Travel can be inspiring in ways that go way beyond the expected. Product designer, entrepreneur, and frequent traveler Annie Selke loved her stays at Firmdale Hotels in New York and London so much she became a huge fan of their co-founder and designer, Kit Kemp. When the duo finally had the opportunity to work together—with Annie in Massachusetts and Kit in London—on a line of rugs, bedding, and accessories, creative sparks flew, and a lasting bond was formed. The collaborators reveal what brought them together, how Kit’s experience in hospitality brought a fresh vision to designs for the home, why working long distance was not a problem, and what’s next on their agenda.
Additional resources:
- Kit Kemp Unveils Colorful Collaboration with Annie Selke via Galerie Magazine
- An Interview With Annie Selke via Apartment Therapy
- Designer Spotlight: The Eclectic Style Of British Designer Kit Kemp via House and Home
- Design Insider’s Guide To New York City via Chairish
Connect with Chairish and our guests on Instagram:
- Chairish: @chairishco
- Michael Boodro: @michaelboodro
- Kit Kemp: @kitkempdesignthread
- Annie Selke: @annieselke
Read and listen to the entire episode:
Michael Boodro 0:00
Designers understand collaboration. They regularly work with architects, contractors, artisans and vendors. They know that if collaborations go smoothly, they can inspire all parties to new heights, or they can end in disaster. And nowhere can collaborations be more rewarding or more risky than in product design.
I have with me today two women who are hugely successful on their own, but working together have achieved a new level of success.
Kit Kemp is a British interior designer who with her husband Tim founded Firmdale hotels, a group of 10 Hotels including the Ham Yard, the Haymarket and the Soho Hotel in London, and the Crosby Street and Whitby hotels in New York. But what she really did was redefine what a boutique hotel could be. With her Haute bohemian style, a signature mix of British with vivid floral, folkloric touches and bright colors and patterns. She proved that charm and luxury could coexist. Her hotels are proven so popular that they have transformed not only hotel design, but also influenced how thousands of people want to live at home. That has led to partnerships with Wedgewood, Wilton Carpets, Christopher Farr and Chelsea Textiles, as well as several other brands. She’s also the author of four books, including her latest “Design Secrets: How To Design Any Space and Make It Your Own. Welcome Kit.
Kit Kemp 1:51
Thank you. It’s lovely to be here.
Michael Boodro 1:54
Since studying textile Science at the University of Vermont and getting a degree in merchandising from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, Annie Selke has become one of the greatest successes in home goods.
She founded the linens and bedding company Pine Cone Hill in 1994, and 10 years later launched Dash and Albert Rugs. Most recently, under her own name, she has expanded into furniture, tabletop, wallpapers, bath curtains, and even sleepwear.
From her headquarters in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which was formerly a mill that produced uniforms and blankets for the Union Army during the Civil War, she oversees her growing empire with her most recent success being her new collaboration with Kit. Hello, Annie.
Annie Selke 2:39
Hello, Michael.
Michael Boodro 2:41
I’m so pleased to talk to you both and learn how you found each other. How your cross Atlantic collaboration worked on a day to day level, what you hope to achieve, and what’s next for you both. So Kit, I want to start with you. Because to me, you have reached such a level of success that you probably could have collaborated with anybody. So what was it about Annie or Annie’s offer that made you decide this was somebody you really wanted to work with? How did this come about? How did you two first meet?
Kit Kemp 3:13
Well, Annie contacted me directly, which is always the nicest way to meet somebody. And I immediately connected with Annie. She’s got attitude. She’s somebody who’s strong. She’s not only clever, and a good business woman, but she’s got real heart. And so immediately we were going to enjoy each other’s company. I would never do a collaboration with someone that I don’t get on with. Along the way, I think I’ve made a lifelong friend.
Kit Kemp 3:47
But you know, the most important thing was that we both had a dog with the same name.
Michael Boodro 3:55
So it’s safe.
Annie Selke 3:57
Man, it is a weird name. The name is Impy. It’s not Rover right, it’s Impy.
Michael Boodro 4:02
My goodness, that destiny.
Annie Selke 4:05
Right. It’s Impy.
Michael Boodro 4:06
Right. So Annie, why did you reach out to Kit? Why did you feel that she was the person who was going to bring something to your expansive line of products that something that you yourself or your team couldn’t come up with?
Annie Selke 4:21
Well, I have invested time and money in Firmdale Hotels, because once I first discovered it, I think it was in the late 90s, the Pelham Hotel, which was that first or was that the second, Kit?
Kit Kemp 4:33
That was the second. Dorset Square was the first.
Annie Selke 4:38
I was lucky enough to stay there early on in my travels to London, and it was an incredible space. So I was so taken by it and the concierge understood my wonderment and awe and he said, would you like to see any of the rooms that aren’t occupied?
Michael Boodro 4:58
Oh yeah, that’s always fun when you get invited to see the other rooms.
Annie Selke 5:03
That particular hotel had shadow boxes outside of every room that had the scheme of what was in the room. It had a drawing of the furniture and swatches of the fabrics used. That was just a game changer. So from then on, I always stayed in Firmdale hotels, whenever I was in London, or in New York. I was thrilled when they opened the Crosby, and then the Whitby. So I stayed there a lot, so much so that in one year, I had to ask my accounting department, would it be better if I got an apartment in New York? I was staying at the Firmdale hotels so much. Even though I was investing quite a bit, I was like, you know what, I still want to go there. I don’t want my own apartment. I want to live in Kit’s world for those days and weeks that I’m in New York. I have been a big fan for a long time. We get approached all the time about potential collaborations and you know, we politely say no. Then occasionally, it’s like, oh, yes, that sounds amazing. And in this instance, having said no, a number of times to our PR person, Elizabeth Blitzer, she said, Annie, oh my god, if you could collaborate with anybody in the world, who would it be? I said “Like hello, Kit Kemp, I know that!”. She said, oh, well, let me see if I can get her contact info. Elizabeth put us in touch and I wrote a fangirl letter and said we both love textiles, and I think we could do an incredible collection together. The rest is history.
Michael Boodro 6:39
How many years ago was this?
Kit Kemp 6:41
It was about March 20, or something like that. It was just after the pandemic started? Because, this was a sort of pandemic zoom relationship and it’s London, New York, and India. There are some big distances involved there.
Annie Selke 7:05
Also, Lenux, where I am now.
Kit Kemp 7:07
And Barbados too!
Michael Boodro 7:09
Global enterprise!
Kit Kemp 7:11
A global enterprise. And of course, that’s how we started, because to give it sort of structure, which Annie was very good at helping us with, we decided to break it up to London, which is dipping your toe into color, New York, which is barefoot elegance in a concrete city, and then Barbados, which is like vibrant, calypso fabulous colors. We collected collections of colors for each collection and ideas are never the problem. We’ve always got millions of ideas and we could explore those over zoom and then send things to and fro. The other thing was, you have to remember that we were in a pandemic, and my hotels were more or less closed for about a year and a half. For my design team to get their teeth into something else, they absolutely love that adaptability. I mean, it’s so much fun for us to do furniture, carpet rugs, cutlery, glassware, you name it, we’ll do it. It keeps them on their toes. I like to keep my gang busy.
Michael Boodro 8:18
But it’s interesting, because at the beginning of the pandemic, early on, a lot of designers were freaked out thinking they were going to lose all their business. Companies laid off people thinking they were going to lose business, which of course, quite the reverse happened. And people became so home obsessed that this led to shortages. So Annie, how did you see that? How were you a little pressured?
Annie Selke 8:39
I wasn’t really pressured. It was more teaming up with Kit. It just was the circumstance under which it started. I have to say, I think it ran incredibly smoothly via zoom. We have this huge TV screen in our conference room and our design team would meet with their design team via zoom. We did send actual textiles back and forth because everybody’s monitors are different and we were speaking the same color language.
Michael Boodro 9:09
Texture is a hard thing to get over zoom.
Annie Selke 9:12
We would send them tons of our samples to feel all and see what Kit liked and didn’t like. It was actually remarkably efficient, because you had to bring stuff up on the big screen anyways. We would all look at it and say “okay, what about this pattern?” I remember the first time we saw Lily Pad, which has become a runaway success, and I remember the artwork for it and I thought, that’s a great one right there. It worked really, really well. I would say even hopefully post pandemic, doing zoom back and forth is useful and being in person is wonderful too but because we’re on different continents, Zoom is always going to be perfect.
Kit Kemp 9:58
Do you remember with Lily Pads, I remember you said, “Oh, well I think we need a cushion.” So we actually just designed it over zoom with all the colors and used Photoshop. I mean what’s been so fabulous is I designed different rugs before but never acquired so many different things. We had wool micro hooked. We had jute, micro hooked cotton, and then PET, of course, which is made of old plastic bottles or dustbin lids. I didn’t really know and had to think, as I thought I only wanted to have natural fabrics and everything else. When I suddenly thought about it and looked at it and as Annie says, it feels like wool, but it wears like iron. What’s more, I mean, how often have we designed for a conservatory. They are beautiful fabrics, and then a year later, they fade to nothing. When we suddenly used PET and these rugs, we could do in lovely vibrant colors. I always remember Annie telling me that they had a litter of puppies, and the puppies were born. They grew up. Then, that rug had to be thrown outside. I think it snowed, we forgot about the rug and then suddenly the snow disappeared. And then there was this immaculate rug that could just be then brought back in.
Annie Selke 11:31
It wasn’t on the sales room floor. There was just like one of those ads on TV like Tarnish because it really walked the talk. It was amazing.
Michael Boodro 11:41
Yeah, you really pioneered that Annie, with Dash and Albert.
Annie Selke 11:45
Yeah, it’s funny. I would say yes, we were the first ones to bring the first polypropylene and one of the first ones to bring PET in rugs, and that my textile background and the science of it always intrigues me. I’m always in India asking “Okay, what’s new? What fibers are being developed that have specific functional qualities that can be incorporated into rugs?” So yes, we were early on that curve.
Michael Boodro 12:13
Right. Were you both agreed from the beginning on what the range of products would be? Or was it something that grew as you were working together?
Annie Selke 12:22
It was really going to be what we do, which is rugs and bedding, and honestly, we got so wrapped up in rugs that we didn’t end up doing as much bedding as we wanted to do. That will be part two of this. Also now we know what is resonating, and there’s a lot that’s resonating on both sides of the pond, so to speak and where that leads us next. I’m looking forward to that.
Michael Boodro 12:51
So what for both of you has been the biggest surprise in terms of the response and the collection? What’s been selling the most? Was there something you love that’s not selling as much? Kit, what have you found?
Kit Kemp 13:02
Well, it’s interesting, because when you design, there will be those hero pieces. You think, possibly, they’re not going to be the big sellers but they’re going to photograph well. We can set the tone. Graphic was one of them, which is a very powerful design. You know, it’s amazing, because it’s doing exceptionally well. I keep thinking oh, my goodness, it looks great here and looks great there. It’s actually much more versatile than we ever thought. Then you get the workhorse rugs as well, that will be much easier to use at the same time. It has been fascinating.
Michael Boodro 13:45
What about you, Annie? What do you think?
Annie Selke 13:47
I agree. When I architected the program, I love using a spreadsheet! I looked at it specifically for editorial and workhorse and divided it up because we have to have the fun factor. So in this wool grouping, we can have two editorial pieces, and six workhorse pieces, ones that just would sell and sell and sell. It turns out the ones that are editorial have done extremely well. We’re already working on recolors of Graphic and Lilypad which is pretty and it makes a statement rug. It’s been out there,but it comes in four colors and Kit and I have both incorporated it into our houses as it’s a great pattern. It’s repetitive enough but at a big scale it has something that captures the imagination and people love it. So that’s pretty exciting.
Kit Kemp 14:47
It’s sort of abstract, but also because of the mild threads, it’s got such depth to the design so that when you look at it, it takes more than one look to take it in. But what I love about it is it’s got a good size and it makes a statement on its own. If you put it in a room, which is just very slightly tired, you know, like your white sofa is turning slightly gray. Suddenly, I mean, it happens to us all, especially if you have animals, dogs and children, which we all do. Suddenly you put it down, and it freshens the room. So I mean, never underestimate what a good rug can do. It’s quite extraordinary.
Michael Boodro 15:54
I am interested, Annie, in what you were saying about how you conceived the collection with the editorial pieces and then the standbys. I always think whenever somebody comes out with a new collection, how do you know you’re offering something that isn’t in the market already? Or that it is something different? How much of that thinking goes into it? Clearly, like you said, you love a spreadsheet and this is your business and it’s great to have those pieces.
Annie Selke 16:18
Exactly, yeah.
Michael Boodro 16:22
What was your aim and when you two got together, did you think about if this is not in the marketplace and this is something we can bring?
Annie Selke 16:28
Well, I mean, I think Kit’s brand and the Firmdale brand stands above all. They provide quality, comfort and then color. They are excellent design homes away from home that truly transport you. Right after spending a few days in Waco, Texas, in a courtyard Marriott I mean, I am never going to stay anywhere again that does not uplift me in some way because I travel a great deal, right? So with Kit’s hotel rooms, you’re thrilled to be there, you get something out of it, you leave with something fabulous. I just get something out of it every time I go. I think that is Kit’s gift or one of her many gifts. I knew that channeling her and our combined love of textiles into this collection would be amazing and extraordinary. She’s technically not coming from the world of interior design. Yes, you’re an interior designer, but I don’t think of that as your first and foremost thing. It’s coming from hospitality. It’s coming from creating temporary spaces for fabulous people all over the world. I thought that would resonate with our customer, both wholesale and retail.
Michael Boodro 17:59
Kit, one of the things that I think you bring to all of your designs and hotels, which is something you don’t think about, is charm. I think charm is sort of a totally undervalued quality of design. It certainly was practically unknown in hotel design. I think that’s one of the things that Annie was responding to. How you create charm is magic to me.
Annie Selke 18:24
It’s anti-sleek, right? Because all hotels seem to have the same formula. In some cases, that can be wonderful but you’re not getting anything out of it. Except maybe nice sheets.
Kit Kemp 18:37
I think the thing is that you can actually come in the front door and out the back door without actually taking much in because you have to make the most of every space and every space should have its own character that segues into the next space and has that design thread. There should be that adventure and there should be that enjoyment and that there should be fun and you should actually smile. If I can pique the interest or the curiosity of the most bored businessman, and you know, I have seen that this man will be standing with his briefcase, looking at some artwork on the wall. He is completely, blissfully unaware of everybody around him. You can see he’s thinking to himself, should I like this? This is rather colorful and not what we’re not used to. There should be just that feeling of curiosity and also bringing the child out in you. With our designs, we love color. Color makes you happy, color adds spice to your life and we wouldn’t be without it. I think that must be one of the reasons why Annie may have asked us.
Michael Boodro 19:45
I think Americans tend to be a little afraid of color. For years, it was beige.
Annie Selke 19:50
Yes. They like gray. They like taupe. Then blue. I believe in blue. I believe in gray. I think, you know, life lived only in that palette is really missing something,
Michael Boodro 20:07
Right, and it seems like it’s only within the last five or six years that even green as basic has entered into the conversation.
Annie Selke 20:14
We were early on green. Actually, it’s interesting. We were too early on green, it would seem but because of the pandemic, it got pushed by six months. It was going to be introduced in the fall and it ended up being introduced, six months later. We did well with green.
Kit Kemp 20:31
But I think Annie is very clever, you see, because I think she thought to herself, by the end of this two year stint, people have this longing to get out. They will be more adventurous and they will want to have that color doing something for them. So I think it was a clever move as well.
Michael Boodro 20:50
The pandemic made people really want to reconnect with nature in a way. You are home generally, so you if you had an outdoor space or a park or backyard – I think people really did connect with that. They realized they wanted to bring some of that in. That’s been an interesting aspect and what people are spending on outdoor furniture and landscaping and all of that has been in nurseries. Now the prices are through the roof, and you still can’t find anything, because everyone is into making great outdoor spaces, which again, Annie, you were a precursor with that.
Annie Selke 21:25
Yeah, well, the outdoor rugs. It’s interesting. I think things do go in cycles. It can take a very long time. Generally, people will spend so much more on fashion than they will on their houses, which is crazy to me, because you’re in your house a lot. You wear an outfit, and you can look fabulous, but it’s important to have and live in a place that you love. I think the pandemic, one of the best things that did was sort of hit people upside the head and say, wow, I’m spending a lot of time here and I don’t really like it. I think I create a home and an interior that serves your soul and the purposes at hand, whether it’s business or raising children, doing zoom education. Whatever it is, making the space work for you, in an uplifting way, is critically important. I’m glad that that made people focus on that and I think that lasts, right?
Michael Boodro 22:27
Well, the white sofa gets a little gray as Kit was saying, but it lasts!
Annie Selke 22:33
I think the interest is in making your home better.
Michael Boodro 22:37
Exactly, the enjoyment of your home. Once you’re tuned into it. I don’t think it goes away. Absolutely. Now, you had mentioned chapter two. So what are you women thinking about next? You are incredibly creative. Are you expanding to different color palettes?
Annie Selke 22:56
It’s funny. Yes, we’re both very creative. I have to put my Excel hat on here because I was one of those people that if I took a test, I always wanted to get it back really quickly to see how I did. It’s the same thing when you launch a collection. We launched it in New York at the beginning of March and it was wholesale, retail, our catalog mail and then you wait and look at the results and I get daily sales reports for the top 10 products for direct to consumer of the past day. Looking at it I’m like, oh my god, Lily Pad Spring , Lily Pad Spring and all the Kit Kemp ones were peppered in. We have lots of products, I mean, 1000s and 1000s. To see Kit’s product in the top 10, I would say there would be at least three that continue. We’re probably out of stuff now because it sold really fast. So that is very exciting to see and that they’re responding not only to wool, but PET and cotton, the pillows, the quilts. People love it, which is great.
Michael Boodro 24:10
That’s great. I know it’s also available and selling very well on Chairish.
Annie Selke 24:15
Yeah, it is available. So when I think okay, what are the next progressions? I like to see, okay, this is working, consider why it’s working, what’s happening there and then build into that. Specifically, Graphic is selling extremely well. I jumped into recolor suggestions pretty quickly and have been working back and forth with the Kit’s team. Safety Net has also done extremely well and is one of my favorites. That is in wool currently. It’s like, you know what, we should make that in PET, so we’ll do that. There’s some sort of light bulb moments and I like to pursue the light bulb moments right away and get those into development because the development cycle is long. It’s really the order cycle is longer than the development cycle these days. So it’s, you know, it’s eight months before I can get something out that’s new. So it kind of annoys my team because I’m a little impatient.
Michael Boodro 25:21
Good. Right?
Annie Selke 25:22
Well, I’m really delighted to hear that. That’s pretty fun, because we’ve got quite a few ideas.
Michael Boodro 25:26
Exactly. It’s interesting to me that both of you are usually creative, but you’re also very smart business women, and you don’t take it personally, in a sense of this is selling well, something else that you love maybe it isn’t selling well. That doesn’t mean it’s lesser than but it’s just not resonating in the marketplace so you adapt it, you move on you let it go.
Annie Selke 25:48
You buy the ones for yourself, or you get the ones for you. When things you know, they’re like, oh, really we’re discontinuing that? That’s a shame. So I placed my orders. I do and every day I go through that.
Kit Kemp 26:00
Yeah, no, that’s true, because I find that my favorites change anyway because I was suddenly looking at Always Greener the other day, and that’s going to be perfect for this wow house that we’re doing in London. So then I started looking at that range and then we were starting to look at some of the Tread Lightly as well. And yet, I had always thought I loved Hotline, and Eternal Spring. We have great names, actually.
Annie Selke 26:27
They’re wonderful.
Michael Boodro 26:28
That’s good. Believe me, I know coming up with names and headlines and marketing materials is not easy so I have enormous respect for that. The names are really important. So in terms of the next collection, where are you looking for inspiration? Kit, what are you looking at? What’s enticed you because you see a lot.
Kit Kemp 26:51
I see everything that’s coming out. Oh, my gosh, yeah, behind me. It’s like an old cave of antiquities and new things. Also, we just love some of the Sean Scully artwork. So I’ve just been playing wonderful artists. He’s a fabulous artist so I’ve just been looking at those as well. There’s a lot of different things.
Michael Boodro 27:18
Those are a lot of darker, richer colors.
Kit Kemp 27:21
Yeah, yeah. They are quite rich. They’re quite dark. They’re quite strong.
Michael Boodro 27:23
Right. Interesting.
Annie Selke 27:25
I’m headed to London soon in the next few weeks and I hope that we’ll zip through a lot of different things.
Kit Kemp 27:36
We’ve got the launch in London. We’re going to do it on the roof terrace. We’re longing for good weather. I’ve just got everybody working on how we’re going to show them all off. It will be really fun. Annie, I’m so glad you’re coming.
Michael Boodro 27:48
Now in terms of retail and selling, because obviously, most of this collection is either wholesale or sold online. I’d love to get a sense. Annie, what do you see ahead for brick and mortar? I have a little sense that maybe small home shops are actually coming back. Do you see that?
Annie Selke 28:15
We have a big network of lovely brick and mortar stores. We have 4,000 customers so anything that we ever did in brick and mortar is stepping on their toes. I always feel like they brought me to the party.
Michael Boodro 28:33
You don’t want to compete with your best?
Annie Selke 28:34
I don’t. At the moment, I don’t know about brick and mortar.
Michael Boodro 28:40
Now you know, are they doing well? Are they? Do you think they’re throttling?
Annie Selke 28:43
They are doing extraordinarily well, and I think right now people were pent up and people wanted to go shopping again. Our wholesale sales are way up because they were closed, like Kit’s hotels. A lot of these stores were shut down and had to scramble and figure out new ways to engage with their customers during the pandemic. Now they’re open and they’re selling a lot of stuff.
Michael Boodro 29:09
Right, great. Kit, do you see there’s a place that would be the perfect showcase for your work? Is there something you like to dream about having? I mean, I know you have little shops and hotels, but have you ever thought about doing a Kit Kemp World as a store in London?
Annie Selke 29:27
Yeah.
Kit Kemp 29:29
We are just building a new hotel in Tribeca, so that’s going to be another showcase for all our fabulous designs, and we can’t wait for it. I mean, we’re so busy working on it right now, along with quite a few other things as well. It’s like one step at a time. The thing is, you can get too big. Mine is always going to be a cottage industry. I don’t want to take over the world. I don’t want to become Hilton Hotels. I don’t want to make it feel like it’s work. You know, I’m here. My office is like a house. Even though it’s quite untidy, that’s the way I love it. I love my small, tight, close team. They’re like my little jewel boxes. They’re like my little treasure troves, my children and that’s what gives me pleasure. I think, so many times some people can be thinking of expansion so much that they lose the joy of it and I don’t want to do that.
Michael Boodro 30:31
Does it worry you that so many people have been inspired by you or knock you off?
Kit Kemp 30:39
No, but you know what, I’m on to the next thing. And I have to take it as a form of admiration, you know. If I’m any good, I should be on to the next thing anyway. And if along the way, I have created the artists that are now so expensive, and so successful, I can’t even afford to buy them anymore, then that’s also a success. So I think also you arrive at a stage and an age where it’s not all about yourself. It’s actually lovely to watch others really progressing and doing well. And so I hope that I can help do that as well.
Michael Boodro 31:18
Agreed. And are you thinking about working with other people, now that you’ve had such success with this collection?
Kit Kemp 31:25
Well, you know, we’ve worked with people in the past and I’ve been very fortunate with the people that I’ve been able to collaborate with early, early on. You know, I did a big collection with Kaffe Fassett. This is a long time ago. What he did was, to me, extremely unique. It’s celebrated color, it’s celebrated artistry. I mean, he had a great eye, right? And Bunny Williams, you know, we’ve worked with Bunny Williams for over 10 years, and she’s amazing, and she’s an icon. And so that, to me, is wonderful. We like nice people, we all want it to be a pleasure to do. So we’re open, but you know, we also want to stay focused on what we’ve already started.
Michael Boodro 32:16
One of the things that you brought up, and I think this is so crucial, I mean, both of you have mentioned it: if you’re going to collaborate with somebody, it has to be someone talented, and then it will be hard to find someone as talented as Kit to continue on with the next collection. But I think it’s also crucial that it’s somebody that you’d like to work with. Somebody who’s a good person who you’re in sync with. That is the hardest, I think, thing of all, and that leads to the greatest successes.
And I think that’s what you two have proven with this new collection, which is simply amazing and beautiful, and you both should be so proud. And, you know, clearly you are in sync, love each other’s company, you know, bat ideas off each other so well. And I think that is what’s made this such a success. So I want to thank both Annie Selke and Kit Kemp for appearing here on the Chairish podcast and I want to thank all the listeners for tuning in.
Lead image: Courtesy of Annie Selke