Rebecca Atwood Creates Hunter Douglas’s First Artist-Designed Collection

Textile artist Rebecca Atwood’s original paintings are being translated into window treatments for Hunter Douglas’s new Design Studio program. Photo: Courtesy of Hunter Douglas

Whereas hanging art on walls is often regarded as the finishing touch to any well-appointed room, a new collection from Hunter Douglas is putting a twist on that notion. The storied window-treatment company has partnered with Brooklyn textile artist Rebecca Atwood for its first artist collaboration. Debuting September 23, the collection of Roman and roller shades, curtains, and side panels features 43 spirited patterns and colorways designed by Atwood.

“I looked at what was in Hunter Douglas’s Design Studio Core Fabric line, and I wanted my colors to fit with that but not necessarily be repetitive,” Atwood tells Galerie. “They should be complementary but also something new. It’s a bit of a mix.”

“Rebecca is a talented, creative, and entrepreneurial textile artist—we enjoyed the freshness of her definitive style and wanted something uniquely designed for Hunter Douglas,” says Ron Rubinoff, president of Hunter Douglas Windows Design Group, who was introduced to Atwood through fellow textile designer Lori Weitzner. “Our objective was to create a very specific Hunter Douglas point of view. The collection, both the Core line and guest artist series, was highly curated and edited. When blended together it has what we feel to be a good balance of ‘essentials’ and unique design.”

Curtains with Rebecca Atwood’s Ornament design for Hunter Douglas. Photo: Courtesy of Hunter Douglas

For the patterns, Atwood mined her archive of sketchbooks and past works to find playful shapes and styles. Using advanced digital-printing techniques helped preserve the artistry so that even brushstrokes and watercolor effects are translated directly onto the fabrics. “All of my work starts in my sketchbook,” explains Atwood, who found inspiration in a potato print for the collection’s Floral Stamped pattern as well as the luxury of natural sunlight to craft the ethereal Field pattern.

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“We talked about having something that spoke to a damask but be light and airy and fresh like my designs, so the Ornament pattern was something new I created. Dotted Leaf was something I already had, but we wanted to play with scale and color for this collection.”

A roman shade with one of Rebecca Atwood’s designs coupled with curtains from Hunter Douglas’s Core Fabric line. Photo: Courtesy of Hunter Douglas

Additionally, Atwood recently introduced her second design book, Living with Color: Inspiration and How-Tos to Brighten Up Your Home (Clarkson Potter, $35). “The book is all about people finding their colors and feeling confident introducing more color into their life, because I really do believe it brings joy,” she professes. “When I was designing the Hunter Douglas collection, I was thinking about color stories and ways that the patterns within those narratives could be really easy for people to mix and match. I’m excited to see Hunter Douglas doing something like this—I can’t wait to see where they go with it next.”