At Spaces we’re finding that “green” is no longer a recurring story thread – it’s becoming fundamental. Our impact on the earth is a deeply resonant issue, with architects, builders, designers, and scientists leading the way for the next generation of sustainable products and homes. As Bruce Mau of Bruce Mau Design said to a rapt audience of his peers at a green design conference last year, “Almost all of life experience is a design experience. There is no edge to nature – there is one nature, and we’re in it.” He went on to note that the dwindling amount of space and natural resources are a fine challenge that may be addressed by one seemingly boundless resource – human innovation. 

Bruce Mau

The speech had a lasting effect on me. I wrote about it in our green issue this time last year, and as we finalized our upcoming Fall issue (a pretty impressive gallery of well-executed green principles; on newsstands this Friday), those thoughts recurred. One of the more elegant and interesting concepts Mau discussed was biomimicry, an arm of science that looks at how other organisms solve problems we humans keep stumbling over. The key to the process: Designers and biologists brainstorming at the same table.

Although I’ve never had one myself, I’ve always loved old-fashioned quilts. They make a bed so yummy-looking. Once I considered taking a quilting class to try to make a quilt out of all my old T-shirts, but sadly, it didn’t pan out.

So it’s a good thing that talented artists such as Denyse Schmidt are out there, sewing the most gorgeous and colorful quilts. One of her lines, Couture Quilts, says it all. And to top it off, they are made for her by Amish ladies in Minnesota.

Along the lines of my failed T-shirt idea, Schmidt handles custom designs like this one for her friend Wendy, who wanted a quilt made from the dresses her grandmother hand-sewed for her as a child.

Or this one, made from dozens of old ties from a customer’s husband.

Schmidt was recently honored with perhaps her greatest custom order of all – a commission from the Philip Johnson Glass House organization, located in Connecticut at the 47-acre site of the famed architect’s most notable creation.

Schmidt is one of many artists and designers who have been asked to create products for Glass House Commissions, which sells limited editions of each design to raise money for the organization. The commissions are part of the Glass House’s overall mission is “to become a center-point and catalyst for the preservation of modern architecture, landscape, and art, and a canvas for inspiration, experimentation, and cultivation honoring the legacy of Philip Johnson.”

If you love Schmidt’s quilts as much as I do, and you have more motivation than I could muster with my T-shirts, you can go to one of her workshops in Connecticut this fall and let her help you make your own.

There might be a trend afoot here. Last summer’s Design Star winner on HGTV, Kim Myles, was a hairstylist by trade before winning her own show on that network called “Myles of Style” and becoming a major design celebrity.

Meanwhile, hairstylist Heidi Johnston of Warrenton, VA, was posting images of her DIY decorating on HGTV’s “Rate My Space,” and becoming a minor celebrity under her screen name, hpj185.

Her spaces have received tens of thousands of visitors who have posted hundreds of gushing comments about her elegant style. So we decided to take a virtual visit to her Warrenton home and talk some shop.

So, what is it about hairstylists who have great decorating and design sense? “It’s all creative,” says Johnston, who has owned The Secret Garden salon in Warrenton for 21 years. “You’re really kinda working with fabrics either way, whether it’s hair or upholstery.”

Johnston and her fiancé moved into a new home last October, and like her previous home that had gotten rave reviews on Rate My Space, she decorated the new one within three months. Here’s how she did it:

The Kitchen
Johnston hated the dark cherry cabinets in the home’s kitchen, and set about immediately to change them. Refacing turned out to be almost as expensive as replacing the cabinets, so she turned to decorative painter Cindy Mueller, who painted and glazed them to give the space a French Country look. “That, to me, single-handedly transformed the house,” she says.

The big retail news this week is that Pier 1 Imports made an unsolicited bid to buy Cost Plus World Market in a deal worth $88.4 million. Wall Street analysts are mostly down on the idea, but style-wise, it makes perfect sense.

Both companies have a strong Asian/Polynesian feel, with unexpected delights popping up now and again that don’t always fall into that category. Walking through Pier 1 or World Market always yields cool discoveries.

High-end designers are not above using them, either: Kenneth Brown used a World Market screen in a family room he designed for a Los Angeles music industry executive, which was featured on his HGTV show. Thom Filicia of Bravo’s Queer Eye fame used to be the spokesperson for Pier 1. Pier 1 also offers discounts for interior designers.

So, let’s compare:

World Market has these great Thai floor cushions

And Pier 1 has these colorful damask throw pillows

World Market has a strong, contemporary picnic table:

And Pier 1 has these sweet rockers:

World Market has a lovely outdoor pitcher and glasses,

Which would go great with Pier 1’s outdoor tableware:

World Market offers a beautiful Honeycomb screen,

While Pier 1 has a louvered Plantation screen:

World Market has a handsome round rattan vase

And Pier 1 sells a jaunty turquoise one:

Meanwhile, both stores have some beautiful items that are unique to them. Keep reading to see more.

In between the fashion spreads of this month’s Vogue, there is nestled a quaint little story about Virginia Lee Burton, who is best known for her classic children’s books such as Little House and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. But Burton also started a design collective of about 40 women during the mid-20th century called Folly Cove Designers. Their patterns are on permanent exhibit at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, MA, and you can see them online at a site maintained by some of the women’s children:

Burton’s profile has resurfaced in the past six months, when PBS aired a documentary called “Virginia Lee Burton: A Sense of Place.” The National Museum of Women in the Arts screened the documentary on Sunday, but if you are like me and missed it, it’s available here on Amazon.


Folly Cove’s folksy hand-blocked textiles are no longer for sale, but they do show up occasionally in auctions, where a set of placemats can sell for as high as $690 – or as low as you see here for $57.50, from a Massachusetts auction house that has recently offered several Folly Cove items:

Wouldn’t it look great with a thick pink grosgrain ribbon sewn along the borders?

There are a handful of modern textile makers who design in a similar vein. Keep reading to see their work, and how it echoes Folly Cove’s earlier themes.

Globalism isn’t all bad. I’ve been seeing a huge build-up in the past several months of textiles influenced by the suzani, a vibrant hand-stitched cloth fabricated by women in central Asia for centuries. The look keeps coming in this spring’s new offerings. Whether it’s the real thing you’re after, or fresh updates on the theme, feast your eyes:

The real thing: This eye-catching textile screams for attention, available with many others at Yurdan:

The Washington, DC-based Beautiful Pillows and Home have two new pillow collections that echo the suzani theme:

“Passage to India”

and “So Beautiful”

The venerable Brunschwig & Fils, whose suzani-inspired Dzambul pattern has been around for almost 30 years, just introduced five new colorways. “These glorious suzani designs are enjoying huge popularity with a new generation of admirers,” the press release says.

Laneventure will have a new suzani pattern in the fall:

Baker just introduced furniture collection called Baker Studio, which is aimed at younger customers between 34 and 45. Most of the pieces have heavy Asian influences. I couldn’t help but notice a suzani whisper in the bedding and upholstery on this bed:

And finally, you know the look has gone mainstream when Pottery Barn starts selling it.