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Business of Home Podcast - Episode Summary
Episode Title
The First Lady of Textiles: Celebrating 50 Years of Design with Christine Van Der Hurd
Episode Description In this episode, host Dennis Scully interviews Christine Van Der Hurd, the founder of the iconic textile and rug studio Vanderhurd. Christine reflects on her remarkable 50-year career in design, discussing her experiences after moving to New York in the late 1970s, her collaborations with notable designers, and her journey in the textile industry. In 2024, she will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from House & Garden.
Key Themes and Discussions
- Early Life and Career Beginnings
- Christine graduated from Winchester School of Art and moved to New York in 1977.
- She quickly engaged with the creative underground, meeting influential figures like Robert Mapplethorpe and Annie Leibovitz.
- Her career started with designing prints for renowned fashion houses, leading to significant commissions for custom rugs and textiles.
- Life in New York
- She shares her initial experiences in New York, describing it as a "shell shock" that ignited her passion for the city's vibrancy.
- Christine faced challenges in balancing her business pursuits with her personal life, especially while working alongside her husband.
- Collaborations and Influence
- Over her career, she worked with distinguished designers including Angelo Donghia and Jack Lenor Larsen.
- Christine emphasizes the importance of collaboration, stating that designers like Kit Kemp and Rita Konig seek her for her unique ability to shape critical projects, not just source materials.
- The Evolution of Vanderhurd
- Christine discusses the transition of Vanderhurd from a focus on printed textiles to custom rug production, emphasizing the shift towards bespoke designs.
- She highlights the significance of quality and craftsmanship, contrasting her work with that of competitors who focus on tufted carpets.
- Personal Challenges and Triumphs
- The episode touches on personal hardships, including the loss of her son, Jasper, which profoundly impacted her life and career.
- Christine explains how Jasper's involvement helped expand Vanderhurd's scope, leading to increased recognition and quality in their work.
- The Current State of the Design Industry
- Christine reflects on the changes in the design industry, noting a more rapid pace today compared to the past, which can lead to a loss of attention to detail and quality.
- She describes her approach to working with clients today, emphasizing the need for collaborative relationships that yield unique and thoughtfully designed interiors.
- Future Aspirations
- Despite receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award, Christine expresses her desire to continue creating and contributing to the field.
- She mentions ongoing projects and her commitment to evolving her craft, insisting that the journey of design is ongoing and ever-changing.
Key Takeaways
- Christine Van Der Hurd's career exemplifies resilience, creativity, and adaptability within the ever-evolving landscape of the design industry.
- Her work is characterized by a commitment to bespoke quality and collaboration with other creative professionals.
- The importance of listening to clients and maintaining a flexible approach is crucial to her success.
- Personal experiences have shaped her understanding of design and the significance of creating meaningful, beautiful work.
Closing Thoughts Christine's journey offers valuable insights into the world of textiles and design, showcasing how passion, collaboration, and a dedication to quality can lead to a lasting and impactful career. The conversation serves as an inspiration for emerging designers and established professionals alike.
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This episode is sponsored by [Loloi Rugs](https://www.loloirugs.com) and can be found on [Business of Home](https://businessofhome.com/). For more engaging conversations, follow Dennis Scully [here](https://www.instagram.com/dennisscully/).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:03This is Business of Home. I'm your host, Dennis Scully. Every week I'll be speaking with leaders and innovators from all corners of the home industry. My guest this week is Christine Vanderherd, the founder of the iconic textile and rug studio, Vanderherd. After graduating from Winchester School of Art, Christine moved to New York in 1977 and quickly immersed herself in the city's creative underground, spending time with Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Leibovitz, and the Studio 54 crowd. She began her career designing prints for fashion houses like Yves Saint Laurent and Liberty of London. Her work soon caught the attention of design legends like Angelo Dongia and Jack Lederman-Larsen, leading to large-scale commissions for custom rugs and textiles.
0:55Over the course of her 50-year career, Christine has collaborated with some of the most distinguished designers in the industry. In 2024, House and Garden honored her with its Lifetime Achievement Award. I spoke with Christine about what it was really like arriving in New York in the late 70s, how she learned to speak up for her business interests while working alongside her husband, and why designers like Kit Kemp and Rita Koenig bring her in not just to source, but to help shape their most important projects.
1:35This podcast is sponsored by Lalloy. For over 20 years, Lalloy has been a leader in the home textile industry by upholding the highest standards in craftsmanship and customer service. See the newest collections of Lalloy rugs, pillows, and wall art at Vegas Market this summer from July 27th through the 31st. Showroom appointments are highly recommended, and you can make yours today at laloyrugs.com. That's L-O-L-O-Y rugs.com. And don't forget to follow at laloyrugs on Instagram and TikTok. And now on with the show. I feel like that summer that you arrived in New York in 1977 was a particularly hot summer.
2:23You coming from the farm in Dorset at Yes, yes. Right? Not used to those temperatures. Yeah, I have a lot to say about that. That was an interesting, very, very, well, shell shock. But because my first trip to New York was in January 1977. And I'd gone there to sell my designs. It was then that I fell in love with David and New York. Let's say New York first and then David. You know, so it was five months later that I packed up my house and put everything in my two CV and headed for London and got on a plane and went to New York. Now, tell me about some of the missing details in there, in that weren't you married just a few years before to some poor farmer who, I take it, gets abandoned in this story?
3:23It's a little, little unfair. When I left school, I went to a foundation course and then subsequently to Winchester to do a textile degree. And Charles was actually a restorer in my father's antique shop. My father said, well, why don't you teach Christine how to drive? So I got these driving lessons in his little green Mini, dashed around London. And I was actually quite shy, still am. And sort of our relationship started when I was really young. And it progressed from when I was mid-art school until when I dramatically left for America. I haven't felt good about it, but that's the way life is, isn't it?
4:14Yes. You were so young and you thought because he taught you to drive that he would be your partner for life. But it didn't work out that way. And life on the farm didn't seem like it was for you. And we should talk about, I mean, you went to school at the lycée from a very young age, if I recall. Yes. So I was the lycée from the age of four to 18. And, you know, my parents didn't speak French and they were advised by some extraordinary uncle of mine, one of my father's 15 brothers and sisters he had. He was a headmaster at a boys school and he said, best education for Christine is to have a French education and at least speak a language.
5:01Easy for him to say, never mind you being a young four-year-old showing up and suddenly being immersed in having to learn French pretty quickly. It was terrifying. And I think that really gave me the resilience that I have had in my life. So, you know, it was a challenge. It's interesting because when I left school, they all looked at me and I said, well, I'm going to art school. And they thought I was mad. They thought, what, you know, 1968 or something, they thought, what are you going to art school for? Because they all sort of thought they were academic and goodness knows what. But actually, I seem to be the last man standing because I don't know where anybody else is.
5:51None of them have succeeded. You've left them in your wake. Well, so what made you think that art school was the place for you? What had you been discovering about yourself over those years? It wasn't even almost a question. I think, you know, my mother had brought me up with fabric. I had always been part of my life. I used to go shopping with her. We used to go to Liberty's. We used to go to Harrods. She made clothes and she was a good seamstress. So she'd take me along there and I'd look at the fabrics and help her. And then she'd, you know, make these amazing creations. So it was a natural.
6:30I was obsessed with pattern and actually the feel of cloth. You know, there was all of the liberties at the time, you know, these silk charmeuses and tarner lawns and voils, even the exquisite, exquisite fabrics. And then I was surrounded, I suppose, by textiles at home. You know, there was the verdure tapestries. There were the Bargello weavings that were on the upholstery. So that was around me all the time. So I grew up with that. It's not necessarily the path I took because antiques were very heavy for me. I found them overwhelming. You did. So that was actually a little much for your taste.
7:17It was too dark. It was just too heavy and too dark. Subsequently, as you know, I changed. I mean, and that's my direction. So, you know, Winchester, my degree was mainly in printed fabrics. But I was questioned by my head of department, Mrs. Rendell at the time. Remember her? Whose name is burned into your mind. That's right. She got very cross with me. She was going, you know, Christine, at the end of first year, you must do woven textiles. And I'm going, I don't want to do woven textiles. I want to do printed textiles because I wanted the gratification of seeing an instant color on a fabric.
8:04I didn't want the weaving process that it was going to take days and weeks to complete a piece of cloth. had to do with probably because I chose the finest yarns to weave in, which did take months to finish a piece that size. But I did have a battle with her. And at the end of my first year, it took the three months to convince that I could do a print that continued the next two years with print. And I don't regret a moment of it. It was absolutely the right decision because it gave me the grounding for where I went after that. and subsequently to go into weaving. And so you come out of school in 1973, roughly, if I recall?
8:47I left Winchester in 1972. And I promptly got married in 1973 to my farmer. And I was out there. I'd already started selling designs, even from art school. They'd come visit some of the big fashion houses in London. You know, it was quite 60s, you know, with that sort of time, Mary Quant, et cetera, Bieber. And they'd send their buyers to look at our collections, the degree show, et cetera. And so when I left art school, I trailed the streets of London. And very quickly, because I spoke French, that was an easy one for me, although terrifying when I think back. I booked my plane ticket and made the phone calls and made appointments in Paris.
9:40And I literally charged this huge portfolio of designs, you know, to people like Saint Laurent and Christian Roger and Dorothea Bisse and Daniela Echel. And I used to sell the designs on paper to these fashion houses. And then I decided I'd try Como. and that was fascinating because you know the Italians I mean you imagine the early 70s Italians or Etcho, Mantero, Cantoni there was such fantastic fabrics being done so for fashion so that was all part of the the process so I was doing all of this even though I was married to my farmer and coming up to London and doing that. And then I got introduced, this wonderful designer called Leslie Poole introduced me to Peter Osborne and to Anthony Little from Osborne and Little.
10:42Sure. So that's when I first did my fabric designs for home furnishings. And it was sort of just before I left for New York. And the trip to New York originally was a sales trip, yes? And who were you planning to see and what were you thinking that trip was going to be like? It ended up changing your life forever. But what did you imagine at the time was going to be happening? It was exciting. It was terrifying. At that time, there were a lot of agents going out to America to sell designs. And so I'd had an agent during those two or three years. And I thought, well, I can do this myself. I'll go.
11:26So I went with this friend, Ros Bell, and she took me around and introduced me to some of the houses that were buying fabrics. And I remember, I mean, it was just a whole different dynamic. I mean, getting to New York, it was like January 1977. It was freezing cold. But I was so excited. I just, I just walking down Broadway, that's where a lot of the fashion people were, like 42nd Street and all of those big buildings. I loved the Americans, you know, it's just like the way they were so exciting and, you know, they were encouraging. And that's all part of the whole ethos that where it went, when it was sort of like seduction in a way.
12:14And then actually, funnily enough, I was taken to Henry Bendel's as this store on 57th Street where it was by a girlfriend. And she just she showed me the shop and I thought, wow, this is just amazing. I've never seen anything like this. And everything was new, like pearl paints. And, you know, I was so excited by it. And then I knew David. My future husband. I'd known him from England, and he'd moved to America about five or six years previous to that. And halfway through the trip, I called him and he said, do you want to come out? Well, the rest was history. That was it. We fell in love. And five months later, I flew back to live.
13:08And you arrive in that terribly hot summer of 77 and it was the New York City blackout, right? And the son of Sam and all of that swirling around. And David Hurd says, so he says, come and live with me? Oh, yeah. I mean, it was prearranged. It was like, that was it. Did I know that I was going to stay? I'm not sure. At that point, I was so euphoric, excited by life and what New York was giving me even just from the first days of being there. But yes, I mean, coming into New York into that heat, and we were in a walk-up apartment, so he had to clamber my cases up. Yes, he lived on the fifth floor, if I recall, right?
14:02And there was a bath in the living room. That's what those little crazy apartments. Well, I have to say that didn't last more than five months. I discovered fabulous... You couldn't tolerate that for very long. No. I found a great apartment on East 11th Street, which was a duplex. So we promptly moved into that, I should think, in October of 1977. And, you know, that was the beginning of that whole downtown meeting people and gradually getting to know that neighborhood full of antique shops and interesting artists, et cetera. Well, and tell us a little bit about some of the artists that you came in contact with, because it's a who's who of the time.
14:52Yeah. So we opened, actually, before we opened Modern Age, we opened a shop called Eastbourne Galleries. And it was an extraordinary shop. I mean, David had already started shipping, importing to the States, sort of like 19th century furniture and objects. and one day he saw me reading this book on Art Deco and he looked at it and he said, but you know, I can see some of these pieces when we go to Europe. So he said, I'm really interested in seeing how these pieces would sell in the States. So Eastbourne Galleries was born out of really Art Deco furniture and we carpeted the place in green astral turf, which we got ABC carpets, But before it became the real ABC, we had fabulous jewelry, lucite pieces and costume jewelry, as well as what we bought at probably places like English Town or the 26th Street flea market.
15:56And then all of the beautiful ceramics came from Europe and, you know, the bird's eye maple cocktail bars and dining room sets. And so that's where the bug came with David and me for bringing in designer furniture. Because at that point, Susie Slesson wrote an article on us. And then all of the designers used to come shapes down to come and see us. And one of them was Bobby Metzger, who subsequently commissioned me to do some textile work with him. So that was my first real introduction, Bobby, into the interior design world of America. So meanwhile, I was still designing my fabrics, selling them to various houses in New York.
16:47And then I met Angelo Dongia through Billy Weaver, who was his side, right-hand side. And he was so flattering and loved what I did that he put me on a retainer. So I actually ended up by doing a lot of work for Angelo. Well, so initially, did you know who Angelo Dongia was or you had no idea? No, no. Okay. So, you know, we're talking about, well, I met him in 1978, I would say. And he was absolutely charming, gushing, very friendly man. And, you know, he used to have these wonderful parties where there must have been everybody and everybody, but I didn't know who they were. His mother was always there and she was a great cook.
17:36And, you know, that very friendly, very Italian, you know, and it was special. So, you know, we were very much encouraged to do unusual designs for him. You know, he didn't do the norm. It was very, you know, beautiful, modern, modern work. It wasn't at all with very clean lines. That's how Angelo had. And, you know, he did the Halston showroom. Sure. No, no, no. Oh, and did all of these spectacular rooms that were so timeless because they were so clean and they weren't heavily adorned. So he says, listen, I'm a decorator and I want to put you on retainer to design custom fabrics for me for projects?
18:21Yes, so I did. I did woven fabrics, printed fabrics. And the last things I did was a collection of several collections of sheet designs for J.P. Stevens through Dongia. And so he, you know, how that was a big time for printed sheets, late 70s, 80s, that everybody had a printed sheet, except for me, exactly like white sheets. But yeah, it was amazing because I knew I had some money coming in. You know, that was really important. And was that a very profitable business? I mean, when you were selling your textiles to these fashion houses, was that good money at the time or considered to be good money?
19:07No, surprisingly, I earned a really good living. You did? I really did. And it wouldn't have gone on that way. I don't think it could have gone on that way because things changed so much with the cost of living and the price of what you were getting as a design. And then agents would have been taking a big cut later. But since I never continued with agents, I used to get the money straight out. And, you know, it was so exciting. I loved it. And so I was sitting there doing my paintings and meeting, you know, interesting people. Julia McFarlane worked with Dongia and she opened Ad Hoc with Judy Ashen Class on the corner of just near Bloomingdale's and then subsequently on West Broadway.
19:59So she was a really good friend. And Richard Giglio, who is a fantastic designer as well, he did a lot of the more whimsical designs for Dongia. So, you know, we were a whole crowd of people, interesting people, you know, designing and enjoying life downtown. Well, and do I recall Andy Warhol and Mapplethorpe were showing up? Yeah. So that was, so in 1981, we opened Modern Age on Broadway and that was a very big decision, business decision. I'd had Anna. Anna was born in 1980 and Jasper was born in December 1981. And we realized that staying on 26th Street with Eastbourne was not going to work.
20:53We were doing a lot of lacquer work on this furniture. So we were having amazing colors sprayed and it was slightly becoming more modernist. So we were actually like Paul McCobb and George Nelson and we were actually taking pieces, American pieces by that time. So, you know, David said, I've got this opportunity. There's this auction house that is closing and the owners want to re-rent it. And I think we should do it. So we did. And opening modern age was the best thing we could have done. It was Broadway. You had Union Square with a factory up the road. You had Warhol, Maplethorpe, all of these people strolling backwards and forwards and coming to 50-50, which was next to us in modern age.
21:46And, you know, they would come in the store and, you know, They'd chat. Warhol was very quiet. He wasn't too chit. Yeah, never chatted, but looked around with his dark glasses on, et cetera. And Robert was more forthcoming, and he had the gallery space that showed his work, Robert Samuel Gallery, above. So that was an extraordinary thing for us. So David and I would go upstairs. and you know can you imagine there I am from London and I'm looking at these photographs of these full naked men and I was I love photography even then but I hadn't started my collection at that point so I'm going like I'm not sure that I could do this you know much as they were probably two or three hundred dollars at the time well that was the thing you were on the ground floor of the Robert Mapplethorpe early days yeah yeah and so but But the images were a little, I mean, they were pretty striking.
22:45They were really, yeah. But you know what? I would buy one today if I had the money, but I don't have the money. So that's that. Not for what they cost today. He did beautiful flowers, though, but he wasn't exhibiting the flowers at the time. So, yeah. And, you know, with 50-50, there were Isaacson, Mark Isaacson and Mark McDonald, and it was Eric. They were four partners in that shop. and we were sort of like a family between modern age and 50-50 and then there were all the other antique shops in that area. So, you know, it was a special time. And I feel like modern age was a bit of a gallery, a bit of a store.
23:30There were collections sort of coming in and out all the time. And what were you showing or doing in there? So up until that time, I was painting, painting, painting, painting the fabrics. And I was also, I'd started to do some small interior design projects where I would do a lacquered screen, for instance, or etched glass table. In fact, I'm in American Psycho with my, I can't actually believe it, but my name is mentioned in American Psycho with an etched glass ice bucket. Really? Yes, I nearly died when I found out. But anyway, it was like early 80s somewhere there. And it was just at that point, it sort of happened at the same time that I realized that the carpets were missing in what we were selling.
24:27and I also had this extraordinary architect signer who came in and she said her name's Martha Fellows and her company was called MC Squared and she said you know my father's I didn't know she told me if it was her father but it was like there's these um publishing company in Florida that I need carpets for it was her father Harcourt Grace Yovanovich and um that was pretty you know powerful and um I she commissioned me to do these four carpets so that at the same time as I was also doing you know my first collection of carpets I think was around 82 83 and people were coming into the store and looking at the carpets and beginning the commissions were beginning to come in.
25:19And, you know, that was when I really changed actually painting fabric designs and started doing the carpet designs. And that begins to become where suddenly so much of your work goes and it sounds like people discover you. And you mentioned Henry Bendel earlier, I mean, and that comes and becomes a great big commission and a major turning point for you as well yes yeah i mean modern age changed as well so as as those years those beginning years started 82 83 one of the major moments was when peter noel came into the gallery as of florence noel noel international yes and he was the son and yes he was the son and he came in wearing a chilbee cashmere coat smoking a cigar uh remember him so well and there we were and he he goes you know what i have a great idea i mean we didn't know him from adam you know he goes and he sat down he says i want you to meet dino gavina to to david and that was a pivotal moment so it was like modern age, having shown designers like, you know, our vintage pieces, our mid-century pieces, and then people like Tom Dixon, Ron Arad, Danny Lane, the glass designer, which we were showing, you know, we did some exhibitions.
26:53We would then, David went off to Italy to meet Dino, and we brought in this extraordinary, extraordinary furniture. You know, Carlo Scarpa, Marita Oppenheim, Brancusi, fabulous pieces. And my carpet started to work with this furniture. So our clients were like commissioning me to do carpets and at the same time buying the furniture. So that's that little part of that story. And I feel at the time, there wasn't a lot of contemporary rug work being done, right? I mean, it was all, I feel like it was all sort of these Oriental rugs was all the big scene, but you tell me. Well, interestingly enough, there were only two, I felt, two competitors.
27:42One was Vazovsky, and the other one was Edward Fields. Oh, right. And they were very, very 50s, 60s, 70s. It was very, you know, these bold designs, and they were all tufted, and I think they had manufacturing in America. So if there was anything to compete against, it was them, but they weren't really competition because my designs were very different from anything that they would do. And I think that's what attracted me to a lot of the clients and subsequently to where I got the commission for Bendales. As you got into making all of these custom rugs, what did it involve as far as your production and how were you learning about how you were going to have all of this made?
28:34Tell me a little bit about that. The very first pieces I made were through a woman in the UK. So Judith found was actually a fellow textile designer and she tutored at St. Martin's, which was, you know, fantastic because she had started doing these small tufted carpets. They weren't very big. And then I asked her, you know, Judith, would you consider building a frame and making some of my carpets? It was so at the beginning, Dennis. It was like, you know, very tentative. So she made the first, I want to say, half a dozen, but certainly realized that she couldn't possibly undertake what we were suddenly getting all of these commissions.
29:22And at the same time, I had like a manufacturer walk into the shop. I think I'd got publicity. That was it. I probably got something in one of the magazines. They'd seen me and they came in. And they said, you know, we can make these. And they were a manufacturer from the Philippines. And that's how the more, you know, I could do my production and make any size. You know, I wasn't limited to my six by nine carpet or an eight by 10 carpet. I could do a shape carpet. I could do a huge carpet. And so we do collections and show them at modern age. And then slowly but surely, when you're in a store, everybody walks in.
30:06And that's where you meet your interesting people. So then I had another manufacturer walked in and said, look, we want to set up a manufacturing plant in New Jersey. We want you to come and choose all the color yarns. And we will set up the frames. and are you interested? So I thought, well, why not? What was fantastic was I could actually go there and work on the canvases. You know, they would stretch the canvases and at that time the carpets were tufted. So it's very different from a hand-knotted carpet, which is what we specialize in today, hand-woven and hand-knotted. But we got these very, very big commissions that were so exciting, and I could just enjoy creating them myself.
31:00I wasn't tufting them because I couldn't possibly do that. But I didn't ever love tufting. I wasn't in love with the texture of a tufted carpet or the way it was made. It was stiffer. It just didn't have the value for me that a knotted carpet would have. Well, and explain briefly the tufting process and what's different from a hand-woven carpet for people that don't fully understand. Okay, so with tufting, you have a piece of fabric stretched on a frame. And then you draw the design that you want to on that canvas, on that fabric. You either have, in India, there's two kinds of guns. There's an electric-powered gun, or there's actually a handheld gun where you literally just shoot the little thread of yarn in.
31:54So you're not actually knotting into a warp. You're actually doing it into a base fabric. So there's no way of actually keeping that yarn in other than latexing the back. So you have to glue the back to make sure that the thread doesn't come out. And when you've done that, you then put possibly a canvas on the back of that to keep it clean and uniform in the back. So the glue that they were using wasn't great. So after a while, that latex was disintegrate. It was a means to an end. I could get my designs onto that canvas and make them into a beautiful carpet. But my passion was definitely looking for some other medium of making those carpets.
32:49So that's when I ended up going to India. And so tell me about that. So how did that evolve and what opportunity made that possible for you? My best friend was Barbara Head and her husband, Graham Head, who subsequently became head of ABC Carpets. And he introduced me to another carpet person, as one does. The carpet people meet the carpet people. And he took me to see his showroom, which I remember thinking, oh, God, this is awful. But he also invited me to come to India. And this was in 1991, September. And it blew my mind. I mean, I was just like, this is it. This is it for me. This is where I want to be.
33:40this is what I want to be doing. It was such a gut instinct, you know, that I wanted to be part of this, this culture and enjoy these people and see my things being created there. And they're actually, funnily enough, thinking about it, they kind of convince me into doing as carpet people do. Oh, you've got to do like half a dozen in a six by nine. You may be sort of four in an eight by 10 and then two in an eight by 12. And so, you know, being young and naive, I did that. And, you know, I think I really learned my lesson there because I realized that, you know, I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to have multiples of exactly the same carpet in different sizes.
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34:32I wanted each one to be created or at least have a choice to be able to make a color change or make it bigger or smaller or adapt it for the space. So that was actually a very important moment for me. And also I spent a lot of money, you know, making these carpets. They were a very fine knot count. And at the time, they were over 200 knots, 240 knots, I think, a square inch. And so that was expensive, beautiful and expensive. And I still have one or two of them, which is... 240 knots per square inch. Yeah, they were high. We do up to 200 now. Seldom, but we do do it. We do make them. But so it was an interesting lesson, but I started doing the durries.
35:28So I was making some durries. And I probably made, at the time, they were probably, I don't know,$300 or$400 to make a durry, a wool durry. And I did do 20 durries of the same design. So these were all learning curves, learning lessons. but realizing that and I was you know beginning to get my commissions in a lot more by the late 80s early 90s and you know I absolutely never did that again I never went back and reordered that many carpets and and put all of your own money into it the way yes exactly and I've always that's what I've always done Dennis I've never had money from anyone else I've always put my I owe money into it.
36:19We're taking a quick break from the show to remind you about Lalloy. This spring, Lalloy launched two exciting collaborations. Discover bold, modern rugs and pillows from their new collection with Jeremiah Brent. And don't miss the latest season of Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines. Fresh designs you'll love. Explore both at lalloyrugs.com. That's L-O-L-O-I rugs.com. And follow at Lalloy Rugs on Instagram and TikTok. And now, back to the show.
36:57Well, so tell me how the business evolved from there. Once you learned that you really were much more interested in creating much more custom work than just having an inventory of different sizes of the same pattern, as you were saying, how did the demand for your work evolve and how did you go about setting a course? Well, I think I'd already by like late 80s, I was, I had my own studio design studio in New York. It's on University Place and Modern Age was also exhibiting the carpets, but for all the bespoke. So they would sell the carpets that were hanging in the store, but all the bespoke was coming into the design studio so it's very much like it is today we just met these different people you know interior designers would come and see us um people like uh jed johnson david kleinberg you know it was a so it's a wonderful time bobby bobby metzger but it was also i was just thinking Thinking about this in, you know, also the 80s was a very difficult time.
38:10So there were a lot of changes. There were a lot of people who we lost. So thinking about that, it was positive and it was exciting and positive, but it was also frightening at the same time. You know, all of these wonderful people within the design world leaving us. so I mean I just I remember they would come up and see us at the showroom and the designers and we'd have parties there and I'd get commissions and I'd go off to India again and I was doing a lot as well I was keeping up with the etched glass cushions we're doing a lot of cushions and pillows as you say in America you know even curtain fabric we've certainly weren't we still weren't doing any printed fabrics that happened much later and it we were doing applique and all that and bringing people in we were getting write-ups and I think probably a little bit later I did have somebody help me go out and get some recruit some of the bigger jobs that that I got But it was James Mansour who was buying a lot of the furniture from modern age.
39:28He was a visual merchandising with Les Wexler for the limited store planning. And he saw my carpets and he commissioned me. That's when he commissioned me in 90, I think it was around 90, 91 to do Henry Bendel's. And that was a magical moment. I mean, I was given free reign to do these Art Deco carpets, which is what the look of that store was. It was, you know, it had that Lalit frontage. It had moved to Fifth Avenue. And you had people like Marie-Paul Pelé and Francoise Catroux that were asked to, you know, to participate in the design. And so that was, you know, a very exciting time. And then actually, Jim also then commissioned me to do all of the carpets for visual display for all the limited store planning.
40:26So it was all the limited store structures. What was it? Victoria's Secret? Yes. Victoria's Secret. So I was doing all the carpets and David was doing all the furniture. So it was an amazing time, amazing combination. And so, you know, that gave me a really stable background to continue with what I was doing financially. Well, and I'm assuming, as you say, I mean, I'm assuming at that point, there must have been an awful lot of revenue coming in to this business. And I don't know how much you had really thought about putting structure around your side of the business and hiring people. I don't know if you had much of a team in the early days.
41:13Well, it's funny because I was thinking earlier today, this was a big decision that I made. When we opened modern age and the carpets started coming, you know, I started designing the carpets. David said to me, you know, these carpets have to come through modern age. And I remember thinking, no, I don't think that's a good idea. My mother had always taught me to be very responsible for myself. And, you know, she'd always said, Christine, a woman has to have their own bank account. Forget having these shared bank accounts. So David, you know, was sort of saying, well, you know, you'll get a commission.
41:53And I'm going, I don't think so. So determined as I was, I mean, I remember us having a huge falling out of that, but I got my way. And yes, I build all the carpets and I would, if Modern Age sold one, they would get their percentage of it. They would get a commission, not you. That's how that's going to work. So that's what happened for the rest of my time with Modern Age. It was until we closed in 2003. Yeah, I was my own person. And I moved from University Place into a studio actually on 11th Street, which became part of, we had an 11 ,000 square foot space on 11th Street above Jatlin or Larson in that building.
42:43It was fantastic. And I had a, you know, a great studio there. And then from there, I moved to Worcester Street. And that subsequently, you know, was where I ended up. So, you know, there was a, and then by that time, I had a team of four people, I would say. We had a great crew of people who I was working with. Well, and as you were just mentioning, I mean, Jack Leonard Larson was a contemporary and someone who I assume you knew. And I don't know if you were influenced by him or he by you or what you thought of each other. Well, at the beginning, I first met Larson when he came to visit my degree show in London.
43:24So I sort of knew him a little bit. I was quite frightening. Is that right? Because you thought he was such a big deal? Yeah, I used to sell him designs in the early, when I was still doing the fabric designs. And yes, his aesthetic is exquisite, you know, beautiful, beautiful textures and colors, his, you know, very neutral tones. And I love what he did, love what he does. But there were, you know, a lot of, by that time, a lot of other designers coming in to play with what we would, where we were going with the carpets. And we were getting bigger commissions, really. You know, people like Bayer Benderbell, which actually I'd met when we did Bendels, hired me to do this Lachens property in Malate, Minnesota.
44:16It was a massive house where we literally, I think we did 30 carpets throughout the house. And then people like Paul Fortune, we were working with him. He was a very old friend of mine from London days. And he was living in L.A. and he would, you know, come to New York and we'd play and work and do all sorts of fun things. And he was, you know, he was at that time, you know, really establishing himself as a great interior designer. So he was giving us a lot of work. And Pentagram was another. Jim Bieber, who worked at Pentagram, was the director of interiors there and architecture. And we got some extraordinary house in L.A., fantastic jobs in Connecticut and Colorado.
45:12Well, it's funny, you mentioned about Paul Fortune, and I hope that listeners remember Paul Fortune's extraordinary work, because he was really a giant at the time. And do I remember correctly that in the early days, didn't he have Annie Leibovitz living in his basement or something? And didn't the two of you become friends? Yeah, so that was, well, I first met Annie in, I want to say, 1980. I think Anna was with us. She was probably nine months old, and we went to stay with Paul. And Annie was in the basement, and we met her. And I remember, you know, I was absolutely blown away by Annie then.
45:59and Paul was really interested in taking Polaroids and Annie took these Polaroids and there was this huge fireplace that Paul and a couple of friends sat on and Annie took these photographs I remember that really well well six or so years later she moved to New York and came into modern age and And, you know, I was looking around and, you know, we sort of rekindled our friendship. And I don't know what it was, but I think I needed a press shot. I think that's what it was. I needed something for PR. And I don't know how I had, you know, courage to ask her. I said, Annie, do you think you could take a photograph of me for my PR to show people?
46:45and she she ended up by doing three photo shoots and took the most amazing amazing photographs of me and I was probably about 35 I think at the time oh how fantastic yeah I mean they were so special uh I have them today and yeah we became friends and um I think she probably was the one And it sparked my collecting photography today. You know, I just, I love photography. I'm obsessed with it. So, yeah, so Annie. And then I helped her. How the hell do I pay Annie to take some photographs? That was like, no. But she was so generous. And she said, look, you know, can you help me out? Do a few things in my new apartment.
47:35And, you know, I helped her source a few things and did some carpets for her. And she had some models lay out on some of the carpets and she took great photographs. And it was an amazing time and very special. Yeah, yeah. No, that's extraordinary. I'm sorry that she could never convince you to buy any of those early Robert Mapplethorpe photographs. I do have, which is wonderful, is Annie gave me a photograph that's printed for one of her, her first book, I think it is, that Robert took of Annie. It's beautiful. And he gave it to her just before he died. So he printed six, I think. And I was so lucky to be the recipient of one of them.
48:21So I'm forever grateful for that. Yeah, how extraordinary. What a wonderful gift. So let's come back to the designers coming to see you in the studio because I want to get a sense of how you feel or think that the design industry has evolved. As you were talking about earlier, and many designers of the day talked to me about how many great designers we lost during that period to the AIDS crisis. And you mentioned Bobby Metzger being one of them, certainly, and Angela Dongia and others, sadly. So many of the greats. And many, many designers, I think I've had this conversation with Jamie Drake and with David Kleinberg, sort of wish that we had had all of that talent and all of that work to teach people and all the people that would have come through their studios and gone, right?
49:15Yes. You sort of imagine this great pool of talent would have been built on the back of these extraordinary designers at the time. I wonder how you feel the design industry changed as a result of all of that. And what feels different about working with designers today? I mean, there is always going to be changes, right, Dennis? As you get people, you know, the way things are done has to evolve. I think people, you know, had a lot of integrity in those days. And, you know, I think there was a lot of attention to detail. And I feel for Vanderher, that's where we come in. Each client is given as much time, whether they're having, you know, commissioning a small carpet or a whole project for an entire house.
50:06And I think that that's one of the things that may be lost a bit today is in the design industry that people want to rush things too fast. And that, you know, that, you know, that the look, you've got to layer it. You've got to find the pieces. You can't just bash it out. I mean, I'm being brutal here. But, you know, it's adding a uniqueness to an interior. it's finding that special piece and I think that often today it's a look that you know gets translated rather than a build up and slowly making a beautiful interior you can't just do an interior you can't make an interior it has to build it has to grow yes you know for instance we work with Rita a lot Rita Koenig and I mean I admire her and everything she does and she has that ability to layer and to use old pieces of textile.
51:09And to me, I walk in there and I smile because I just, and her color, she's not frightened of color. So, you know, that's the other thing is people like, oh, I don't want to use any color, you know, or I'm going to use too much color. I think, you know, it's a happy medium of pattern, color, texture, layering. And I, as a designer and having lived through so many periods and being brought up by antique dealers and parents and having a brother who is quite minimal, has always been minimal as an antique dealer but finds most exquisite objects. I'm very open to different looks. You know, everybody can't be the same.
51:56So I think that that's what I've done with directing and guiding our business. van der Heard's business is you know we're not all the same we don't want all the to have the same look and when a client comes in an interior designer it's like oh it's not the van der Heard look it yes it is made by van der Heard but we can adapt what we do for that client and each room is different you know we've just finished a 17 well we've actually finished several properties where we're doing like 17 to 20 carpets. And all of them are different. You know, yes, maybe they have a Vanderherd stamp because they are of very good quality.
52:43The colors are of a certain way. But one house is different from the other. One was a very traditional Georgian house in London. The other was an amazing townhouse in Brooklyn we did with Leroy Street Studio. So it's like you go from a house in Connecticut with Thorpe Design where we had very strict boundaries. We can work with those. And I think that that's important for other young people to know, to understand that you've got to work with your clients. You have to give them that service. You have to be behind it and listen. You have to listen to the client. Yeah. Well, it's interesting that you say that because I know that you've recently just come off of a little bit of an American roadshow and spending time with designers.
53:35And I wonder what they were keen to know from you and sort of what you share with them about the process. I know so many people want to learn more, but tell me what that means. I mean, what was fascinating is we went to Atlanta. Also, we were in New York. We were doing presentations, Isolde and I. And I think what was fascinating is that the designers didn't understand the breadth of a bespoke design. so to try and explain to him that we could make something in any color you know any size and to explain that process it's a new kind of not such a well it's an old concept to to do fabric walling obviously but people today don't do it as much and it was that was what we were you know trying to explain to these people, these interior designers, that you can change a room by just doing a beautiful door, and it doesn't have to be that expensive.
54:48You can do a trim on a curtain, and it doesn't have to be meters and meters of fabric. You can make the difference very inexpensively. I think that that was something that they were listening to and really learned from. It was a lot of questions and we also embroider over other people's fabrics which is interesting. So you know we take the client would give us a fabric of I don't know Raoul textiles or someone like that and we would do some hand embroidery on it. So we would bring in some of the colors in the room that they haven't got in that fabric because but they love the fabric, but they need something else added to the fabric.
55:35So that's what we would do. So that was fascinating. We showed them very different types of projects. And when you do something which very, very contemporary, very colorful, and then something that is much more traditional with a twist, and they could see that one was able to do both. I don't know whether people think of us as as a certain type of designer i don't know well that's what i was wondering if people had in their minds that there's as you were just suggesting this vanderherd look or or a certain house style i i don't really know what that what that would be i don't know what your sense of what you think people have in their mind i think we try and give each house that we've got anything to do with, a different style, a different look, a different color theme, a different layering.
56:32I mean, there's so many areas to cover there. And we can be so flexible. I think that that's the thing. I'm not set in a direction. What I'm set in is that you have to do a beautiful product. And it has to be aesthetically pleasing to me and to my team. And that, you know, we can make it work for whatever period that you need to make it, you know, that that interior is. So I think that that's what the flexibility for us is, is quite immense, actually. And as the business evolved over the years, what is it primarily that people are coming to you for? What has the business ended up becoming? I think I feel over the hand embroidery has definitely grown in the last few years.
57:29But I think actually, seemingly, and I didn't expect this to happen, is that we've been pulled into some more interiors projects. So we're not just making, oh, this is the carpet for that dining room space. or this is the wallpaper for that. We will be asked to do a lot more where we would be doing walling for one room and cushions and bedspreads, but really thought out. We don't just go out and say, oh, well, we're just going to do that, buy that bedspread. And we source a lot of fabrics. We don't just use Vanderherd fabrics. When we're doing an interiors project, How could we use only Van Heard fabrics?
58:18We don't do, you know, wovens, boucles, velvets, etc. Right. So you're really being brought in to consult and to be part of the design team, it sounds like. Yes, yes. Interestingly. And that's evolved. Definitely involved in the last, I want to say, eight years. Yeah, it's exciting. It's really great. Yeah. Lovely. And unexpected, it sounds like. Unexpected, yeah. And it's a lot of pressure because I never compromise with myself. So I'm always looking for the right piece and always going to second guess myself. It's just my nature. Luckily, my wonderful team of Vanderbirds are there behind me, rallying me on, saying I've made the right choice.
59:08So, I mean, that is, yeah, very important to me. Well, and today, so when did you meaningfully leave New York? You're represented at Studio 4 in New York and you have a presence. But when did you return to the UK and Portobello Road and all of that? It was a very difficult time. As you know, I lost Jasper in 2009, my son. and Jasper had been part of our business since 2003. He was the one who changed everything. It became from Christine Vanderherd to Vanderherd. And what was the thinking there? Because we were joined, we were together, you know. And he said, it's no longer just you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
59:56That's it, you're out. But I had a studio space in London. I was backwards and forwards. This is early 2000s. And he looked at me painting these designs. He'd been seeing me doing that since he was a little baby. And he said, Mom, you know, what the hell are you doing that still painting? Well, you know, because that's the only thing I know how to do. And he says, I'll do that on a computer for you. And that was the beginning of computer rendering. So I'd gone back to New York. And then, you know, I didn't really know that Jasper was going to be joining the business at that point. He sort of like landed in New York about 18 months later.
1:00:38And that was it. And everything was fantastic. And he was as charming as you can imagine. I mean, he was outrageous. And, you know, so he would charm all of these interior designers coming along. He'd get on his motorcycle and zoom uptown, downtown, wherever he had to see a client. And, you know, he kind of like said, Mom, really, I don't think I need you here. So I'd met Stuart, my partner, by that. It was in like 2005, 2006. So he says, I've got New York covered. I don't need you here. Exactly. So off I go. You know, I don't even have a bedroom in the loft anymore because he's taken, he's moved out of his studio apartment.
1:01:22I'm now, you know, pushed out of there. And I sort of come back to London-ish, you know, backwards and forwards. And so Jasper, you know, ran the studio until he had his motorcycle accident in April 2009. And then basically, you know, obviously life was a disaster. It was horrendous. And I had to get my act together to get back into, you know, wanting to do anything, really. and it took me several years really to even function properly again. And meanwhile, if you think about it, England was new to me in a way. But you had left it behind. Well, I'd left it behind and maybe I'd left it on for a reason.
1:02:19I don't know. I had to learn to be with the interior design world of England, suddenly new. and I was very lucky because I started off with people like Jonathan Reed who were amazing and actually Philippa Thorpe, Jenny Armit, there were you know a group of designers that were fantastic David Collins and you know I was I started slowly slowly you know building that up we kept New York going until 2018. So really it was after 2018 that Studio 4 took the fabrics. And it's a different, it's different, it's a different dynamic because I think we felt as old and I, when we went back to New York this time, is just to be with the client.
1:03:09We need to be with the interior designer. We need to talk to them. And I think that that, when you have somebody in between, they can guide the client but it's it's great that we could all be i think what we established that we could work with studio for and with the client and that was a fantastic uh you know assessment from this last trip it was great well and that's a wonderful arrangement and and and working with with multi-line showrooms can be can be challenging when you when you want to get directly involved with the with the client and and sometimes that's that's not always easy to work out.
1:03:47I'm curious, you mentioned about sort of having to re-acclimate yourself when you come back to London. What is different in the way that English designers work or approach it? Or even, I mean, their demeanor, obviously. I mean, I just interviewed a few of them. And as you know, it's a different, I don't know, there's a different energy, there's a different vibe, but what's your sense? I have to tread carefully here. No, of course, of course. I don't want you to alienate. No, I love my interior designers that I work with here. You know, we've got some fantastic young interior designers, you know, people like Nicola Harding.
1:04:26I mean, I love Nicola and she's so supportive and we do such creative projects with her. Again, you know, there's a young woman called Alice B. Davis just a young designer coming up on the House and Garden list from two years ago. I think what you have between America and England, America is vast. New York is vast in itself. So your projects are going to be so much bigger, and the budgets are going to be much higher. And I think that that's, if I take all the projects that we're working on that are bigger, not all of them, but say, I want to say, 60 % to 70 % of the American projects will be very exciting because it gives us the scope, which we wouldn't necessarily have in Europe and in England.
1:05:23I think that it was much more difficult for me when I came back here. You know, it was a slowly getting to know the English design world. And, you know, I'd never really been an English person. My parents quite bohemian and the Lisey and then going, I mean, I had summers in Spain every summer, you know, traveling to Europe with my father and mother. So actually I was only in England really in the midst of the English, British, the Brits, really, between when I left school and when I left England. So I was relearning all the different levels that you have to channel. And it's very different. America, they just accept you.
1:06:15They encourage you. So when I came back, it was like definitely climbing ladders. I had to, it was hard. It was very hard. I think they've all forgotten that I came back now because I'm definitely, approved. I think they like me. Right. Well, they seem to like you quite a bit and House and Garden has bestowed honours on you. Hatter and the team, yes. They're wonderful. And we'll miss Hatterbing tremendously. It's a loss, but I'm sure that House and Garden will continue and Tlaib, I'm sure will step in. Yeah, exciting new things. Exactly. Bring a whole new energy to it, to be sure. I'm curious.
1:07:01I don't know that I've gotten your feelings about digital printing in the past. And you've talked about sort of the evolution of it. And I'm imagining you're not a big fan. But you can tell me because I am having more conversations with people who were skeptical and who said, OK, it has gotten better. I can't argue that. But it's still not your cup of tea. No, it's not my cup of tea. I think you can achieve some great things. And in fact, we've done a wallpaper collection digitally because the detail in it, if we'd had to do it with a screen or rotary, it would have been very, very difficult. The tiny dots and, you know, just the detail would not have worked.
1:07:50There would have been problems. And also, I love dark backgrounds. And that was also a challenge with printing. Do I love digital? No. But because I like tradition and, you know, I come from tradition. And so it's, I think there are fabulous things being done. And so I certainly would not, you know, argue it, that it wasn't a good progress. and you know it might be that's what people have to do although there are some very small workshops that do fantastic you know silkscreen prints you've got you know rapture and right who do fabulous silkscreens themselves and many many many others i think that today there is so much competition you know whether it's a carpet or whether it's a fabric or you know or a plane there is so much out there I think you have to be very brave and I think you have to be tenacious you have to be strong-minded that's what I would always say to young people today you have to follow your dream because that's what you know I've always done I've always followed the way I want to do something if I've wanted to do it I've you know I've persisted at it even if is a challenge.
1:09:11It is definitely also a less expensive way of producing, you know, a printed fabric or wallpaper. And you can achieve some really interesting effects. So I think that those are all positive, you know, positive notes to have on digital. As far as fabric, another fabric collection, that's quite hard because, well, for us, because everything is so bespoke, we're very happy to do a bespoke fabric. We can do a small yardage of most of our fabric designs. Launching a new fabric collection is always challenging for me, to be honest, because I just like to do the one piece or the one beautiful set of curtains or wallpaper for that one room.
1:10:03And so we tread carefully with launching new fabric collections. In part because you see all that there is. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the same thing, I mean, and you and I have talked about this in the past, but I'm amazed at how many people want to continue to introduce new rug collections. Oh, my goodness. And vast collections. I mean, that is incredible, Dennis, because, you know, every time I look in a magazine or online, you know, there's another person who has invented another carpet or rug. It's a lot to absorb. But if I looked at everyone and got upset about it, I wouldn't be in business still.
1:10:48So I just have to put the blinkers on and keep going at what we feel is our mission to create beautiful pieces and not try to be sidetracked by, say, the cheaper carpets. There's so many less expensive carpets out there, and that's quite hard sometimes. Well, and as you were just suggesting the tenacity and just pursuing your dream and really staying with it and not being knocked off course, do you feel that that's really what has led to both your success but also the length of your success? The time, I mean, here you are still so widely sought after by so many important designers of our day. And here they are not only coming to you to work on a bespoke carpet or tech stub, but it sounds like they really want to fold you into their projects and have you advise in any number of areas.
1:11:49So, I mean, what do you think has kept your eye fresh or your sensibility one that people are still seeking after so much today? First of all, you have to listen to your client and listen to what they are looking for and work with them. Because that's the other thing is that a lot of designers, they come to us, I feel, to get our opinion. It's not like they're walking in and just saying, OK, this is what I want and we'd like to order this. It's not about that. It will be about, well, this is the idea of the schemes of the room. And this is what makes it exciting, is that they love to get our expertise.
1:12:37They love to talk to us. I mean, I have wonderful young women working with me who have got an incredible sense of style. and they have trained in textiles, all of them, pretty much all of them, so that they are able to give that knowledge and what can be done. And they learn. We all learn, Dennis. That's the thing is that we're always learning and inventing something new. So we love challenges. I think challenges is, well, how do we do this and how do we make it better and how do we do it for the price that the client wants to do it for? So I think that that's what makes it different and what keeps us going or keeps me going.
1:13:21You know, coming into a room full of smiling faces is definitely a great way to start the day. You know, and I always get that sense that that's what I built up. That's what I love. So last summer when House and Garden gives you a Lifetime Achievement Award, and that's all very nice, right? And I'm sure you can't believe it. But also, how does that make you feel? Does that make you feel like House and Garden is saying, well, time to wrap it up. Thank you so much, Christine. I mean, because you're not feeling that way. Oh, no. At all, right? I feel like you're just hitting your stride. I feel like, right?
1:14:04You have so much to contribute. I didn't think that at all. I was literally blown away. I mean, when I got that phone call, I just couldn't believe it. First of all, those awards are normally given to interior designers. I was a textile designer, carpet designer, rug, or whatever. But I am more than that. I know that. But I just don't go around sort of blaring it out. See, and you think you're not British, but I think you're very British in that way, right? Probably, probably. But I think that, no, there was definitely not at the end of my career. There was no planning on going and living in the hills in Spain or Portugal.
1:14:52And I need it. It's very, it's essential to my life to see beautiful things and to create beautiful things. and also I think probably to have, I love the people, the clients. I love being able to discuss things with them. I like meeting new people. So as long as I can keep doing that and they'll keep listening to me, I will keep going. My mother was nearly 99 when she left this world. So maybe I've got a little bit more time left. Wow. Wow. I think a lot of people are going to hear this and they're going to want to work with you. So, I mean, I think maybe you need to get to make the phone lines or I don't know what investments you need to make in the short term.
1:15:41But I think a lot of people are going to say, yes, I want Christine van der Heerde on my project. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you. But I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with you and to talk about your remarkable career and the work that you do. and I'm thrilled that you are receiving so much admiration for it all. Thank you, Dennis. Thank you very much for this. This is great.
1:16:25us a line at podcast at businessofhome.com. If you're enjoying these conversations, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps others to discover the show. This show was produced by Fred Nikolaus and edited by Michael Castaneda. I'm Dennis Scully. Thanks again for listening, and I'll see you next week.
From the publisher
Christine Van Der Hurd is the founder of the iconic textile and rug studio Vanderhurd. After graduating from Winchester School of Art, she moved to New York in 1977 and quickly immersed herself in the city’s creative underground—spending time with Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Leibovitz, and the Studio 54 crowd.
She began her career designing prints for fashion houses like Yves Saint Laurent and Liberty of London. Her work soon caught the attention of design legends like Angelo Donghia and Jack Lenor Larsen, leading to large-scale commissions for custom rugs and textiles. Over the course of her 50-year career, Christine has collaborated with some of the most distinguished designers in the industry. In 2024, House & Garden honored her with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
On this episode of the podcast she speaks with host Dennis Scully about what it was really like arriving in New York in the late ’70s; how she learned to speak up for her business interests while working alongside her husband; and why designers like Kit Kemp and Rita Konig bring her in—not just to source– but to help shape their most important projects.
This episode is sponsored by Loloi