow.  We'll be adding it to our line soon.  We named it Weeping Willow as it brought back a childhood memory of mine.  When I was about eight, I "married" a friend of mine under the neighbors weeping willow tree!

I’m most proud of… Clay: The fact that we're doing this together and making it happen!  It's been a long time coming… Todd: Watching our ideas and thoughts come to life.

I really detest… Clay: Stapling tags to memos! Todd: Wasting fabric! What do you do with 3" strips of beautiful textiles?

I could never have done it without this person… Clay:  I have to say my grandmother, Mama Lena (as her grandchildren called her).  To others, her name was Elena.  She's had a huge influence on my childhood.  She taught me to appreciate nature.  I learned to garden from her.  She had a keen eye, was a master gardener and award winning floral arranger.  I look back at some of her arrangements and stare in awe.  She instilled in me quality in good design.  Elena, a large floral pattern, is named in her honor.

Todd: Hearing Clay speak about his dream for several years motivated me to spearhead this to reality. What comes out of his creative brain cells? Well…it’s pretty amazing.

I consistently read these for inspiration… Clay: The World of Interiors,Remodelista, Lonny, Cloth & Kind, The Sartorialist, John Derian, Hugo Guinness, Susan Hable's watercolors, Elle Decoration, Ellsworth Kelly Plant Drawings, 101 cookbooks

Todd: The New Yorker, Man of the World, Esquire, Bearings Guide, The Drunken Botanist, GOOD Magazine, Anchor Division, NY Times Mag

I would like to share the limelight with… Clay:  Jane Sisco, creator of beautiful, bold, dynamic screen-printed fabric for the apparel market.  She's always been an inspiration and friend who will listen.

Todd: Bungalow Classic in Atlanta. Randy and Courtney Tilinski, the owners of a boutique furniture company, have an eye for well-designed and handcrafted furniture.  They are creative, calm, and the most productive duo I have met.

IMAGE CREDITS | All images courtesy of Clay McLaurin Studio except for the Bungalow Classic image which came from their website.

Angie Hranowsky

what is your idea of perfect design happiness? WHEN I’M IN THE MOMENT AND MY MIND IS RACING WITH IDEAS.

what is your greatest fear in design? I TRY NOT TO GET CAUGHT UP IN FEAR. I CHOOSE TO TRUST IN MY ABILITY AND KEEP MY MIND AND HEART OPEN.

which historical design figure do you most identify with? GIO PONTI.

which living designer do you most admire? MURIEL BRANDOLINI. SHE’S BRILLIANT.

what profession other than design would you like to attempt? ARCHITECT.

what is your greatest design extravagance? DESIGNING FOR MYSELF.

when and where were you happiest with your design? ANYTIME I HAVE A JOB AND A CLIENT THAT CHALLENGES AND INSPIRES ME AND ALLOWS ME THE OPPORTUNITY TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX.

what do you consider your greatest achievement in design? CHOOSING TO FOLLOW MY HEART AND MAKE THE TRANSITION FROM GRAPHIC DESIGN TO PURSUE INTERIOR DESIGN... AND CONTINUING TO BUILD ON MY SUCCESS OF THAT DREAM.

if you died and came back as another designer or design object, who or what do you think it would be? A CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI SCULPTURE.

what specific design related talent are you lacking that you would you most like to have? THE ABILITY TO DRAW ARCHITECTURAL PLANS.

what is your most treasured design related possession? MY COLLECTION OF ARTWORK AND POTTERY.

what do you regard as the lowest depths of misery in design? THE LACK OF INSPIRATION IN DESIGNING FOR THE MASSES.

what curse word do you most frequently use? FUCK.

what is your favorite design related word? MODERNISM.

what is your least favorite design related word? GLAMOUR.

what turns you on in design? NONCONFORMITY.

what turns you off in design? UNORIGINALITY.

what is your motto in design? BE AUTHENTIC.

//

ABOUT PROUST ON DESIGN | Answered by our design icons, these must-ask questions come from a 19th century parlor game made popular by Marcel Proust, the French novelist, essayist & critic. Proust believed the direct questions and honest responses that they elicited revealed the true nature of the individual. For this column, we have put a design related spin on the traditional questions. While this method has been used by many journalists throughout the years, we were primarily inspired by The Proust Questionnaire, which appears monthly on the back page of one of our all time favorite magazines, Vanity Fair (also Krista’s alma mater). Read all of the previous Proust on Design questionnaires here.

Peony

Another wonderful dining room project we're working on is turning out to be so fun & lovely. This Robin Gray Peony rug, paired with a couple of killer fabrics from TylerGraphic and voila. It's all coming together.

Shay Carrillo // NPG

Hi. My name is… Shay Carrillo.

My company is… non-perishable goods.

I’m the… Owner/designer.

I make/design/create… Home and tabletop accessories, and accessories for child and woman.

Something you need to know about me is… This is a tough one as I am a culmination of so many things - my life/past experiences, my family, love for color/texture/handwork, I guess the list goes on!

Here’s how this company came to be… npg was born from the need to create napkins for my kids’ lunches for school.  Wanting to eliminate the everyday use of paper, I made up some simple linen napkins with finished edges… they became everyday napkins, today our top seller!  Over time I began creating and adding to the mix.

My absolute favorite thing we sell right now is… Clutches!  They are made with vintage textiles and leather, I feel they are an incredibly sophisticated yet rustic product.

Here’s a sneak peek of something we’re working on now… We will be excited to share some new products that we are developing using vintage kanthas.

I’m most proud of… I am truly proud of working along side many amazing people and particularly many amazing women, many of them mothers. Firstly, my right hand lady, Elizabeth Baena, whom I truly could not run my business without. We collaborate so well together and together are taking NPG to a new place that is super exciting. Elizabeth and I share a passionate love for handmade vintage textiles and this is our place of connection. She also brings all of her past design & production experience to npg- she is invaluable. I am also incredibly proud that we keep our larger production local with the help of Spooltown. Local photographer Leah Verwey currently shoots all of our photography.

I really detest… Trying to balance owning a small business, being a mom, and a good partner are all challenging… but I can’t say I detest any of it!

I could never have done it without this person… I couldn’t have done this without the tremendous support of my husband & family.

I consistently read these for inspiration… Pinterest, Instagram, many small independent designers, roost blog, NY Times style magazine. Inspiration comes from a lot of places for me-my children, cooking, travel, interacting with other local designers and artists.

I would like to share the limelight with… There are so many, but one designer that truly inspires me at the moment is Beatrice Venezuela. Her aesthetic and way of living are akin to my own. It is empowering to see others striving to live a beautiful, rich yet simple and heartfelt lifestyle.

Applique from Holland & Sherry

We are total and complete suckers for the littlest of details, which is why we are big old fans of the Holland & Sherry showroom. They carry so many of our favorite to-the-trade lines, plus their own line is divine. Like the exquisite Nara applique shown above - how amazing is this?!

We are also immensely appreciative of the fact that their website (relaunched and improved as of today) shows such incredibly detailed photos of each textile. It's this kind of attention to detail, both in their product and in the care they have taken to put together such a fantastic online resource that differentiates them from the rest and keeps designers like Tami and me coming back over and over again. Oh, and we also just adore our rep in Chicago - Michael Madalinski (hi, Mike!)

Who else out there in the design world is doing a great job at the tiniest of details? There are many, we know, and we'd love to hear your input.

Palette No. 22

For the specific fabrics used in Palette No. 22, please subscribe to CLOTH & KIND’s emails. Details for each textile are provided exclusively to our email friends. Happy Friday!

Neisha Crosland

This image says it all. We simply adore Neisha Crosland and all of her work, including her new cushions (...that's over-the-pond speak for pillows, don't cha know?!) Are you a Neisha lover too?

Concrete Cat

We adore our Instagram and are constantly finding new and interesting things from friends who share little bits of lovely from their worlds with each click of their smart phones. Case in point... these Concrete Cat pieces that we spotted from Joe and Parrish of Harbinger via their Instagram feed.

We're itching to use these in a design project soon. In the meantime, head over to Harbinger to see if you can score one for yourself. We hear they fly out of the store, so brace yourself for a wait. All good things do require a bit of patience, don't they?

Weeping Willows

We're working on what is shaping up to be quite the incredible dining room, and it all started with Katie Leede's Weeping Willows fabric which is going to be paperbacked and put up into panels on the walls - gorgeous! This is going to be one for the books .

Hecho A Mano

ABOUT | Aside from being one of my best friends on this planet, Rasheena Taub is a woman who has a profound way with words and rich understanding of the human spirit. In her first guest post on CLOTH & KIND, she shares the story and images of her recent trip to Peru and the loving art of creating mantas textiles by hand, hecho a mano. This fall, Rasheena will launch Kickstand Collections, an online resource for parents seeking more personalized collections of children’s books and souvenirs.KRISTA

I blame the elevation for my oversight in grabbing water bottles "con gas" at a small market on our way from the Cusco airport to the Sacred Valley. My nine year-old, who was newly exposed to Sprite, delighted in hydrating with a bit of bubbly. Our tour guide seemed less pleased. After twisting his bottle’s plastic cap off, he poured a healthy sip onto the ground. But then he chugged the rest. “Does it taste ok?” I questioned before committing to mine. “Si. That was for Pachamama.”

It turns out Spanish was not the native language of indigenous Peruvians – Quechua is. And in this ancestral language, Pachamama means “Mother World” or, as we know her, “Mother Earth.” Daily worship of their goddess of harvest and fertility includes this ritual of spilling a small amount of one’s drink onto the floor before drinking the rest -- a personal gesture of gratitude directed at feeding and giving back to the land that takes care of us. I tried not to think about our water bottles piling up in some landfill.

In the small town of Chinchero where we stopped en route to the Sacred Valley, we learned just how Pachamama and the Peruvians take care of each other. Sundays usher in busloads of tourists to experience the market, but this weekday afternoon our van was the sole vehicle in sight. We felt transported into a centuries-old way of living. Free from tourists, the town itself resembled an unoccupied Epcot country with souvenirs lining storefronts on the cobblestone road. Our tour guide led us to the front door of a local family. When no one answered his repeated knocking, he turned around and tried the neighbor’s house. A wooden arrow overhead had the words “Ayni Ayllu” painted onto it. We lucked upon a cooperative of women who thread traditional culture into their goods and weave their way into the modern world of commerce.

A man, disrupted from siesta, descended from an upstairs room and greeted us. He then swiftly left us in the care of two women who welcomed us into their courtyard. In its center stood a working loom. As a writer, I am drawn to storytellers. These women understood their history and the importance of it, and they sought to preserve it by mentoring their children and educating tourists like us. They were also artisans, taking great pride in their handiwork and personal expressions of an ancient Andean art. A girl my seven year-old son’s age quietly fed guinea pigs while her mother set up a display of wicker bowls that held her show-and-tell. We were invited to learn how their most important textiles, mantas, are made. Symbolic and functional, mantas are the long weavings that women wear on their backs to carry babies and items such as food.  Distinctions in pattern and color identify the community in which it is created.

Did I mention yet that Chinchero perches at 9,000 feet? We sipped coca tea and staved off altitude sickness while the women washed dirty sheep’s and alpaca’s wool with soap made from the root of a local plant. This natural detergent is also used as shampoo for their long, braided hair. Lack of oxygen may have something to do with my imagining these women in a detergent commercial where their strands of glistening white wool triumph alongside the unnamed leading detergent and an article of clothing still visibly stained.

My children loved the next step, which involved spinning the wool into yarn on small toy-like drop-spindles. We’d see women around town that afternoon multi-task as women are prone to do: conversing, walking and spinning wool. In retrospect, I’m not sure how I thought color thread was created in this remote region. Again, they turn to the earth for resources. Hand-gathered natural ingredients such as leaves, corn, flowers, sticks and seeds produce different hues for the dyes. Salt and lemon alter the shades of colors drastically. Even cochineal, a small beetle that lives on the local pear cactus, is crushed to create a red dye. This same pigment adorns women’s lips and cheeks as make-up.

The women boiled water in large, Strega Nona-like vessels and then added the desired dyes. They dipped single-ply yarn into the pots for varying lengths of time. The longer the thread soaked in the dye, the more intense its color. My kids grew bored of the demonstration. My husband refocused them on the tables of mantas, sweaters, dolls and pouches for purchase.  He knows me well enough to know that I was staying put for as long as they’d have me.

The gorgeous yarns then had to be rinsed and hung to dry, all before being spun again to create thicker ply for weaving. Thankfully, balls of yarn crowded a woven basket near the working loom. We were good to go (not out the door, but toward the loom!). My son remarked that the simple loom, with its two upright poles and cross bar, resembled the top half of a field goal. He was right to be thinking of sports, since the two women tossed the yarn back and forth to thread the loom, creating a reversible textile.

A weaver’s story, though, is told in most detail on an individual loom. Designs depicting natural elements such as rivers or mountains, stripes of varying thickness and color, and even animal figures emerge from the weaver’s mind. During Incan times, textiles commemorated personal milestones and peaceful offerings while representing basic beliefs and values of their makers. Even now, hundreds of years later, you get the sense that whatever a woman is feeling – whether longing or love or loss, she is expressing this through her choice of color and is identifying with Pachamama’s serenity, strength and survival.

On the afternoon we spent in Chinchero, women gathered to weave in the town’s center and on a patch of grass beside the cobblestone road. Some removed their shoes, made out of recycled tires, and used their toes to hold the yarn. Others worked dutifully on backstrap looms designed for individual use. I envied these creative women for having their community within arm’s reach. Mine is dependent on email, phone calls and care packages. I missed my girlfriends, the ones who value the importance of making something with your hands, who turn hardship into something artful and beautiful, who own their power and use it for a greater good, who get that once you share your story, your few drops of water on the ground, you share yourself with the world, and in doing so, you are sustaining it.

IMAGE CREDITS | All photographs taken by Rasheena Taub.