A taste for textiles
Play
Los Angeles-based designer Kathryn M Ireland brings her furniture and fabrics to Bangkok
DM Home held recently a red carpet party to introduce its recently renovated Designer Gallery, which is home to a wide range of luxury furniture from such world-class brands as Ralph Lauren Home, Kindel, Home, Bunny Williams Home and EJ Victor. If that line-up wasn’t already impressive enough, the management also invited celebrated designer Kathryn M Ireland, whose collection of bohemian French country-style home furnishings is also stocked by the upmarket store.
Trained as an interior designer, Ireland expanded her line in 1997 to include to a collection of hand-printed textiles and furniture focusing on colours that blend well together.
The California-based British designer has also written three decoration books and starred in the US television series, Bravo’s Million Dollar Decorators, which renovates celebrities’ homes.
In Bangkok, the DM Home showroom offers a mixture of her old collections dating back 18 years as well as the latest design in new colours.
“Bangkok is very exciting. I have a showroom in America and I’m pretty well known there. I’m very excited about coming to new places,” she enthuses. “The concept we’ve chosen for this showroom is to mix everything from my first collection to what I do today through fabrics.”
The gallery features several collections in a wealth of designs running from comfortable and vibrant three-seat sofas, Love seats, lounge chairs and chaise lounges to benches and beds, as well as some home decorative items. Most of her designs have been inspired by journeys to France, Morocco and Mexico and the colours of places she has visited play a key role in her latest collection, which highlights flowers and vivid shades.
“My favourite turquoise and lavender purple will become popular this summer,” Ireland predicts. “For me, fabric is everything: it continues to grow. I recolour my collections, so my style keeps surviving. I like colour, it’s important for me.”
A collector of antique textiles from many countries, Ireland has spent much of her free time over the years making hand-printed motifs on fabric at home. Those motifs have become her signature and customers are always keen to buy her fabrics and turn them into whatever they want.
“I think my products are different from what you see here. I’m doing something new for today in my home,” she says, “I never target anyone. It’s very hard to spoil people. It doesn’t work. You should do what you like and then people will find you. I think my style is a niche market. My colour is very particular and my designs are different. I like the way of art, fabric and colour. It is the relationship. It’s my DNA.”
For summer in the tropics, Ireland recommends linen. It’s airy and cool and has a soft layer that is ideal to make pillow covers and curtains.
“For summer, you should use lots of linen. I think old fabric is very summery,” she says. “Linen is lightweight and dries quickly. It’s not difficult to maintain though we do recommend dry cleaning for our fabrics.”
The Kathryn M Ireland summer collection is now on sale at her showrooms in Los Angeles and London and will be available here soon.
CURTAIN CALL
>>DM Home is located on Soi Thonglor 19. It’s open daily from 10am to 7pm. Call (02) 365 0789 or visit www.DecorMart.com
