Maiden America: Caroline Cecil Textiles
Maiden Home is proud to partner with North Carolina craftsmen to bring the highest quality furniture to our customers. In a new series, we're talking to other makers who are working with American artisans to craft beautiful, unique products.
In the inaugural installment of Maiden America, we caught up with Caroline Cecil of Caroline Cecil Textiles who makes insanely beautiful printed fabrics that can be used all over the home, from upholstered chairs, to pillows, to drapes. Her process starts with personally hand painting each pattern at her studio in Los Angeles. Each pattern is then meticulously printed onto the finest linens for a subtly textured, extremely luxurious look and feel - all made here in America.
We sat down with Caroline, and talked about her process, inspiration, and why American-made is so important to her business. She also gave us a few tips for other Maiden America products she has her eye on...
What is your design philosophy?
At the heart of everything we do at Caroline Cecil Textiles lies quality and creativity. We strive to produce products that celebrate the hand-made and are meaningful, beautiful, unique. We employ a “seed to showroom” production process - all of our fabrics originate from my India Ink paintings and are hand printed in California onto the finest linens.
Why is American craftsmanship so important to your business?
As a brand, we celebrate the hand-made and are proud to print our fabrics in America using a heritage printing method. By in large, printed textiles are manufactured overseas using faster mechanized processes such as rotary printing. Throughout my career though, I have had a love affair with the hand-made and built my business around my passion about preserving gorgeous age-old textile techniques that are dying out.
What is one design trend you're loving right now?
I have been watching the resurgence of products made from natural fibers such as rattan, raffia and jute. Large rattan pendant lampshades, chairs with a woven back, woven wall art. As a textile designer and lover of woven surfaces made from natural materials, it's so lovely to see them celebrated in interiors.
What is your favorite room of all time?
I love bedrooms and I believe they should feel like a personal sanctuary. In my home I try to make our bedroom feel as peaceful as possible. We have white organic linens, neutral and white decorative pillows, an oak bed frame and a little dish of quartz and clear crystals on a bedside table. At the end of a long day I find it comforting to retreat to a place of solitude.
Where do you find inspiration?
Inspiration is a funny thing, isn’t it? Often, it creeps up on you when you least expect it. I find that inspiration usually strikes when I travel internationally and am exposed to new objects, colors, lifestyles, climates, architecture. Architecture is a big one for me. As someone who loves natural materials I also find inspiration in nature. But then every once in a while I'll be home or in the studio and nothing much has happened per se... and inspiration strikes! As an artist I enjoy not knowing when or why I'll feel inspired, when it happens you just have to lean into it and explore.
Caroline Cecil's Top Five Maiden America brands:
1. Maiden Home
I’ve been dreaming of The Carmine sofa upholstered in either taupe velvet or oyster performance linen. I'm all about the neutral materials, clean silhouette and that it’s made in North Carolina.
Our new ACACIA collection launched this past spring and our HANNU / White Natural fabric is one of my absolute favorites. Made into a large lumbar pillow, it would pair perfectly with the Carmine sofa!
Made in San Francisco, Heath has been a long-time favorite. My husband and I have been collecting pieces in opaque white for years and are slowly converting all of our dishware.
On a recent trip to Maine I visited the Brahm's Mount mill, where their textiles are woven on antique shuttle looms by local artisans. I have been eyeing their blankets ever since. In particular, The Southport Wool Throw which has a subtle textural pattern.
5. AMO Denim
I’ve been drooling over the Babe Dive Bar Destroy denim from AMO. I love their jeans because the denim is thicker and more durable with less stretch. They are made in Los Angeles and are the kind of jeans you can wear for years and only get better with age.
To learn more about Caroline Cecil Textiles, discover their website or follow them on Instagram.
Images courtesy of Caroline Cecil Textiles, photography by George Barberis, Gia Goodrich, and Sandra Fazzino.