Hospitality Design - March/April 2018 - 16

advertorial

Q&A

with

amy jaekel

creative director, lexmark+hospitality
When hiring new talent, what are you
looking for in the next generation?

Open-mindedness. We embrace people who
are willing to learn all aspects of our design
and technology processes while valuing their
knowledge.
Creativity. Creativity comes in many forms and
it's important to understand that even though we
are artists we have to be creative with problem
solving and technical design aspects as well.

What are some of your recent product
launches?

In November, we launched two new Tempt
Custom Collections - Alloy and Contour.
Alloy, designed by Sr. Designer Dina
Poindexter, is an amazing study on metallic yarns
and the capabilities of our Vivid precision tufting
technology. With smooth gradients of color and
the detail of the Vivid machine, Alloy mimics
weathered metal with hints of shimmering
metallic gold and silver that gently emerge
catching the eye.
Contour evolved from a doodle on the back
of scrap paper. Lines drawn in succession
mimicking each curve along the way evolved into
a line drawing, then turned into a pattern that
ultimately became a collection. Reminiscent
of repetitive lines in nature, Contour charts the
subtle changes in the earths elevation to create
an intricate web of interrelated lines. By using
up to 12 colors along with cut and loop tufting
technologies the texture and depth is amazing
and is the ultimate statement to show our
manufacturing abilities.

What is your company's design
philosophy?

Celebrating an Extraordinary 25 years.

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March/April 2018 hospitalitydesign.com

To be a collaborative design resource for our
clients and to personally demonstrate how we
use our 25 years of experience to mutually inspire
and push the realms of hospitality design. When
working on custom projects we want our designs
to reflect the views and inspiration of the interior
designer; to function as a creative channel to
bring their project to life. When we are creating
our own collections, we want those to be inspiring
and help spark ideas for projects. Carpet
shouldn't be stressful, and we always want the
process to feel like we are on the same team.

What current trends are you seeing in
the industry? How are you responding?

I think recently we've responded most with
color. Being a vertically integrated carpet maker
offers us more leverage to explore color with our
branded yarn system - Lextron™ Essentials.
Grays have been huge for a while, so we recently
re-colored our Lextron™ Essentials running line
pom box and added 6 additional gray and blue
tones as well as our current obsession "Blush". I
feel like this has allowed us to update our color
offerings and be a little ahead of the curve with
our Blush color.

What differentiates your company from
competitors?

Good people with great vision. When great
vision for the company starts at the top, it
trickles down and inspires all aspects from
product to service. We also have a singular focus
on hospitality that means there is no internal
competition for resources, so we can give our all
to our hospitality clients

How do you ensure that you stay on top
of trends and what designers want?

I think designers are all intuitive. Beyond
seeing what types of custom requests are
coming through the department we are always
aware of things we see in daily life. Social media
has helped with keeping trends flowing in front
of us. From books, to magazines and going out
shopping or just driving around you see things
and you start to collect them in your mind.
Eventually you realize how often you seen them
and if you are seeing them often then likely
someone else is too. It's not really something
you can force.
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Hospitality Design - March/April 2018

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