Robert M. Luckey 
Artist and designer Serena Dugan presented its latest collection of fabrics at temple studio in New York this week, and to celebrate, she talked about textiles with three interior designers – Anna Beeber, Charlie Ferrer and Josh Greene – in a sign discussion during the event.
Her five new print designs – Kiva, Nara, Olga, Sumba and Tiger – expand Dugan’s core collection and draw inspiration from her lifelong love of block printing and the artisans she has worked with over the years. .
Dugan panelists: Charlie Ferrer, Anna Beeber and Josh Greene
“Thanks to textiles, you can convey a lot of things” says Beeber. And Ferrier likes to use textiles in unexpected places, such as in the kitchen. “I start with textiles, that’s how I design,” Greene said.
Customers in particular are drawn to items that have an artisanal feel to them, whether or not they are actually handmade. They “have a nonchalance towards them, a sense of ease,” Ferrer said. They make a home feel lived in and comfortable, he added.
The designers also said that customers increasingly want unique items. “We have a rich visual culture,” Ferrer said, with more access to knowledge as well as Instagram. As a result, “people want well-made things that feel special,” he said. “Now everyone wants to be a collector.”
Some of Dugan’s new fabrics and a mural Dugan painted at Temple Studio for the event.
Beeber customers want to know more about the artist and don’t want something that people have seen on Instagram or other friends. For one client, she had a custom $125,000 garden item made, and when the artist asked permission to create a limited collection of similar pieces, the client said no, as he wanted to be the one to have this piece, she mentioned.
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Dugan hoped people would take more interest in the stories behind the objects. “People have become insensitive to deadlines and more and more items will be personalized,” Dugan said. “I want people to want to know who made this painting. I want them to connect to things, for so long we weren’t connected. Now that we’re ready to wait for a Peruvian weaver to make a blanket, we’ll know the family that made it.
Ferrer, however, said his clients are more concerned with schedules than budgets. “There is pressure to deliver quickly, even in this environment.”
Additionally, “the appetite for maximalism is on the rise due to increased capital at the top,” Ferrer said. “If things are expensive, customers want them to feel expensive.” He also felt that people were done with mid-century modernity and were looking for inspiration from other periods.
