As an interior designer, your office is your haven. A place where you can add a little style, a little clutter, and your must-haves to get through the day. Whether you sit in a classic office, or create an office space for yourself at home, you value your sacred workspace and appreciate it for all its function and quirks.

Michelle Beamer of MB Interiors

“Among the many things I can’t live without, I would have to say that my sketchbook is number 1. My husband and I recently re-did this little nook, built the desk and shelves, and I painted the “wallpaper” with gold paint. I love how it turned out and it’s a pleasure to work in a new space!”

Photo courtesy of Michelle Beamer

Pamela Sandall of Pamela Sandall Design

“It’s cluttered with my computer, catalogs, tile samples, client files and fabric swatches. Oh yes, and my cat!”

Photo courtesy of Pamela Sandall

Jesssica Tollman of Jessica Tollman Interiors

“I love the practicality of this antique gate leg farm table. At 30” high, the added height is perfection for using my computer (saves my back and my wrists!) and at 21” deep, it is narrow enough to live happily on a wall in our family room. Looking out the window is an added bonus – I draw so much inspiration from nature. I really can’t live without flowers or a plant on my desk, it just makes me about a thousand times happier while I work! Although, so do the little clay elephant and the perfect paperclip dish made by my daughter and son – I could never live without those either!”

Photo courtesy of Jesssica Tollman

Shelly Gerritsma of Canter Lane Interiors

“I can’t live without NPR streaming while I work. From Ted Radio hour to On Point, there’s always a great program to keep me going during a long work day.”

Photo courtesy of Shelly Gerritsma

Ricci Jackson of Your Design Partner

“My eyeglasses are always in arm’s reach. If I can’t see, I’d be afraid of what I might recommend. Every important and essential thing is on my laptop.”

Photo courtesy of Ricci Jackson

Monique Duarte of Duarte Decor

“My favorite/must haves on my desk are my iPad, iPhone, fabric swatches of the most recent design project I am working on, and my Self Mastery Cards. I read one every morning before I start my day!”

Photo courtesy of Andrew Thomas Clifton

Katherine Tincher of Katherine Tincher Design

“I can’t think without writing everything down, so there is always a constant rotation of sketches, lists and post-its on my desk. And the most important thing in my office is a giant whiteboard that is my master to-do list!”

Photo courtesy of Katherine Tincher

Are you an interior designer in search of an easy interior design software and project management tool to run your business? Learn more about Ivy here.

World traveler Aelfie Oudghiri, founder of Aelfie, designs and sells funky boutique home goods from her Brooklyn shop. As a well-informed home goods designer, Aelfie applies the influences of antique textiles, high fashion, youth culture and the history of decorative arts & crafts into her contemporary products. From rugs to trays, Aelfie sure knows how to create a piece that will catch your eye and make you smile.

Here, Aelfie shares her infatuation with textiles and home accents, experience collaborating with interior designers, and tips on how to choose the right rug.

Photography courtesy of Aelfie

Aelfie – how did you end up starting a rug company?

I started out selling vintage rugs that I had collected from my travels. From there, I was inspired to create my own designs.

Where and how did you develop a fascination for rugs?

I really fell in love with rugs on a family trip to Turkey when I was a teenager. I was just fascinated by the craft of weaving, it’s history, and the whole experience of haggling.

You collect both vintage rugs and create designs that you sell – what’s the inspiration behind your designs?

My inspiration comes from anywhere and everywhere, but most of the rugs are rooted in traditional symbology. I like to play with tradition, twist it, and make it contemporary and relevant.

How do you prepare for sourcing trips to destinations like India, Morocco and Turkey?

Shop for flowy, conservative clothing.

It’s been an exciting year for Aelfie, and you’ve been published many times. What are some projects that you’re particularly proud of?

We launched our first piece of furniture this year, the Mirah table, named after my daughter.

Which rugs are your best-sellers?

It can really vary but some of the best sellers and our favorites are the Saskia, Lounah, Zahra & Optik Black.

Tell us about your other products and home accents…

Why stop at rugs? It just felt like a natural progression. Our line now includes hand embroidered pillows, throws, bedding, and bone inlay furniture and accents.

How do you balance work life, being a mama, and making time for yourself?

I have a lot of help. Great employees, a really understanding and supportive partner, friends in the neighborhood who like to babysit, and family close by.

What has been your experience working with interior designers?

We love working with interior designers. They are some of our favorite clients. They understand the home decor world and actually make our job pretty easy since they usually have great taste and “get it”.

What are 3 tips of “best practices” to offer interior designers for choosing the right rug when decorating a space?

1. Start from the ground up. If you start with a rug you love, everything else can be built around that.

2. Go with your gut. Often times the first rug you are drawn to for the space is the one that you end up with.

3. Be bold. Try a color or design that might feel like a stretch. You’d be surprised how mixing bold patterns and colors can work out in unexpected ways.

Based on your knowledge of the industry, what trends are you forecasting for 2017 in regards to textile and rug styles, patterns, and colors?

Saturated colors, animals, and silks.

What’s next for Aelfie?

We are continuing to expand our rug collection with everything from solid rugs to more graphic plush styles. We are also working on some small furniture pieces, and new bedding which will launch this spring.

Are you an interior designer in search of an easy interior design software and project management tool to run your business? Learn more about Ivy here.

Hosted By: The Design Cure Academy

Watch this live demonstration to learn how to use Photoshop to create fast and professional looking 2D concept boards.

The Design Cure Academy discusses what you’ll need and tips of best practices to create a great looking 2D concept board from start to finish.

Are you an interior designer in search of an easy interior design software and project management tool to run your business? Learn more about Ivy here.

Designer Spotlight: Tammy Cody of Cody Design Studio – San Luis Obispo, CA

Loveridge Photography

I’m always a fan of long lasting and environmentally friendly materials, and I love that more are becoming available.

Loveridge Photography

Loveridge Photography

It’s important for me to learn the process of construction so that I can know what is possible when I propose a change in design.

Loveridge Photography

Loveridge Photography

Loveridge Photography

The beauty of fabric is the ability to create one-of-a-kind custom furnishings based on your client’s needs. However, custom comes with a high price, often limiting creativity and access to quality designs. Digital custom workroom Loom Decor is breaking this traditional industry standard, providing an online destination for high-end custom textile furnishings at an affordable price for designers, decorators and customers.

Loom Decor is on a mission to deliver custom home decor to the masses. With the help of our dear friend, modern technology, Loom provides access to user-friendly digital tools to visualize fabric on products, 400+ designer-quality fabrics, and dedicated Trade Stylists with up to 30% savings. Loom shares the state of the fabric and textile industry, dedicated services provided to interior designers and best practices for measuring and installing window treatments.

How does Loom work exactly?

Think of Loom Decor as a digital custom workroom. With our online design tool, you can create custom window treatments, pillows, bedding, table linens, and more with the click of a mouse. Starting with a blank silhouette or a design from our catalog, clients can choose from over 400 fabrics, select the perfect size, and even add trims and tapes. The image updates as you design and can be pinned to Pinterest, Houzz or a moodboard to help you and the client visualize. To order, you simply add to your cart and check out like a typical eCommerce store.

Each order is handcrafted by our Nashville-based workroom with over 20 years experience and ships in record time for custom goods – just 5 to 10 business days. We handle all of the logistics to make sure your piece is perfect and on time. Our designer clients say taking the vendor management off their plate is their favorite part of working with Loom!

We save designers around 30% versus their typical fabric showroom/workroom sources and are more affordable than fellow custom retailers.

Courtesy of Interior Define

Loom recently launched a new and improved website – how has this impacted the growth and success of your business?

The new site offers more robust customization options, like the ability to order window treatments to the ¼” and add trim options like tapes and cords.  And with real-time pricing and shipping information, designers don’t have to wait for a quote.  Plus, even the configurator is mobile-friendly, so you can design on the go.  In response, we’re seeing designers spec’ing larger projects through Loom, often a whole house’s worth of soft goods.

How does Loom manage to offer products at 30% less than typical designer resources?

We source directly from fabric manufacturers eliminating costly middlemen, optimize our manufacturing processes, and keep our business lean by doing as much as possible online.  As a result, we save designers around 30% versus their typical fabric showroom/workroom sources and are more affordable than fellow custom retailers.

Based on your knowledge of the industry, what are some modern day issues impacting the fabric and decor business?

One: custom is hot. Millennial homeowners are used to customizing everything: their coffee, iPhone case, car, shoes…they want the same personal touch in their home. Loom offers the same for home decor. We believe custom furnishings shouldn’t just be for the elite, but for the every-homeowner and the designers who serve them.

Two: faster trend cycles. These days, a fabric can show up on a design blog and three weeks later, it’s everywhere. In response, we’re now introducing more small collections throughout the year versus large seasonal collections.

How does Loom prepare for the holiday season?

Black Friday/Cyber Week is usually huge, as it’s our biggest annual sale. However, after Thanksgiving, most house projects go on hold until the New Year. So, we focus on reminding customers that our pillows and table linens are great for entertaining and gifts.

What are some of your best-selling fabrics and products? Who are the fabric designers to watch these days?

We are known for our quality window treatments, particularly roman shades and ripplefold drapery that you can’t get off the shelf.  For fabrics, our solid linens, especially soft colors like classic White, Dew, Smokey Quartz and Cameo, are consistently top sellers, particularly on drapery.  Trendy patterns like marble motifs and animal prints do well on pillows and shades. A rising star is our Shibori-style geometric, Pixel, and we can barely keep our banana leaf fabric, Belief It, in stock. But our internal favorite is our studded linen, Stud Muffin. It’s so hot!

We’re always excited when interior designers launch their own line, with Jeffrey Alan Marks, Madcap Cottage and Tobi Fairley, some of our recent favorites. Although we can’t always brand them as such, you’ll find some of their top sellers on our site or coming soon!

Loom Spring Collection

Loom helps designers streamline the design process, and is truly a great resource for both designers and homeowners – what are some unique benefits to the Loom Trade Program?

That’s so nice to hear!  Designers in our Trade Program receive an exclusive discount (which is automatically applied when ordering online), access to our archive of 4000 fabrics and the ability to order custom products not yet online.  Plus, each designer has a dedicated account manager, aka Trade Stylist, who provides window treatment expertise and can help assist in textile & product selection.

We’ll do whatever we can to save designers time and hassles when ordering custom!

How does Loom typically work with interior designers?

We assist in whatever way works best for each designer. Some prefer to order entirely online, and rarely call us.  Others rely on their Trade Stylist as an extension of their team, having her suggest fabrics, customize and put products in their cart, or coordinate measure and install appointments. We’ll do whatever we can to save designers time and hassles when ordering custom!

Photo by Tessa Neustadt, Design by Emily Henderson

What should interior designers learn and understand about fabric before sourcing items for their clients and projects?  

First, linen stretches. Most designers account for this when they order, but sometimes clients don’t get told to expect linen drapery to lengthen up to 2” as it hangs.  Second, don’t forget to account for special use cases – kids, pets and humid rooms like bathrooms can wreak havoc on textiles.  We suggest Sunbrella® for such cases—it’s not just for outdoor! You can literally pour bleach on a Sunbrella® fabric and the stain will come out while the color will stay.

Can you share 3 tips of best practices for interior designers in regards to measuring and installing window treatments?

We get this question a lot; check out our measuring guides to really get it right. Meanwhile, here are our top 3 tips:

1. Remember floors and windows are uneven, so measure each one individually and measure large windows on both sides and the middle to ensure a perfect fit.

2. Be sure to account for extra height and width when measuring. Drapery should be hung at least 8-12” outside the window frame to maximize light, and about 6-12” above the window frame to make the ceiling appear higher.

3. Always “train” window treatments after they are hung. To do this, close the drapery or pull up the shade and hand-press along the folds, almost like you are setting the crease in your bed sheets.

Photo by Nick McGinn, Design by April Bermudez

What’s Loom’s focus for 2017?

Product expansion!  We’ll be introducing bolsters, café curtains, valances, and accent furniture, in addition to adding new fabrics including sheers, more neutrals, and lots of green (thanks Pantone!).

Loom Decor Founders Nichole Ocepek and Ashley Baker

Are you an interior designer in search of an easy interior design software and project management tool to run your business? Learn more about Ivy here.

Designer Spotlight: Sadie Beachy of S. Flynn Designs, Kidron, OH

12Stones Photography

12Stones Photography

12Stones Photography

12Stones Photography

12Stones Photography

12Stones Photography

12Stones Photography

Want to know the secret to fancy schmancy bedding and a wonderful night’s sleep that doesn’t break the bank? Luxury bedding start-up Brooklinen shares their customer-raving formula for high-quality, fair cost bedding: Egyptian long-staple cotton, single-ply threads, 270+ thread count, and percale or sateen weaves. By cutting out the middleman and selling directly to the customer via Brooklinen.com, you no longer have to shop for your client’s duvet and sheet set at Bloomingdale’s.

Using Brooklinen bedding gives you as an interior designer a beautiful and comfortable canvas to build upon, add a few pillows and throws to create a textured, put together look. At the end of the day, you will be billing your clients for the re-design of their master bedroom, including a better night’s sleep as a bonus.

Brooklinen founders & bedding-whisperers, Vicki and Rich Fulop, share why interior designers love to use Brooklinen to furnish client bedrooms, their strategy to keep costs down, and the fundamental elements to great sheets.

Photography courtesy of Brooklinen

How is Brooklinen different than the other new bedding start-ups changing the bedding game?

Our quality! We spent over a year in R&D before we ever launched the brand to engineer the perfect sheets. They are completely customized to our design specifications from the cotton, to the weave, to the actual aesthetics, and there are settings in our finishing machinery that are completely custom to us, meaning other brands just won’t feel the same.

We’ve used that same R&D approach when developing new products, like our comforters and pillows, so that we can always innovate and offer the best product at the best price. And we have really cool mix-and-match functionality when you’re shopping the site – meaning that if want, you can mix and match our designs, which are all made to play well together, to style a set in a way that is very much your own.

Where we really do things differently is on the post-production front.

According to your research, why has luxury bedding historically been priced so high? How does Brooklinen manage to keep the costs down?

Historically, luxury bedding has been very expensive for a variety of reasons that fall into two general buckets: the production costs and the post-production costs. Production costs include materials and construction, while post-production includes everything else, i.e. a brick-and-mortar storefront in a prime location; selling at a department store (which needs a cut of the profits), licensing markups, and more. Thus, very broadly, high-end sheets are high priced because they are made from the best raw materials (long-staple cotton, for example), and because of their high post-production costs.

At the production front, our costs are effectively the same, if not higher, than the designer labels because we use long-staple cotton, construct our bedding using single-ply thread (which results in softer, smoother, and more durable bedding than multi-ply constructions and reflects true thread-count), and partner with leading factories in developed countries. This way, we use the highest-quality materials and craftsmanship, while manufacturing responsibly and sustainably.

Where we really do things differently is on the post-production front. The bulk of consumer sheet purchasing is still done in brick-and-mortar locations, which come with enormous markups. A brick-and-mortar storefront(s), especially in a prime location (the norm for a luxury brand), results in high rents and overhead fees. Selling at a department store adds cost as well, because the department store needs to cover costs such as rent and salaries, and make a profit. Finally, a brick-and-mortar brand also requires a distribution system (trucks, drivers, warehouses, etc.) to get the bedding to each of the stores and on the shelves.

Licensing and slotting fees, which are a little less obvious, add costs as well. Slotting fees ensure good shelf position and help a brand cut through the clutter in a department store. Licensing fees serve a similar function, wherein a bedding manufacturer can secure a designer-brand name license for their product to capitalize on the goodwill created by the designer brand. You’ve probably heard of this practice with sunglasses as well, where one company manufactures designer sunglasses for many brand-name designers via a license.

Cumulatively, these post-production costs add significantly to the price one pays for bedding without delivering additional value in terms of quality, design, or convenience.  Total mark-ups from the post-production side of the business are often in the range of 5-10x the costs of production.

We keep costs down and offer such competitive pricing by cutting out the middlemen and selling direct-to-consumer from our website. We don’t have a storefront or sell in department stores, so we don’t have the associated fees. We put as large a percentage of the cost of our product into the materials and construction of our sheets as possible, and operate on a trimmed-down, efficient supply chain so that we can offer our customers an exceptional product at a great price.

Interior designers love to use Brooklinen to furnish client bedrooms because of the quality, aesthetic, and great price for the quality of the product.

Walk us through the Brooklinen process, from thread to bed?

It actually starts before the thread – the raw material is the first step to sheet greatness.

1. Material. The raw material we start with is crucial because it’s the foundation –  every step in the sheet making process rests on the quality of material used to make the bedding. At Brooklinen, we use only long-staple cotton (“staple” is a term for cotton fiber) because the longer the staple, the softer and smoother the final product. Long-staple cottons are fine and strong, and can thus be spun into stronger, finer yarns, which in turn produce extremely soft and supple weaves. Shorter cotton fibers, or staples, can poke out of the weave, leading to a coarser, weaker fabric.

2. Ply. Sheets can be woven from single-ply or multi-ply threads, as mentioned above. We exclusively use single-ply threads, which can only be spun from long-staple cotton. Single-ply threads woven from long-staple cotton produce softer, longer-lasting sheets. Multi-ply yarns are a group of weaker fibers twisted together to create a false strength in one piece of thread. Mostly lower-grade, shorter-staple cottons are used to make multi-ply threads, which result in thicker, coarser and heavier sheets. Some manufacturers will also count each ply in one piece of thread to inflate thread counts, so confirming your sheets are made from single-ply yarns ensures that your thread count is as advertised, and works as a check to make sure high quality cotton was used in production. By using single-ply, long-staple cotton we are then able to construct our sheets using only 60 and 80 yarn-count threads, which are very fine and durable. The fineness of the threads strongly impacts the feel of a sheet. For example, picture the threads used to weave a burlap potato sack versus those used in a high-end business suit. As you can imagine, the fine threads used to create the suit result in a much smoother, lighter and softer fabric. The same applies to the sheets.

3. Thread count. Thread count matters, it’s just not the most important factor! But this is where it kicks in, because we’ve just made our threads, and now start the weaving process. Thread count is the number of threads woven together in a square inch of fabric. As the thread count rises, the fabric becomes softer, denser and warmer. Generally, the lower-end of thread count results in a lightweight, cool and crisp sheet, while the higher-end will be more tightly-woven, which means it will be a bit warmer, but also smoother and softer. However, anything below 250 may start to feel rough, and anything above 500 should be met with a heavy dose of skepticism as thread counts max out at 500 (thread counts advertised in excess of 500 are often misrepresented by manufacturers in order to trick customers, as they count not just each thread, but each ply spun together within each thread). Our Classic line is a 270 thread count, while our Luxe is a 480.

4. Weave. The weave of a fabric ultimately effects how it looks and feels, and is a matter of preference. Cotton sheets generally come in percale or sateen. The former, percale, is known as a “plain weave” – it’s a one-yarn-over and one-yarn-under weave that results in a matte finish with a cool, crisp feel. It’s especially perfect for the summer months or warmer sleepers. The latter, sateen, is a one-yarn-under and three-yarn-over weave. More thread surface exposed by this weave is what gives sateen its signature silky-soft feel and subtle luster. Sateen is usually more tightly woven and heavier in weight than percale, making it particularly sumptuous. It’s ideal for year-round comfort, and especially cozy in winter months. Our Classic collection is a percale weave, while our Luxe is a sateen. Finally, we use Osthoff Singe finishing machines that are made in Germany and widely considered the best in the industry. Our production team has over 100 years of combined experience and a manufacturing formula that gives out sheets a unique feel. Settings of the machinery are customized by each manufacturing team, which ensures no sheet can be made to feel exactly like ours.

The raw material is the first step to sheet greatness.

What makes Egyptian cotton so special?

Egyptian cotton is a long-staple cotton – that’s why it is so special!

In your opinion, how does quality bedding affect health and wellness?

Quality bedding has a major impact on health and wellness! We already know that lack of sleep leads to an increased risk of a huge host of health problems – everything from obesity to heightened levels of stress hormones to worse mood, lack of concentration, dull skin, and more; and we know that bedding is a key factor in how well you sleep.

Aside from generally feeling soft and comfortable on the skin, which is a must for good sleep (if you feel like you’re sleeping on sandpaper you’re going to be very tired the next morning), sheets play an important role in maintaining the ideal temperature for sleeping, which is key for regulating sleep. All things being equal, you need to be able to stay cool throughout the night in order to fall and stay asleep.

A high-quality cotton is both soft and breathable, which means air can pass through so you will be comfortable and unlikely to overheat, while a lower-quality cotton or a synthetic blend can feel soft, but will trap heat and over-insulate you. The result is that you’re more likely to wake up hot and clammy throughout the night. Thus, a quality set of sheets helps you avoid those pitfalls, and get better rest via throughout the night.

It’s still important to take other factors into account, i.e. avoiding electronics/lights in the bedroom (while sleeping), not drinking caffeine or alcohol close to bed time, setting your thermostat a bit lower than you would for daytime, but with all of those considered, quality bedding still plays a key role.

Brooklinen offers sheets, comforters and pillows.  What are some of your best-selling styles, colors and sets?

Our Hardcore Bundles are our most popular sellers, because with them you get a 7-piece set of sheets (1 fitted sheet, 1 flat sheet, 1 duvet cover, 4 pillowcases), plus the freedom to mix-and-match our color ways within the bundle to style them to your liking. The pieces in the set are also 25% less as a Hardcore Bundle than if you buy each item individually. Our Move-In Bundle works the same way and gives you everything you need in almost one-click – a comforter, two pillows, and the aforementioned Hardcore Bundle J.

All our colorways and styles do really well – we only sell a few patterns because we always want to keep our selection minimalist and curated, never overwhelming.

And then we very recently introduced our new candles that I am obsessed with, and limited-edition lambswool, baby alpaca, and cashmere throw blankets. They’ve already sold out in their first run! We’ll be restocking them for winter though.

What kind of customer feedback have you been receiving?

Our customer feedback has been fantastic and informative, and we listen and collaborate with our customers and community! For example, we were hearing that it was easy for pillows to slide out of traditional pillow cases, so we developed an envelope fold for ours to keep them in place.  Customers suggested that we put “long-side” and “short-side” tags on our fitted sheets to make it easy to know which end went where when making the bed, so we implemented that too!

How does Brooklinen typically work with interior designers?

Interior designers generally come to us and purchase bedding directly for their clients. They’re tastemakers and always the first to know about great new products and brands, and fortunately they quickly discovered and embraced us!

Why would an interior designer want to furnish a client’s bedroom with Brooklinen bedding?

Interior designers love to use Brooklinen to furnish client bedrooms because of the quality, aesthetic, and great price for the quality of the product. They want to provide their clients with high-end, luxurious bedding that feels great, and then from an aesthetic perspective, they have the freedom to play and do a minimalist, clean look in a room because our designs are primarily solid colors and stripes, grids, and polka dots, or use the sheets as a canvas to build on, via colorful throws and pillows, textures, etc., for a look that is more bohemian or layered. So we give them great materials to work with, and they take them and run with their creative visions.

What’s next for Brooklinen?

We have some really exciting ideas and launches in the works for next year, you’ll have to stay tuned to see!

Are you an interior designer in search of an easy interior design software and project management tool to run your business? Learn more about Ivy here.

Brooklyn-based wallpaper and fabric company Eskayel is a firm believer in sourcing and producing locally. Using a mindful production process, Eskayel provides jobs to their local community, reduces their carbon footprint, and donates sales to 1% for the Planet.

Here, Founder Shanan Campanaro shares the Eskayel production process, the enjoyment of collaborating with interior designers, and best practices for choosing the right wallpaper and fabric for a space.

Photography courtesy of Eskayel

How did you get where you are today?

I am from San Diego, CA, by way of Art school in London.  I went into graphic design in fashion out of school and moved into the Home sector when I started Eskayel.

How does being based in Brooklyn influence your designs?

Brooklyn is a great place to be connected with other designers and it’s an easy place to build a social network and support system of like-minded creative entrepreneurs.

What’s the Eskayel wallpaper and fabric production process like? In what way are you mindful to the environment? 

All of our production facilities are based in the North Eastern United States and are small family-run operations. Sourcing product locally minimizes pollutants due to transportation while supporting local jobs and economy. It also makes communication easy and personal, encouraging a continuing dialog about important issues like eco-friendly innovation.

All our products are made to order with no minimums. In this way, we reduce waste by making just enough for each order and we are never left with extra unsold stock that might go to waste.

As a member of 1% for the Planet, Eskayel gives 1% of its sales to a global network of non-profit organizations that are dedicated to protecting our big blue planet.

What are some spaces featuring Eskayel designs that you are particularly proud of?

We were excited that two hotels unveiled their new rooms this year with our product. One is The Thompson Hotel Nashville, with rugs we designed in every room.  Rugs are a fairly new category for us and we were very pleased to showcase them in this property. And the second is the Four Seasons Maui, which has one of our patterns on the headboard fabric and another pattern on pillows in each room.

You were honored by In Her Company, a campaign celebrating the power, impact and creativity of 30 inspiring women – what was that like?

It’s really surprising when you actually realize people are paying attention to your message and what you are doing.   It felt really nice to be able to realize that through such an honor and not just through sales numbers ☺.

Based on your knowledge, how was the use of wallpaper and fabric changed over time?

Well, it used to be a really toxic industry and everything was made of Vinyl.  Now, there are many new ways to print and more eco-friendly alternatives.  There was a time, too, when wallpaper design seemed antiquated or retro – but there are so many new designers working with the medium. Wallpaper is experiencing a sort of renaissance right now.

Who are some other wallpaper and textile designers you admire?

I really admire Porter Talelo’s hand painted papers. I also really love Fort Makers hand painted bold textiles.

What are some of Eskayel’s best-sellers? How are you designs most commonly used in a space?

Our best selling wallpapers are probably Galileo glass, Dynasty and the Akimbo greyscale wallpapers. Fabric is a little different but those patterns are also popular.

In your opinion, what’s the most essential element to a room?

For me it’s a sense of space.  Whether you want the space to feel large and airy, or cozy and womb-like, you have to start with how you want it to feel.

How do you typically work with interior designers? What do you enjoy about it? What are some of the complications?

The easiest way we work with designers is by simply providing samples and having them purchase from our existing selection. I am not very involved with that process once I finish a collection of designs.

But, I do work a lot with designers on custom color, custom scale or custom artwork for wallpaper and fabrics. Our rugs are very customizable and I work very closely to sample and produce custom rugs for clients. It can be a really long process as well as a complicated process just by the nature of the different techniques that can be used to make a rug.

Can you offer 3 tips of “best practices” to interior designers for choosing the right wallpaper or fabric when decorating a space?

1. Go with your gut or what first comes to mind – overthinking can make a design feel too tight.

2. Mix it up – mixing colors and patterns is not just OK, it’s very good.

3. Don’t go too crazy with paint colors – it’s much more fun to introduce color through textiles or rugs.

Are you an interior designer in search of an easy interior design software and project management tool to run your business? Learn more about Ivy here.

Photography courtesy of Shelly Gerritsma