We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sarah Rowland. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sarah below.

Alright, Sarah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

Get to kids before they start to think they have to be like everyone else to be accepted. Encourage kids to be themselves and to let their natural creativity shine. Tell them they are the only ones on the planet like them. If they feel trust and that they are loved (which I know many poor souls don’t feel this, which is such a travesty) they can do anything.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My mother, she said I was good with color, and I was hooked on art from then on. She was aways painting or gardening or making stuffed animals for us when we were young. I grew up in a big happy family with a lot of art, music, and encouragement from both of my parents. I know how lucky I am to have had this. Nature will always be a curial guide to my design as well. You can find the best color combinations in nature.

I started my career as a graphic designer and everything had to be quite precise, legible, and orderly within reason. I loved the parameters of graphic design, but I wanted more. I wanted to design more freely, larger scale, design something that would be more lasting. I wanted to design wallpaper at last!

Give me Biophilic Design with a healthy dash of fantastic maximalist expression! I love a space that tells a story about who lives or works there. I want to see personality. I want to see an elegant gold leaf mirror paired with a bold piece of modern art. I want to be part of a space that has an authentic, well-lived feel with life and contrasts. Combine this look with elements of nature and I feel energized and calm. I find it a great relief that decorating with subtle, almost nonexistent color and harsh white seems to be out for now. I always felt that look had a feeling of non-commitment to the space. Bring on the patterns, the color, the textures, the wallpaper, the soul, the point of view of the space but all with a refined touch of restraint and please absolutely no clutter! Like I say, “When in doubt, leave it out!”

I love what I do and noticing the beauty that is everywhere if you look, has always motivated me. I keep my eyes and heart open. I know that I am lucky.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

I had my own graphic design business for 25 years before I thought becoming a wallpaper designer would be a chinch. No problem, right? I knew how to get print ready files to my printers. Plus, wallpaper is just like one big design, ha!
I was so wrong. It was quite different from my graphic design background, from preparing the files for production to printing with a wallpaper printer.

Plus, there is this diabolical thing in wallpaper called repeats! I say this with love and dread in my heart. The repeat can still be my friend and a lesson, but some patterns are just crazy tricky so when you get it right you feel like a rocket scientist. There have been many installers of wallpaper that have helped me along the way. A good wallpaper installer is an artist, just like my printers are. I adore them all, I treat them like gold. To not know what you are doing in the beginning of any endeavor is scary and humbling but all you must do is let the professional of their craft teach you, listen to them, respect them. When you are open to them everything will work out and you will find you have a great team that can help you even if you’re are not technically in business together.

To begin my wallpaper business, The Sarah Rowland Collection, I needed to find a printer that prints wallpaper and one who would be willing to start with a newbie such as me. I found www.designerwallcoverings.com. They were patient, creative, kind, and willing to try printing samples for me so that I could start this crazy wallpaper business of mine. From my samples that I printed with Designer Wallcoverings I was able to start showing clients samples and building a website.

Several years later I found another printer and manufacturer of wallcovering www.koroseal.com.
Things really started opening for me once I found the world of Koroseal Interior Products. Not only does Koroseal make their own substrates (the wallpaper, which is anything from grass cloth, vinyl, paper and metallic mylars and more that a pattern is printed on) they also invited me to their digital lab as one of their Digital Lab Designers where they show case my designs on their site www.koroseal.com/sarahrowland.

I also work with a local printer www.cutcutcreative.com. Working with them is like going home. They are the sweetest. Nothing like working local where you can ride your bike to check color on a pattern before production begins.

I am fortunate to have these three very different printers to work with. All my projects are so different from one another and having these different printers across the country is such an important tool for me to offer my clients.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Being kind, respectful, helpful, and showing my client how greatful and happy I am to have their work is the only way for me to be a good wallpaper designer for them.

Contact Info:

• Website: WALLPAPER: www.sarahrowland.com and www.koroseal.com/sarahrowland SILK SCARVES: www.henryandeve.com
• Instagram: @sarahrowlanddesign and @_henryandeve_
• Facebook: Sarah Rowland
• Linkedin: Sarah Rowland

Image Credits

All photos are by Sarah Rowland