Jennifer Hunt, the founder and collection designer of Poppy, has had a lifelong passion for textiles, clothing, and decorative objects. The process of creating art and designing the world around her is an intrinsic part of her identity. Before founding Poppy and designing wallpapers for residential and commercial interiors nationwide, Jennifer studied painting, drawing, fiber arts, printmaking, weaving, screen printing and art history. She began her career working in knitwear and printed fabrics for clothing. Her approach to textile design emphasizes the functionality of materials, whether decorative or not. Through Poppy, Jennifer seeks to express herself by creating objects that serve a meaningful purpose in people’s lives. Interior designers, architects, specifiers, representatives, showrooms and clients contribute to this vision when they incorporate Poppy wallpapers into their projects. See these amazing prints in today’s Maker Monday.
Clematis
Andrew Joseph: What inspired you to become a designer?
Jennifer Hunt: I think the idea was put in my head at around 6 years old. I was sitting in my Korean grandmother’s clothing boutique, which she tirelessly opened and ran against all odds in central Kansas. I recall running my fingers over the sheer printed scarves and peering into her glass case of gold broaches and pins. Customers would walk in while I sketched crude renderings of dresses at the cashier’s desk, and my grandmother would exclaim, “She’s going to design clothes for the store one day!” At that moment I connected the relationship between the creative individual and the products I found so enthralling. I could be the designer of such beautiful things!
AJ: What design trends do you think will be popular in the coming years?
JH: There is so much accessibility these days via the internet and the virtual, visual world we live in, enabling everyone to see the best of the best of all trends and styles. Overall, however, the absence of layers, pattern, and colors especially for the mass market, makes me think that we must be swinging back towards the kind of ornate luxury of decades past with matching fabrics, paint, and furnishings and of course wallpaper in every interior.
Down the Rabbit Hole
AJ: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received as a designer?
JH: While working for someone as a print designer in my early 20s in the fashion industry, the director of a French fabric and print mill pulled me aside while our company met with them and told me simply that I was talented and should go off on my own. Ha! That little tidbit may have contributed to the confidence I needed to eventually start Poppy.
AJ: What was the last book you read and how did it inspire you?
JH: I read a ton of memoirs and autobiographies, mostly of musicians. One of the wildest memoirs I read was Etta James’s “Rage to Survive.” Aside from the entertaining and chaotic life, and much like any other musician’s story, her main concern amidst the chaos was singing and performing. At the core of everything she went through, she had something absolutely no one else had and that was a soul singer’s voice, and she knew it. It’s important to remember that as creatives we are so lucky to have something no one can replicate or take away, as life goes on around you.
AJ: What is your favorite aspect of your job?
JH: My happiest moments are when I’ve drawn or painted something, and I begin putting it into a repeating pattern, and I have that feeling of “this is good and this is working.” It’s so satisfying, you never know how you get there, and it doesn’t happen that often.
Warp & Weft Ceiling
AJ: How do you incorporate client feedback into your designs?
JH: I certainly pay attention to what designs and colorways sell. Sales tell you a lot. But sometimes the unexpected thing becomes the new best seller. There is a balance between giving people what they want and giving them what they need!
AJ: What’s your favorite cocktail?
JH: Kettle One and soda with lemon.
AJ: Style (or design) icon and why?
JH: Armi Ratia of Marimekko, Zandra Rhodes, Anni Albers, Anna Sui, and Dianne Von Furstenburg – women with textile-driven businesses have always been a huge inspiration to me.
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