The young founders, Liza Serratore and Claire Russo, met when they were 15 and have been creative influences ever since. The recent college grads were seeking global adventure after graduating from college in 2009, so they headed for Asia to teach in international schools. Liza ended up in Shanghai, teaching third grade Language Arts, and Claire, a great artist, ventured to Northern Thailand where she taught I.B. Art.
In June 2010, they met up in Shanghai, where they chanced upon a local fabric workroom that created exquisite hand-dyed pieces using indigo and a soybean resist. The technique been a Chinese mainstay for ages. Yet the more they researched, the more they learned about the Nankeen dyeing’s precarious situation amidst an increasingly mechanized textile industry. In response to this, Liza shares, "we founded LuRu Home to not only bring patronage back to these deep blue printed cottons and linens, but also to bring this incredible process to the world marketplace. "
Living in Shanghai, the gals work with two of the remaining six families who continue to practice the traditional production of these fabrics. Claire manages creative production, and Liza focuses on business development and marketing. Two small studios dye their cloth, and their intern helps with the language barrier. This duo made a striking debut at the Gift Show. I hope you will seek out and support their beautifully creative designs.
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4 comments:
I saw the word Indigo and just had to hop over from twitter. It's been a big inspiration for me lately too... I agree - it's the perfect shade for overlapping and mixing patterns. It's just a natural for this color - I feel the same way about Delft, with table settings... this type of blue is always just right for me. : )
I saw this as well at the NY Gift show and now have a fabrics sheet in my email from them. There is something about blue and white that I really like. Perhaps it's the calm freshness. Good stuff. ~best
BEAUTFIUL!
Love this color!
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