Friday Favorites 7/4/2014

Cheryl Katz, Contributing Editor
From Diego Rivera’s inspiration at Prada to Pop Art prints at Chanel, Jill Sander, and Valentino, the marriage of fashion and art could be felt on almost every runway this spring. Borrowing a page from fashion, the family-owned Romo, producers of fabrics and wallcoverings for the home, has found artistic inspiration in the work of Jessica Zoob. Partnering with the English artist, Romo has translated Zoob’s emotionally charged paintings onto gallery-worthy linens, velvets, and wallcoverings.

Paula M. Bodah, Senior Editor
I can’t wait to set a summery table with these charming placemats from Narragansett, Rhode Island-based Willywaw. Artist, illustrator, and printmaker Ashley Van Etten makes these (plus napkins, table runners, and table cloths) using pre-shrunk natural hemp, cotton, and linen fabrics and hand-printing the nature-inspired designs. The table linens are part of a larger collection that includes tea towels, toss pillows, T-shirts, totes, and note cards as well as Van Etten’s paintings, illustrations, and serigraphs.

Kyle Hoepner, Editor-in-Chief
If ever there was a day for the tried and true, that day is the Fourth of July. So I don’t feel too bad, this one time at least, about resorting to the hoary conceit of simply picking something red, white, and blue to represent the holiday. In this week’s New England Home e-newsletter our online and market editor, Lynda Simonton, suggested Albert Hadley’s festive Fireworks pattern as a fit and proper choice for the day.

In return, I would offer this Yankee Doodle Dandy collage of prints by two other New England textile designers, Great Barrington’s Peter Fasano and Elizabeth Hamilton.

Happy holiday, everyone!