SUMMER AYERS SAVIN

When artist Summer Ayers Savin’s mother died suddenly in 2018, it became difficult to carry on the business they’d created together without the sting of grief. They began their faux painting partnership in 2000, adding distinct ceiling and wall designs to residential homes. Working on ceilings is back-breaking work—literally—and between her mother’s passing and two surgeries on her worn-out back, Ayers Savin knew it was time to pivot. She started Standout Creative Design, experimenting with paint on acrylic as a way of providing homeowners custom decorative ceilings without the backbreaking labor; her massive but lightweight pieces could be painted in her studio and then installed onsite in the home.

“My brain had to flip the script on how I paint,” says Ayers Savin. “Painting on the backside of acrylic, I have to layer the painting in reverse—which is mind-bending at first. But the three-dimensional result is unmatched, and the wipeability makes for ultra-functional art.”

Today, Ayers Savin’s acrylic offerings have grown to include backsplashes, decorative furniture backplates, and surrounds for light fixtures, which are some of her favorite pieces. “It definitely makes an architectural statement,” she says, noting that she creates commissioned pieces, as well. “People are picking up what I’m setting down, and it’s all starting to make sense. My intent was always to share my art, and this medium strikes at the heart of wanting it to serve a purpose.”

See more of Summer Ayers Savin’s work or commission your own on Instagram, @standoutcreativedesign.


CHRIS KEOGH

Chris Keogh is visionary in her designs. Not only does she create in a truly innovative manner, crafting hand-sewn masterpieces pulled together from scraps of fabric she collects over time, but she also literally envisions designs before she creates them, sometimes even dreaming about them. “One piece of fabric with a great design can really inspire me,” says Keogh.  “I can look at it and immediately know how I want to use it.” Her shop is called Una Home Accents.

Though a background in textile design helps, the true skill lies in combining unexpected patterns and colors in familiar and brilliant ways, each piece weaving a story about her passion for texture and color. Whether it’s throw pillows or tapestries, framed sewn artwork or even original woodwork pieces she creates with the help of her husband, Keogh’s work has one common thread: originality.

“I draw my idea first, then I place the fabric swatches in the pattern,” she explains. “Sometimes I swap fabrics out as I go, so occasionally what I envisioned in my head turns out differently because I am inspired as I’m working.”

Though Keogh is passionate about the labor-intensive process (each piece can take up to twenty hours to design and create), she recently partnered with a printer to digitally print her designs, giving way to quicker productions of her most popular designs. The textures and hand-crafted aesthetic are not lost in the printed design, however. “I am just obsessed with texture; fabric is absolutely my treasured medium,” she says.

You can find some of Keogh’s pieces at Slate Interiors, but to see more of her work or to commission your own, visit her Instagram at @unahomeaccents.