Winding Beam welcomes fabric designer Sunbrella
The Feist family has been in business since 1935. Mitchell’s started as a small appliance store back in 1935, and today the family has expanded that small appliance store in Laurel into a 40,000-square-foot showroom, Mitchell’s Interiors & Floor Designs. They also own The Winding Beam in Rehoboth Beach, where their serious design intuition gets to show its more playful and whimsical side.
Through both of their businesses, the drive to create unique spaces and bring in top-quality products is what led the Feists to the company Miles Talbot and its Sunbrella fabrics. Vicki Feist, owner of The Winding Beam, says she was sold on the stunning fabrics immediately. “They are practical, they don’t fade and they don’t stain; it fills a great niche,” she said. The fabrics are all made in the United States by a family-based company, something the Feist family can proudly relate to.
As a vendor of the materials, Vicky entered a store display contest through the company. The Winding Beam put together its display, using all those combined years of expertise, and as luck would have it, the Rehoboth Beach store won best Sunbrella display in the country. The prize? A weekend with one of the firm’s most prestigious designers, Joe Ruggiero.
Ruggiero has been designing with Miles Talbot and Sunbrella for four years, but his resume outside his recent design work with them is quite impressive. He worked for years on HGTV’s “World of Design,” where he traveled the world in search of design inspiration, touring some of the most beautiful cities and gleaning their design secrets.
For Ruggierio, an L.A.-based designer, multifunctionality is important, as he explained July 27 to a roomful of eager designers and furniture buffs in Rehoboth. From sheer to opaque, striped to fantastically intricate designs, the reversible Sunbrella fabric will never stain, and it can be bleached. But it doesn’t appear like a hardy fabric at all ... in fact, the fabric has a worldly inspiration to it, but with a softness in design that really hits home.
The passion with which Ruggiero approaches his craft is catching, and it’s easy to see why The Winding Beam and Mitchell’s are drawn to the ease of use of the fabric, and its relatable design guru. From the beach perspective, anything made of this fabric will have the durability to stand up to children, pets and guests alike.
Who among us hasn’t had a cringe-worthy moment where a guest, child or pet accidentally stains a piece of beloved furniture? With Sunbrella fabrics, there is literally no risk of staining. Beyond that aspect, there is also the fact that the furniture design itself is diverse, with a focus on classic pieces that can mix with modern prints and textiles for a look that defines your spaces to the tune of your personality.
These fabrics and designs are available at both of the Feist family’s locations, where they can help you translate your favorite prints into beautiful furniture or fabrications for your spaces. Let the Feist family’s tradition of high-quality furniture and service help you design your life with durable, no-fuss fabrics with a touch of sophistication.
For more information on Sunbrella fabrics and designs, contact Mitchell’s showroom at 302-875-2222, or The Winding Beam at 302-227-9246.
