Q & A WITH PEPPER CORY ON THE NEW TOWN AND COUNTRY COLLECTION
Today I had the honor of being able to interview a quilt star in the industry, Pepper Cory. Pepper has become such a friend of the Studioe team that we feel like she is part of the family. Having been a quilt maker since 1972, Pepper has long standing fame in the quilting industry. She has been intrinsically involved in the quilting industry in many facets including: designing quilts, writing about quilts, teaching, demonstrating, championing others in the industry and at one time she even owned a quilt shop called Culpepper’s Quilts in East Lansing, MI.
Now she has added a new path to her long list of quilt industry trailblazing by designing a textile collection for Studioe, called Town & Country. The premise of the collection is based on her discovery of how taupe inspired color schemes work so well against brilliant colors and equally as well with black and whites. She studied the taupe trend and wrote an excellent article in the October 2012 edition of FabShop News issue, called “The Taupe Tide.”
Q: We are so excited about your Town and Country collection for Studioe Fabrics. What are your thoughts about the new line?
PC: The line is still currently on paper and it is just now at the mill getting made into fabric. I am very excited to see it come to life. I have enjoyed this rare opportunity to work with the lead textile artist at Studioe, Megan Downer. The relationship with Megan through this process has been very rewarding. She took my inspiration and design ideas and has come up with a palette of colors that you can dab a pen into and create a lovely piece on its own or meld with other colors to create something unique. This is a collection that if I saw it in the store, I would buy every bolt.
Q: Where did the ideas come from?
PC: I have always enjoyed the subdued palette of the taupe fabrics that were coming from Japan, though they didn’t call it taupe. The idea was to look at organic and natural elements and create a line that can go with many things. I love novelty prints, as they can be so fun, but they can also be quickly dated. I really like designing quilts myself. When I do, I like to start with a color focus and then you have to add in the medium tones, light tones and then find the darks that will blend. In this collection, all of those hues are present. There are designs that can be used to blend or accent in every color value.
Q: Are there two separate color ways in Town and Country or do you see the colors as all merging into one palette?
PC: That’s a good question. Town and Country is a collection that plays nicely with other colors. This line, while neutral, has an echo of the homespun feel. It is like something that could be achieved through natural dyes and the look of organics, but it’s produced with modern fade-proof dyes, of course. The color palette itself was truly a collaboration with Megan who brought the spectrum together while insuring that we covered both warm and cool colors. The warm rusts and beiges work very well with the blue-grays and blacks. I do see it as a cohesive look that would work equally as well with all the brights that are so popular right now. I think this collection would work very well in the modern quilt movement, which I love. It is also very appealing to traditional quilters who look for the homespun feel. That’s why this collection is so appropriately named. Town and Country is both modern and traditional, it is really timeless. This collection has very broad appeal.
Studioe would like to thank Pepper Cory for this interview today and we look forward to more conversations in the future.
The Town and Country line is now available to order at www.studioefabrics.com. With every full collection order, store owners will get a free Hexagon Quilt Kit, with 63 pre-cut hexagons. Delivery is August 2013.