Herron Clothier is a cottage industry weaving company that makes heirloom quality accessories for the home and body. Dee, the amazingly talented one lady show behind Herron Clothier, focuses on crafted, slow design using materials sourced in the US and organic when possible.
Back in July, we took a weaving workshop taught by Dee and fell in love with her craft. So we were super excited to catch up a bit when she invited us to visit her studio this past week. We got some love from her too cute pup, Penny, talked about the Taj Mahal and our attempts at dieting our endearingly overweight cats (separate topics of discussion, not surprisingly), chowed down on donuts, and got a peek at a few designs for some very exciting upcoming projects. As we left, Dee told us her plan for the day was to weave ten pillows. And then weave ten more pillows a day for the next ten days. Holy moly, girl! We're in awe of this darling mad genius of a woman.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your brand.
My name is Dee, I am a weaver and textile designer in Chicago and I own a textile company called Herron Clothier. I produce woven accessories for the home + body, focusing on hand crafted, slow design, using materials sourced from small US Farms.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Morning is the most important time for me, it's when I am the most relaxed and it is when I feel the most peaceful. I get up really early so I can enjoy feeling like I am the only one in the city that is awake. I usually get up between 6 - 6:30 AM, make coffee and take my dog, Penny, for a long walk if the weather is nice. This is relaxing to me and good head space time. I always eat a good breakfast because I often forget to eat lunch. I head to the studio with Penny around 8 or 8:30 AM and generally work til 7 or 8 PM. Right now, I am weaving a collection of limited edition pillows for CB2. I am in the midst of designing a collection of rugs and blankets for Land of Nod, sampling woven pillow designs for a new hotel in Chicago and working on plans to weave a line of pillows for the Maine based yarn company Quince & Co. All of this work is slated to come out next year. Plus I also teach weaving. So as you can see my days are pretty jam packed. Up until August, I was running my studio 30 hours a week and working a full time day job. It got to be way to much so I have just made the leap into running Herron full time. These days, I can usually get into a flow state and before I know it 10 hours have gone by and I've hardly noticed. Sometimes its hard for me to make myself leave the studio, but then Penny looks up at me dying for a long walk and I know it's time to call it a day. I really love what I do, but balance is important and making time for things outside of work is necessary.
What is inspiring you right now?
I find that inspiration comes at the most unlikely times and in the most unlikely of places. For instance, I was walking the dog one morning and as I was standing there I noticed these cracks in the sidewalk, their path and intersections were so delicate and beautiful. Line quality is something I think about all the time in my work so when I notice something as seemingly unnoticeable as cracks in the sidewalk it strikes me. The color of someone's shirt on the bus or maybe the way the sunlight is hitting the facade of building, creating a slice of asymmetrical shapes. I am influenced by architecture. I like to walk around and look at buildings and break them down to their simplest forms. I am always inspired by nature, which is the most perfect place to find balance, harmony and color.
What are you into outside of Herron Clothier?
I work between 50-70 hours per week so honestly, just sitting on my couch in sweatpants with a cup of coffee doing absolutely nothing is literally divine to me. Other than that, I am working with some ladies on establishing a chapter of Fibershed here in IL and I run a group called Skill Share where women teach women life skills to empower each other and establish strong community bonds. I like to have dinner parties with my friends and spend time with the people I love.
What's in store for Herron Clothier in the coming months and years?
Next month I am traveling to India to work with a family cooperative of artisan weavers to produce rugs for Land of Nod. I am really excited about and humbled by this opportunity. I'd like to do more one-of-a-kind tapestry and rug weaving commissions in the future. Large scale things for private collections and I would like to re-focus on my own line next year. So I am working toward these things. And ya know, I really need to update my website, but that is a task that always seems to end up at the bottom of the to-do list somehow.
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