Fabrics & Linens: Raoul Textiles
From Francesca
I've long admired the handprinted Belgian linen fabrics of Santa Barbara–based Raoul Textiles, founded by Sally McQuillan, a painter who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Last spring, the company opened its first independent showroom in LA's Pacific Design Center (8687 Melrose Avenue), designed to look like an English library, with creaky wooden floors, upholstered furniture and antiques, and stacks of books on the decorative arts (which can be borrowed). Go to Raoul Textiles for a list of additional showrooms.
April 22, 2008
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Yet another wonderful fabric designer whose work is only available "to the trade." I'm convinced the taste of U. S. consumers has suffered over the years -- and American homes have been less interesting as a result -- because of this elitist approach. Thank goodness for DWR! When will fabric designers and manufacturers understand that there's a huge retail market out there just waiting for their products? Look at the U.K. Almost everything can be sourced by the end user there and yet there are still vast numbers of well employed decorators, designers and architects. Expose people to fabulous stuff and they'll want to hire professionals to realize their vision. Without the exposure, the vision never happens.
There is some truth to the statement that there are some exposure issues to "the trade only" but it is easy to walk into a design center as a normal person and look, take notes and call a designer to give you retail price.
That is a 25% markup to their prices either way, whether the showroom does it or you get it through a designer. For a company this makes sense in high end fashion or you wouldn't have the respect to ask for those prices.
