Greetings from Westfield

Working this summer in my Westfield, New York, studio has offered a break from the busyness of the city, but things in my studio here have not slowed down. I’ve been busy creating new items that are reflective of the feel of summertime skies in softer blues and sunny yellow shades. I’m working on several runners and rag area rugs in these shades and have recently finished a pale blue, tone-on-tone area rug that was a commissioned project. Working out of my cabin-like studio here has fueled the creative process and I have also been busy developing new color concepts for fall rugs. You can peruse through the gallery below to get an idea of my process from planning to selecting colors and materials to make sure the end result is something my clients will cherish for a lifetime.

Fishing Rock Farm Design Home

We were recently asked to participate in a design house benefit at Fishing Creek Farm, an historic stone farmhouse in Media, PA that was built for the Beatty family in 1928. The design home is being staged with the work of various artists, the sales of which go to benefit the Community Arts Center, located in Wallingford, PA.

We worked with interior design firm, Michael Shannon Designs, on the staging of the show home's kitchen, lending him a number of our leather rag rugs and a cotton rag runner. The rugs are placed in the kitchen and hallway and give the space a rustic appeal that fits with the period of historic significance of the home. The event kicks off tonight with a preview reception and the design home opens to the public May 2nd and runs through May 27, 2012.

All of us at Claudia Mills Studio are excited to be involved in this benefit event and extend our gratitude to Michael Shannon Designs for working with us on this fantastic event. Take a look at the gallery below to see our work expertly staged in a beautiful environment.  

For more information, go to communityartscenter.org.

Rag Rug Project for Nantucket Home

Rag rugs are perfect for reinventing old fabric remnants and turning them into something functional, durable, and beautiful. A way to do this yourself is to braid various strips of fabric, then coil them together, and weave or sew these pieces into a flat spiral. The end result can be whatever you want it to be. This is what I feel is the beauty of rag rugs: the final product is only limited by your imagination and the fabric remnants you have available.

For my projects, however, I use new fabric in 100 percent cotton, woven on floor looms. This fabrication is durable, colorfast, and machine washable. Also, using new fabrics as opposed to remnants yields a consistent end-result, which is important when you do as much custom work as I do.

The pictured project was made for a client who wanted a rag rug for the master bedroom of her Nantucket vacation home. I worked closely with the client’s interior designers, Becky Wein and Holly Amsterdam of Wein Interiors in Wayne, PA on the style and color scheme. We wanted to get the look and feel of a Nantucket fall landscape perfectly right for the sunny bedroom in this beautiful vacation home. The final product measured eight by fourteen feet, and was woven out of seven two- by eight-foot strips of fabric, including cotton, various strips of printed material, and silk accent pieces. You can take a look at the photo gallery below to see my process.

Meet Jennifer Clark

I met Jennifer Clark this past January and she joined the studio as a full-time assistant in February. She has a wealth of experience and a great appreciation for textiles. She graduated from Philadelphia's University of the Arts, after which she traveled to Switzerland to take on an apprenticeship where she worked with textile designers and artists. Upon returning to the states, Jennifer landed a job as a textile designer for Jhane Barnes, a New York based menswear designer, where she worked on a line by Barnes for Knoll Textiles. She returned to Philadelphia to raise a family and it was while she was at home caring for her two children that her passion for design was reignited via socks. She designed her own line of hosiery that was sold locally before she started here. Currently, she’s breathing new life into the studio with her enthusiasm and keen eye for color and design.