designer's notebook - from founder Anki Spets

When it comes to our wool blankets and clothing, we prefer baby alpaca over other types of wool. The term "Baby Alpaca" refers to the grading of the fineness of the fiber. It’s the softest part of an adult Alpaca (usually the chest), not the age of the animal. Why we choose baby alpaca.  Alpaca fleece is soft and silky. It is lighter...

it's that time of year when you cannot have enough blankets. it's hard to pick favorites, but this season's best 3 are ELLIOT, WILLIAM and OLIVER. ELLIOT Our most elegant blanket, ELLIOT is refined, super-soft and lightweight yet still warm. The color combinations are sublime - a dyed color mixed with original shades of the fiber. Available in six colors,...

In this post, I share my process for designing a new product. For the current fall/winter season, I knew I wanted to create a new cotton jacquard pattern. I began my design process by establishing a few basic parameters. I wanted to: Riff on Art Deco or Wiener Werkstätte motifs (Maybe) name the pattern FRANK, if I could invent a...

By now it's no secret I'm from Sweden. While soon I'll have been a New Yorker longer than I lived back home, most of my inspiration —why I do what I do and even how I do what I do — is still rooted in Sweden. Just walking the streets of Stockholm, I find motivation in the architecture: in the...

Aside from just walking around and finding Stockholm’s quiet, tucked-away neighborhoods without shops — yes, there are still a few! — and always pausing to take in each block's hidden architectural moments, here’s my short list of places I like to visit — over and over again. #1 SVENSKT TENN. Josef Frank textiles at SVENSKT TENN in Stockholm. You can...

This May the VoyageLA staff interviewed textile designer, Anki Spets, about the how AREA got started in 1990 and how it's grown since. Anki provided some great insight into the joys and difficulties of starting a business. "Being an outsider is sometimes good, I did not second guess the idea to start a textile design company and think my informal...

Summer is nearly here and that means warm weather. Our collection of linen bedding and clothing will keep you cool.  1. BREATHABLE The weave in linen allows more airflow and won't cling to your skin. Louie linen bedding 2. LIGHTWEIGHT AND ABSORBENT Moisture is absorbed and evaporates quickly. Linen can absorb 20% of its dry weight before giving a feeling of being...

The main thing is to always remember not to take ourselves too seriously. We make great sheets that sure, are very useful. Importantly, it has to be fun!2006 was a big year for creativity and growth. We came out with Heather Grey and Heather Natural, undoubtably some of our best fabrics that still are so relevant and build the foundation...

Introduced in 1995, our Speed Rail bed was made of aluminum scaffolding pipes and fittings from the local hardware store, Metropolitan Lumber in Manhattan's Soho. Pictured here is the Speed Rail bed in our Varick Street showroom (left) and featured in a home from Architectural Digest magazine in 2002 (right). In the early days of AREA, we had no bed...

Printed fabrics were the very beginning of AREA. They have changed over time but the techniques and how Anki designs them are still the same. Here you can see the steps in design - in this case, linen/cotton blend table top items from 1998-99. Anki made the original print for the circles pattern below by hand printing on a small...