Textile Designer We Love: Rebecca Atwood
The Brooklyn-based designer pulls inspiration from a childhood spent in Cape Cod to create one-of-a-kind home textiles.
Hometown: Cape Cod, Massachusetts. USA.
Current Home: Brooklyn, New York, where Atwood lives with her husband and two kittens and works out of a studio in Sunset Park. An industrial, waterfront neighborhood, Sunset Park offers a south-facing, warehouse-turned-studio space where she can set up dying and cutting stations and line the walls with multiple mood boards.
Design Philosophy: “You should be able to mix and match and tell your story through pattern. Often, when people think of patterns, they think loud, overwhelming, and crazy, but I don’t look at it that way. I consider my pieces modern day heirlooms—you can pass them along because they’re built to last.”
Signature Piece: Shibori pillows, inspired by the 8th century Japanese dying technique and the wavy pattern left on the sand when a tide comes in. “You can control it to some degree,” says Atwood, “but what makes it beautiful is that it’s one of a kind.”
Aesthetic in Five Words (or Less): Easy, livable pattern.
Inspired By: Cape Cod, Sullivan’s Island and the Isle of Palms in South Carolina. Lady Crabs, which have leopard-like spots on their shells that Atwood has translated into a textile design, and the day-to-day bustle of Brooklyn.
The Design Process: Everything starts in her sketchbook (she rotates a couple of oversize Muji notebooks at a time so there’s no waiting for paint to dry). The sketches are done with India ink or gouache before getting scanned into a computer.
Resume Standouts: After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in fine art, Atwood worked at Anthropologie , designing everything from bowls to bedding. Before launching her line in March 2013, she was on the creative team at a boutique consultancy where she worked with Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kate Spade, and the trend-forecasting powerhouse WGSN. “I started my brand with 60 pillows— I printed, dyed, and painted everything myself,” says Atwood. “When we sold out in two months, I had to figure out how to do it on a larger scale.”
What’s Next: She’s busy at work on a book called Pattern, which will be out next summer and features tips on incorporating patterns into your home alongside a survey of beautiful homes that get it right. New wallpaper and fabric techniques, including bleeding, are also on the horizon.
See more of Atwood’s designs at rebeccaatwood.com
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