Santa Fe, New Mexico, entices visitors with its offer of a “colorful journey;” and, as we discovered, it most certainly delivers! On a recent trip there to befriend a few textile artists and garner new inspirations, Brenda Baxter discovered more than color and beauty; she shook hands with two people as passionate about art, design, texture and quality as she is. Barbara Marigold and Connie Enzmann-Forneris embrace the Southwestern landscape in their woven textiles and wool rugs for others to enjoy.

Barbara owns Marigold Arts, a gallery established in 2002, which showcases these ladies’ handwoven textiles as well as other items hand-crafted by New Mexican artists. Brenda found herself in awe of the time and attention which Barbara pours into creating her own fabrics. (She also found herself wrapped in the soft warmth of a Mohair shawl!)

Barbara explained her process of transforming natural brushed Mohair yarn—brought to us by Angora goats—into an absolute work of art. She works with natural dyes, such as marigolds, walnut husks and other plant products, to develop colors as rich as the Santa Fe scenery. Her blends of colors are very carefully chosen; and, as she weaves, Barbara is careful to maintain perfect spacing and to brush the yarn and rinse it in fabric softener to produce an incredibly soft Mohair blend. She ties her work off with a dramatic fringe finish as seen in the photo of Brenda’s lovely shawl.

Connie — a professional colorist, rug weaver, artist and teacher — embodies a passion for art, design and nature through her production of custom wool area rugs. She colors every single thread of lustrous natural wool fibers from New Zealand with brilliant vegetable dyes. Her handwoven patterns include gorgeous Ikats along with many others. Custom Drapery Designs looks forward to partnering with Connie in the future. She will be using fabric samples from our working designs in order to customize wool rugs to complete our rooms.

We love Ikats!

And, Vervain fabrics blends luxurious quality standards with traditional concepts and a modern flair to produce unique and decidedly memorable patterns that we adore. We look forward to centering future designs around some of their La Goulet Ikats with their coarse cotton textures and bold statement colors.

Each piece that has inspired our musings in this blog finds its origin in the earth around us—from the rich tones to the varied textures to the natural products from which they are fashioned. It is only fitting that we tip our hats to the magnificent Earth Elements drapery hardware by Wesley Mancini for J.F. Fabrics.

This line includes hand-threaded finials which are accented by a layer of netting, increasing the feeling of warmth and connection to nature these statement pieces bring into a room. Each hand-crafted item in the collection proudly bears imperfections that create a purposeful distressed finish and perpetuate the beauty of an artisan’s masterpiece. These natural finials promise to be the crown to many palatial designs.

We love to use natural design elements like these because they brighten and warm any space. Let us help you bring a little bit of outside inspiration into your home today!