Gung Hei Fat Choi!
Happy Chinese New Year of the Dog!
In addition to Valentine’s and Mardi Gras / Carnivale this week, we learned that Westminster / Free Spirit is closing its doors forever. In case you didn’t read our Midweek Creative Nudge newsletter, you can see it here on our Blog page. The top designers will move to other companies, and I am sure we will hear news about where they’ve landed in the coming weeks. We are concerned about all the staff who worked behind the scenes, who are now without a job. It is a big loss for the industry.
It does however point to the fact that the market is over-saturated with a lot of fabric that looks the same. This is why we focus on truly unique fabrics where you can see the talent and the hand of the artist. The days of flat plain simple design is mutating into something new. I notice that Modern Quilting is transmuting into something that is freer and even more creative, which is a good thing. Everything must change in the realm of design, whether it is quilts, fabric, fashion, or home dec. That is the nature of the beast. We are drawn to what’s new. We are delighted by Design because it pushes us to think about Beauty and Life and Color in new ways.
When there is a disturbance in the industry, from the inside or the outside, there has been a tendency to return to what is safe… what is “known”…but from this return to sameness is the fertile place where those with a unique voice and ideas that were previously considered outlandish…will suddenly bubble up and take form as the new idea that is pleasing and exciting to the eye.
This is the way of all Design.
Watch what happens next.
I hope you will come and join us for one of our classes, workshops, or tours in the next year….so we can talk about this in person!
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
