The Origin Story of Alexa Hampton's New Blackout Roller Shades
In the seeming heaven-made match between Alexa Hampton and custom window treatment brand The Shade Store, the AD100 designer was the pursuer: "I love true collaborations. Contrary to what I like to tell my husband and children, I am aware that I don't know everything—shh, let’s keep this under wraps, please! I like to work with partners who I can lean on heavily to bring to me their expertise and lead me in the right direction. The Shade Store was just such a partner. So, I picked up the phone and reached out," she tells AD PRO.
The phone conversation would later yield a line—a collection of printed blackout roller shades in four small-scale patterns including stylized animal and geometric Greek prints that's chic enough to stand alone or equally layer-able with drapery—that debuts this week at the Architectural Digest Design Show alongside the retailer's recent introductions from Sunbrella and exclusive fabrics by AERIN for drapery, Roman shades and roller shades.
The blackout feature was an overlooked hole in the marketplace. "I had a eureka moment, where it hit me that this product represented an enormous void in the market. I simply could not believe that I hadn’t pursued it before. So, I personally reached out to The Shade Store and this collection was born. The collection is intended for anyone who has a bedroom window. A second collaboration with them is on the heels of this one. I am very excited. They are a dream with which to work."
Weighs in Ian Gibbs, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Shade Store, "Alexa came to us with an idea for solving a very specific problem she was having with her projects. That’s a great starting place because we were able to identify a need in the market and tap into a wonderful talent like Alexa to solve it in a very stylish, unexpected way." The Shade Store also has successfully paired up with the likes of Nate Berkus, One Kings Lane, Jonathan Adler, Kate Spade New York and Kravet, Dwell Studio, and others.
"A successful relationship, I hear, is the same whether it is for a personal or professional one," Hampton says of the partnership. "You must have similar viewpoints and goals from which to begin, and from there, you must treat each other well and each work hard to succeed and have longevity. While I personally have tended to rely upon alternating joking with the threat of spontaneous violence, in this case, I have gone the more traditional route," she teases.
