Every trip to the Fabric Show in High Point, North Carolina, is a refreshing journey into the area of the United States that once was the heart and soul of the furniture and fabric industry. Though it has lost its glory of prominence to the recession, lack of technological investment and foreign competition, the People are still among the most passionate and talented to be found.
To talk with Beth Lacefield, founder and designer of Lacefield Fabrics is always a special treat for me. This year Lacefield opened a permanent showroom for their fabrics in the Tower building at High Point. I took the opportunity to meet with her as she showed me some of the latest fabrics.
As a woman-owned company in a blatantly male-dominated world, it is exciting to watch the growth of Lacefield Designs over the years. We have a wonderful gallery of Lacefield fabrics in our store.
Ann Curtis, one of the textile designers, chatted with me about some of her latest creations. The comment, “I always start designing in blues. If I don’t like it in blue I won’t like it anywhere else.” Blue is her favorite color… look what she is wearing too!
I think we should all remember this as we decorate our homes…as our Chameleon Style® Design Method states, “Always and Only Do What You Love”.
Ronnie Gold is another veteran textile designer to watch…although I did not know her name 25 years ago when we made our very first Chameleon Fine Furniture™ love seat from one of her fabrics when she was working for Bloomcraft.
Ronnie and her husband, Lee Kabat, now have their own textile company, Home Accent Fabrics, and continue to produce unique patterns. They just opened their permanent showroom.
Of course a special treat at the show was to meet celebrity designer, Vern Yip at the new Fabricut Showroom.
Vern personally showed me his new fabric collection with Fabricut-Trend. His designs are timeless and are what the industry would call “transitional”. I like to call them very “Chameleon Style®” because they can take on many different personalities depending what is paired with them. Below is one of my favorite introductions.
Another young mover and shaker in the industry is Todd Nifong. Not only a President of Al Fresco Textiles, he is also President of the Textile Manufacturers Association.
Win took time to chat with Todd about some of the newest indoor-outdoor, fade resistant fabric introductions by Al Fresco. No longer are the outdoor fabrics stiff and scratchy. There are soft chenilles and even textured, cozy matelasses! Amazing!
Premier Prints has launched hundreds of new fabrics and we saw the samples in their new showroom. We met Clint Wright who is the lead designer for Premier. What was fascinating was that he started as just a cleanup person in the warehouse and is now designing beautiful prints for the industry. He talks about Premier Prints and the benefits of being a USA Made fabric company…with his delightful drawl…
After our visit to High Point Win and I always plan to visit family in South Carolina. One of my regular stops is the cutest, inspiring quilt shop in Old Town Summerville, People Places & Quilts. I just had to take a picture of the owners and an adorable fabric flower display!
As always, I find your blog inspiring! Thank you for sharing about your trip to High Point.