Kearsley - Goddess of Linen
Online, November 3, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Heather Kearsley Wolf, named after her paternal great-great grandmother Margaret Kearsley, comes by her profession naturally. The Sonoma Valley based designer has been surrounded by fabric and sewing machines for as long as she can remember. When Wolf was only a small child, still carrying around her bottle, her parents would show her beautiful fabrics and would teach her to touch and feel the quality. Wolf's father was in the men's clothing business in design and sales and her mother, Gail Wolf, got her start designing and sewing couture clothing while at Macalester College, and her maternal grandmother had a custom workroom for interior designers. It was at the early age of four that Wolf learned to sew sitting on her mother's lap.
The Kearsley family had at one time owned seven textile production mills in the area of Lancashire, dating back 400 years. Long before Wolf's time, Margaret Kearsley had sold off the Kearsley family mills one at a time.
Heather earned a Bachelor of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo's College of Architecture & Environmental Design. Following graduation, Wolf moved to Chicago and worked as a commercial construction superintendent. After six months, Wolf realized that construction was not her future and quit her job to pursue her passion for design. While in Chicago, Wolf started an apprenticeship with interior designer Barbara Olsen of Barbara Olsen Environmental Design of Los Angeles. During this time, Wolf also attended the International Academy of Merchandising and Design for interior design graduate studies and opened her own design firm, Kearsley Design.
Wolf's career really got underway while living in Northwest Arkansas. She had the opportunity to work on beautiful and elaborate traditional and contemporary homes and work with craftspeople who added to the depth of experience she has today. It was in Arkansas that Wolf had some of most gratifying and challenging design jobs of her career. Wolf returned to Northern California in 1997 where she continued her work in interior design and in 1999 started Kearsley, Inc. to make fine hand made table linens for her clients. The first production was in a Vietnamese convent where nuns taught embroidery to young women off the streets. Not only was Wolf able to create detailed stitching and embroidery in Vietnam, but she helped give these women and the children in the on-site orphanage another start in life.
Wolf set out to make the perfect linen by traveling the world and paying close attention to every detail of ultra-high-end fabric from the start of the raw material to the weaving and coloring, all the way to stitching and embroidering. It is through her many travels, both nationally and internationally that Wolf has learned where to source the best raw materials available, and how to get every little piece from one country to the next. Never one to pass on history, Wolf considers herself a very eclectic designer constantly combining modern and traditional designs in every aspect of her work.
Kearsley currently features five key collections - Essentials, Tyrolean, Charlotte, Soleil, Paradise and Couture. From goats herded in Mongolia and Scotland, alpaca in Peru, weavers in Italy, Belgium and France, embroiderers in the United States, Vietnam and India, Turkish and French terry, and sewing in the United States, Lithuania, Italy and Vietnam, Kearsley's luxury bed, bath and table linens use only the finest quality fibers and craftsmanship available. Wolf has created the world's most comfortable, functional and exquisite bed, bath and table linens for homes, hotels, yachts and aircraft. Other key items produced by Kearsley include luxurious cashmere throws and robes, towels, baby linens and blankets. Kearsley also has a complete line of GOTS certified organic linens and cotton and bamboo robes and towels.
Wolf is dedicated to creating a brand that is natural and does not harm our environment. "I believe that luxury linens should be truly responsible to the earth and the people making them. It is not just about saving the earth, but about improving life for those living on earth."
"It is nice that Kearsley is agile enough for us to take care of every particular need for our clients. I enjoy creating textiles and finished goods for and with our clients" states Wolf. She goes on to say, "Their individual projects inspire me to create new fabrics and finished goods to meet their needs. I enjoy the challenge and the creativity involved. One of the best things a client has ever said to me is, 'The gravitational pull of the earth grows stronger when you are in Kearsley sheets.'"
What one will discover when lying in Kearsley sheets or using the linens is that they truly are like nothing you have ever felt before. They set the new standard for sleek, smooth and luxurious comfort. David Bolling from Sonoma magazine says it best, "Heather's sheets could last longer than your car, mortgage or current marriage. The quality goes far deeper than the label, and if you treat them well you can hand them down to your kids, but only after your gone."
www.kearsleycouture.com
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