Winter is my favorite time of year to spend in the studio working out new ideas. If I’m lucky, it’s also a time to travel and find inspiration beyond the studio walls. This winter, Team Design Pool had the opportunity to travel to two very different places. I spent a snowy weekend bundled up at the […]
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I just got back from a week in beautiful San Miguel de Allende. This small city in the central highlands of Mexico took my breath away, and not just because of the altitude. The colors, the food, the people, the blue sky (it had been a while since I’d seen that in wintery New England) […]
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In the spring of 2022, I joined a group of thirteen women on a Local Flora Field Guides trip to Holland. The trip was led by Kimberly Becker, Lauren Pignatello, and Susan Becker with the goal of experiencing the country while learning about the local flora and creating field guides. Each of the three hosts […]
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How do you turn your inspiration into something tangible? Of course, sometimes you don’t need to. Inspiration for the sake of it fuels our creativity whether or not there is a direct line to a piece of art or project for work. But, it’s also helpful to save inspiration to use as resources when you […]
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For a lot of creative people, traveling can be a huge source of inspiration. Different scenes, smells, and sounds all heighten your senses and seem to open the door to new ideas. Once home, how can we take that inspiration and use it in our work? I recently got back from two weeks on Kauai, […]
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I think lots of creative people will probably agree about how fun the journey is from inspiration to finished product. I love running my own business because inspiration from my personal life often finds its way into new patterns in the Design Pool library. For example, a book I read about codebreaking turned into The […]
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On a recent visit to North Carolina, I visited the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh to see their exhibit Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau Visionary. This exhibit is on display through January 23, 2022. When I lived in North Carolina in the 1990s, this museum was one of my favorite spots to visit for […]
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This fall Team Design Pool did a lot of traveling. First, we headed to Chicago for NeoCon 2021. Then it was over to Cleveland for HCD Expo + Conference. Between both of us (Kristen & Kristin), we traveled through six different airports: Providence, Boston, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland. After a long break from traveling, it […]
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Some time around 2013, I was watching CBS Sunday Morning and was sucked into a feature on the International Folk Art Market in Santa Fe, New Mexico. By the time they went to a commercial break, Santa Fe was on my bucket list. There are many reasons to go to New Mexico, but there was […]
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Growing up one of three girls, time alone with my mom was not something that came in big doses; but was always savored. Our interests didn’t always align perfectly, but browsing through dusty antique stores or wandering through museums were always activities we could count on doing together. So when we first started thinking about […]
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If you’re a pattern and design lover like we are at Design Pool, Spain needs to be on your bucket list. Narrow that down even further to southern Spain, where the decorative Spanish tiles used in the architecture will blow you away. On a recent trip to Seville, it was inspiration overload walking through the […]
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Georgia O’Keeffe first visited New Mexico in 1917 and said later, “From then on, I was always trying to get back there.” New Mexico can have that effect on people. The big sky, the clear air, the piñon trees dotting the landscape, it’s no wonder so many artists flock to New Mexico. And then keep […]
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During her recent trip to Ireland and Scotland, Design Pool founder Kristen Dettoni spent seven days in the Scottish Highlands with ACE Camps. One of those days was spent visiting the Knockando Woolmill, where Kristen was just as inspired by the history as the fabrics. Knockando derives from the Scottish Gaelic cnoc cheannachd, meaning “Hill of Commerce,” […]
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About three years ago, I learned of a company called ACE Camps through a colleague. I describe it as an adult creative summer camp. It has always been a bit of struggle for me to find friends with similar vacation interests, but when I heard about ACE Camps, I decided to step outside of my comfort zone […]
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Running your own creative business can be incredibly fulfilling and rewarding, and the life of an entrepreneur is never boring. But a creative business is not all drawing and drooling over color swatches. It’s also sending out checks, figuring out why your website isn’t updating and making sure there is toilet paper in the bathroom. […]
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