On the heels of her launch of furniture, rugs and lighting collections at the High Point Market, Hilary Farr, internationally renowned designer and star of HGTV’s Love It or List It, is back in town this weekend. This time for the debut of a major fabric collection for Covington Fabric & Design, a textiles leader known for its expertise in upholstery, bedding and drapery fabrics.
At Showtime, High Point’s semi-annual fabric market, Farr will be on hand in the Covington showroom (MSTT 8th Floor) to introduce her full collection of patterns, textures and signature prints designed to covet and inspire. Buyers and designers gathered hints of what’s to come during the unveiling of her upholstered furniture collection in the Braxton Culler showroom last month.
Based on that preview, Chari Voehl, Vice President of Design at Covington, suggests style-watchers should be on the look-out for Wabi Sabi, “an exceptional woven textured solid that acts as a building block within the new collection.” Available in five eye-catching color combinations, Wabi Sabi combines different novelty space-dyed filament and boucle polyester yarns in both the warp and weft directions. Since each space-dyed yarn is comprised of five different colors, a stunning end result is created when the yarns are blended together in a tight, complex weave structure that creates a lot of surface interest and depth.
Another stand-out in the Braxton Culler preview was Lounge Lizard, a modern version of a textured reptile skin jacquard design with a raised effect. According to Farr, a devoted animal lover, the fabric combines the look of a 3-D reptile skin and a tonal ombre stripe. Available in five colorways, Lounge Lizard has an almost iridescent quality that coordinates beautifully with Hello Polly, a digital print comprised of parakeets perched on a tropical vine floral. Notes Stefanie Wotton, Vice President of Marketing, “Hilary has a collection of antique botanical prints and paintings in her home and the realistic botanical elements in this pattern were inspired by an original watercolor painting on canvas from a French studio.”
Another animal-inspired print, Le Tigre, offers tribal flair and underscores the designer’s concern for the planet. According to Farr, “Tigers are mostly solitary animals, apart from the associations between mother and offspring. Requiring large territory, they face unrelenting pressures from poaching, retaliatory killings and habitat loss. In order to highlight their plight, I thought it was important to celebrate this animal in my collection, along with the African elephant.” Le Tigre’s rustic and imperfect look was captured via a two-way slub textured cotton/linen ground that enhances its primitive look, while Loxodonta, which features elephants with raised trunks to symbolize good luck, fortune and optimism, is a sophisticated novelty design printed on Covington’s Jefferson Linen.
Not to be missed as well is Farr Away, an updated interpretation of a Japanese inspired landscape and one of the collection’s statement pieces. “Inspired by Hilary’s connection to Asian-inspired design elements, the design features exquisite and detailed lightly colored embroidery with dark colored grounds for dramatic effect,” Voehl relates.
During Showtime, Farr will be on hand in the Covington showroom on Sunday, Nov. 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a luncheon and meet and greet with buyers, Covington customers and media.
