For Kristie Strasen, Blue is Summer

As you know, we've been asking designers how they spent their summers. Today we're checking in with Kristie Strasen of Place Textiles. Here's how she spent her summer—and what's in store for Fall from Place:
"I didn’t take any vacation this summer. But, after 30 years of living in the thick of the crazy activity that is Manhattan, I moved to Brooklyn Heights. I bought an apartment in an 1850 brownstone that overlooks New York Harbor including Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Staten Island Ferry and the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan. The water of the harbor is now a part of my everyday life and it is endlessly inspiring. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest with a sweeping view of Puget sound and I did not realize how much I loved and missed seeing the water until I moved to Brooklyn Heights.

So -  my summer has been influenced by blue – the color of the water – the color of the sky. My few weekends out of the city have taken me to places heavily influenced by their relationship to the water – in Maine [pictured below] and in the Hamptons. And when my Brooklyn bedroom came together, it did so as a strong reflection of my love of blue. Things I have collected over the years – some beautiful blue bowls; a magnificent Inuit print of an giant blue-tailed owl; an old indigo-dyed bedcover and two exquisite bowls a friend made for me – all some manner of blue and all coming together for the first time in one room!

In October, Place has a yummy new collection coming out – produced from lamb’s wool and linen. The collection is called River Aire and is named for the river in northern England where the fabrics are woven and where the water comes  from to finish the fabrics."

"The River Aire Collection has a classic blue color called “North Sea” which is a deep, moody blue. I LOVE it! I have always loved blue and I will definitely explore different permutations of it in future Place collections but right now I am very excited about the River Aire Collection and its take on blue."

See the new assortment for yourself at the David Sutherland showrooms at the PDC (Suite B182), DCOTA (Suite C-450) and at Pollock at the DDB (Floor 17). Here's a look back at some of the Moon collection we shared this Spring (http://godesigngo.com/new-product-showcase/textiles-with-a-sense-of-place/).

Textiles with a sense of PLACE

Kristie Strasen has spent more than 30 years designing, coloring and styling textiles for both residential and commercial clients. She launched her own collection, Place, in January 2006, and we've been following her ever since. As its name suggests, Place is inspired by distinct locations, both in each collection's color palette and textures. She never introduces more than one or two collections a year, focusing on presenting an edited, refined assortment.

Her latest, Moon Festival, was unveiled this winter and is now available at Pollack at the DDB, David Sutherland at the PDC in L.A., DCOTA in Florida and DCH in Texas. Future Fortune, a polyester, is pictured above. It takes inspiration from an ancient Chinese tradition that found its way to Thailand over 3000 years ago. In Thailand, it honors the summer harvest and pays homage to the moon.

This is Sky Lantern, a polyester with 1 percent cotton added:



Lanterns are set afloat in the sea and launched into the sky, and participants let go of their negative thoughts and celebrate their good fortune. Strasen's collection pays homage to this idea with a shimmering, though subtle palette of silver and golds, made even better in their high-performance. Each is incredibly durable making them ideal for commercial applications, with a soft hand that makes them workhorses in residential projects, too.

A Moon Festival assortment:

DDB Spring Market Buzz: Environmentally-Savvy Shopping Techniques

Environmentally sound, eco-friendly, green—after a while, they can all sound the same, or like nothing at all. Pollack's Spring Market event at the DDB helped clear the semantic confusion with their discussion, Demystifying Environmentally Responsible Fabric Decisions.

Kristie Strasen, Founder and Creative Director of Place Textiles, led the talk and gave her common sense approach to sorting through the best choices for specifying environmentally responsible fabrics from the rest.

In a time when everyone is aiming to do the right thing, Kristie explained that there is more than one way to address such a complicated issue of being an environmentally savvy shopper. With over 30 years experience, Kristie has been developing a comprehensive range of high-end fabrics, which the audience got to see first hand during the talk.

"So what does 'green' or 'environmentally responsible' fabric even mean?" Kristie asked the audience. "The truth of the matter is, 'green' in the context of environmentally-responsible fabric means different things to different people. Some people are looking for fabrics made from recycled fiber, while others are interested in fabric produced from rapidly renewable resources. Many people think organic fabric is the best route to take while many others seek a fabric that is truly sustainable. So, what does it all mean?"

Kristie explained the differences between the many terms people use when they are aiming to be 'green,' and helped to demystify the concerns behind responsible fabrics. Ultimately, the best advice Kristie wanted to share was making the effort to know where your fabrics and fibers came from.

"When people take these different terms into consideration, they are attempting to make intelligent decisions and this helps the big picture," Kristie said. "Unfortunately, there is no one right answer, but there are ways to avoid being unknowledgeable about how you shop for your interiors. There are many ridiculous ways to claim that something is eco-friendly or green, but if you know where stuff comes from—such as cotton, wool, banana leaf—you're making the first and best step towards deciding on a fabric that is more natural and organic, less harmful to the environment as well as renewable."