Is there anything "original" in design?

I was sourcing bedding on the Anthropologie website the other day (yes, we use retail sources in the mix!) when I saw something that made my heart sink a little. It was a throw pillow. Yes, just a throw pillow, but it was a pillow made from the same sort of Guatemalan fabric that I recently used to make a custom headboard for our Tahoe project . I had gone down a rabbit hole looking for Guatemalan bedcovers and found this vintage textile on Etsy. When it arrived we realized it was woven in a circle. It was weird and we loved it. It felt like an original idea… until I saw those throw pillows online.

A few nights later I was reading Elle Decor. I had recently found the perfect, unusual light fixture for the breakfast room of our Connecticut proiect. I had searched high and low and finally found this pendant that felt both vintage and new; reminiscent of some classic lights and yet not overused. Guess what I found in the pages of ED? Yes, my never-before-seen pendant.

Source: Elle Decor. Designer Sam Cardella, photographer Lance Gerber

There were other examples this week, but you get the idea.

Why do I care?

Because we want our homes to be unique and special.

We pride ourselves on not repeating items. Once we have used a particular textile, it’s out for future projects. (I should say there are definite exceptions, like classic gingham or ticking, and we do have a favorite performance velvet, a favorite polished cotton.) Unique items, though, we keep unique to each project.

I was complaining to a showroom colleague about these discoveries and she said, but it’s all in how you put it together. Of course she’s right. In design, unless we make everything custom, we are working with building blocks. Originality comes in what we choose to use, and how we choose to use it. This is also why it’s so important to us to incorporate pieces from our homeowners; odd things they have inherited or picked up on their travels. Pieces from their childhood bedroom or art they bought at a school auction. Their own kids art, framed up and hung alongside the work of working artists. By definition, no one else will have that in their home. By definition, these pieces tell your story.