This time I wanted to design something bold but versatile that could transition in and out of the bedroom. The new coverlets, SQUARES and NATURE, are soft enough to sleep with, but also sturdy enough to be used as sofa covers, on a table, or brought to the park and beach. They are large scale prints. The coverlet itself is a soft lightweight cotton canvas, sturdy but not stiff, made to last. To emphasize the many uses of these covers they come in matching tote bags that are cut of the same fabric.
The digital large scale printing technique used makes it relatively easy to do these type of prints with no repeat, every bed is the design in its entirety.
SQUARES
For this design, I cut squares in a range of sizes out of colored card stock with an x-acto knife and played around with combinations. I wanted to keep the hand-made feel by cutting the squares slightly irregularly, which you can still see on the coverlet itself. Once I cut out the pieces, putting together SQUARES was like doing a puzzle. There are 16 different squares made of 8 colors, including a white base color.
The eight colors originally used in the design. The tones changed later in the process, as colors are very different on paper than fabric.
As you can see, I played around with using different sizes and shapes before settling on the specific pattern.
An example of a finished square.
Purchase SQUARES here.
NATURE
For this one, I wanted to do a contemporary adaptation and continuation of one of the patterns in the very first AREA collection, below.
We've never done traditional florals, but throughout the years I've made a few designs that are clearly natural in inspiration. For this one, I wanted to continue the high contrast, free flowing graphics of the 1990s design, but make it a bit easier and more casual.
I painted with a brush and black gauche, which is a very meditative and pleasant activity.
This was my setup.
I lightly sketched out the design with pencil finding the rhythm and the ideas that shaped the pattern. The brush strokes is what gives it the definitive style I was looking for.
and here is the final artwork I sent to the factory scale is about 1:5,
Instead of black and white like the original 1990s design, NATURE is navy blue and off-white for a softer, more complimentary appearance that doesn't feel quite so graphically strong.
