Rosemary Hallgarten is welcoming spring with a new line of soft, sophisticated, yet playful rugs, throws and fabrics: Wonderland. In addition to a few fresh colorways for existing favorites, the collection features eight tactile new fabrics and five rugs.
We caught up with Rosemary this week to discuss how the new line came together.
Raymond Paul Schneider: When did you first start developing this new collection?
Rosemary Hallgarten: My process is to always be pulling inspiration from everywhere. I keep little notes, and pictures, and objects that I find interesting and unique and speak to my mills and artisans and see what we can develop from those ideas. There can be pieces in a collection that were recently concepted and others that have taken years to develop and get just right. It’s a labor of love and I know a collection is complete when all those pieces come together cohesively and exude the energy that I am channeling for the collection.
RPS: What was your initial inspiration, and where did the idea(s) come from?
RH: I was inspired by a very Parisienne color palette, for example, the playful colors of macaroons in Paris, as well as the fashion of Dior combining soft neutrals with pops of color.
RPS: Describe your overall creative and design process.
RH: It starts with a feeling. I am always collecting inspiration from all around me, a plate at a restaurant, the shapes of the stone on a patio, the weave of a basket… they are always in my archive and the feeling that I want for each collection will help me navigate through how to make this path, this story, of the collection. From there, I begin to speak with my mills, and we start a dialogue of the collection story. Sampling yarns and dyes to use and which pieces pair together. It’s all very hands-on and intuitive for me.
RPS: Did you have a specific audience or theme in mind?
RH: All my collections come from a feeling of something I want to create that makes it stand out from everything that came before it. The idea is to always inspire. The designers are always on my mind, and that is something that resonates with me, this feeling to inspire our designers.
For instance, this collection features colors I wouldn’t typically have in my home, but during the photoshoot, when I saw how everything came together, I sparked an idea to redesign one of the rooms in my home to follow this theme.
RPS: What methods, tools, and materials did you use to develop and prototype this design?
RH: I work with my artisans and mills on each development. I look at new yarns they have available and choose which product I envision and how they pair together. It’s a back-and-forth process that really has become an organic process since I started working with them over 20 years ago. I fell in love with the artisanal nature of the weaving process and still focus my collection primarily on hand-woven alpaca textiles.
RPS: Did you use any new techniques or technologies to conceptualize or create this product? If so, please explain.
RH: For this collection, I played with a few different applications on a new colorway for my Shard rug. I used twisted Nettle, Twisted Wool, Silk, and Wool. Each one takes the dye differently and it really makes the pattern pop. For Bunny 1920, I took a pattern that I usually carve out of the shearling, and this time, used a softer faux shearling and used two different colors to make the pattern, which gives the pattern more contrast but at the same time it’s more seamless to the touch.
RPS: Describe your brand’s overall DNA and ethos.
RH: Modern, grounded in history. I have a very modern aesthetic, but I gravitate towards artisanal and ancient craftsmanship, so my textiles blend a contemporary look and feel but with an artisanal soul, grounded in their handmade nature. Creating and delivering luxurious, custom textiles that are both comforting and authentic that inspire our designers.
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