Beyond Performance
The design thinking behind the new Fortress Home collection
Stain-resistant performance fabrics have never been more popular, allowing people to live without fear of stains from spills or muddy paw prints. Now, making the most of ever-improving technology, Fortress Home, a Richloom brand, is introducing a collection that features prints, wovens and even embroideries with an amazingly soft hand. Creative Director Hannah Alderson sat down with Calico to discuss what makes the new Fortress Home collection special.
What’s different about Fortress Home?
We have prints, embroideries, and all kinds of different looks that you would not expect to find in performance fabrics. Fortress Home prints are light enough to be used for drapery and even top-of-bed and still have that easy-to-clean performance story. And the finish doesn’t affect the hand, so if we start with a fabric that’s soft and feels good, you’ll end up with something that feels good too.
Another thing: at the time we were designing it, the performance fabrics that were available could be selected á la carte and married into a scheme. What we wanted to do was bring a performance collection to the marketplace that could address the entire room. So we thought about drapery, upholstery, accent chairs and all those things coming together in one space.
Fortress Home has prints, wovens and embroideries that go beyond what were available in stain-resistant performance fabrics.
Is the big story here that it’s performance… or that it’s designed so you can’t tell it’s performance?
Hopefully both! Performance fabrics in general are a revolution – they have allowed people to take design risks that they didn’t feel they could make in the past. I think everyone has always wanted a fabric that could be cleaned, but they didn’t think they could have a certain color because they couldn’t guarantee that their children or their pets wouldn’t destroy something as soon as it came in the door.
That said, what was important to us is that the collection goes above and beyond its performance characteristics. We approached it as a modern assortment of an eclectic mix with beautiful digital prints, embroidery, solids and textures and jacquards – things that would be desirable whether they had performance features or not. I’ve already had such a great reaction from people who can’t believe that it’s performance!
In building the collection, we’re fortunate that we’re able to go to different sources for what they do best. I was able to work with mills that did exquisite warps for drapery or were great at digital printing technology. We actually have embroideries in the collection – something that, up to now, would have been completely unheard of.
Hannah speaks to the beauty of modern performance fabrics.
What’s the inspiration behind the collection?
I see the design inspiration process as really a way of life. I travel. I take in information all the time. And then I have kind of a design inspiration bank that I pull from all throughout the year.
When I’m designing a collection, I like to think about an emotion. I think about people in their living spaces and how they want to feel. And I’ve noticed a sort of emerging value which is around experience and serenity. So those two ideas informed a lot of the imagery we gathered at the beginning. The whole collection has a spa-like relaxed color palette.
Hannah talks about her inspiration for the collection.
How do you create that kind of palette?
Most of the inspiration for color from this collection came from landscape pictures that were taken right at the change of day into evening or twilight hours, when sky blues take on a reddish cast. The whole vibe of the palette is very natural without being neutral.
When we talk about things that are serene and soothing, we can do that with a palette, but we can also do that with pattern. I look for hand-painted artwork that has been created with a bit of a free, loose quality.
Then there are abstract designs that evoke the natural, without actually depicting nature. For instance, we have an ombred horizontal stripe in a pattern we call Gloaming that evokes a landscape. Our brains are hard-wired to respond to horizontal stripes as pleasing to the eye, because we read them as open space.
“It’s a really dramatic but soft piece,” Hannah says of Gloaming. “It could be sky or ocean or just an abstract stripe. It would be perfect for long draperies.”
How do you make sure a collection works together?
In today’s design world, coordinating a space does not mean a matchy-matchy room. The modern approach means you have something a bit more dressy with something dry, or casual prints layered with textures.
When designing a collection, it has to have a feature fabric. That's something outstanding that you fall in love with, and it helps you start the scheme. I ask, what’s the natural element? And then I think, how is it represented that feels right for today?
For me, that element is often a floral – sometimes just a very loose gestural interpretation. I think we like to see evidence of imperfection and the artist’s hand in patterns that we live with.
I love layering different types of design and different patterns from different parts of the world. And for me, that layered interior is what feels really interesting.
“Layering different patterns and textures is a critical element in creating a sophisticated look,” Hannah says.
What do you say to people who aren’t sure how to get the result they want?
Personally, I’d make a visit to Calico. I've worked with Calico as an industry partner for a long time and the store managers and the in-store design consultants are truly passionate about textiles. Anyone who's looking to do something new with their home is really missing out if they don't have the Calico resources and experience. They know how to bring a textile into an environment and solve challenges in a space. They have free home design consultation, which can give someone who already has a great sense of style walking through the door the confidence to really pull off the look that they want for their house.
There's really no other place to go in my experience. And, it’s a lot of fun!
