Today we’d like to introduce you to Elana Sadler.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I founded a company that makes small-batch, hand-dyed textiles, fashionable outdoor pillows, and blankets for the home. I design and fabricate everything here in Los Angeles.
My career began as a fashion designer working for companies such as Lucky Brand Jeans for over ten years. After having two boys, I went back to work as an interior stylist but became frustrated with the lack of cool, original patterns for my client’s homes. Everything felt dated and uninspired.
I use sustainable deadstock fabric for my denim and linen line. All of my patterns are inspired by current fashion trends; not just home trends. I approach home decor with the same sense of color, expressive patterns, wash and art techniques that I used in fashion. I choose to work my patterns on denim because it’s a timeless, durable fabric that evokes the effortless cool of my home, LA.
In addition to pillows and home accessories, we’ve branched out to employ our textiles to design bespoke outdoor sets, reupholster existing pieces, and work with clients to transform their home.
Our dwellings are our sanctuary; now more than ever, and I am continually amazed how something as simple as a pillow or fabric can transform an entire room.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My career took a hit once I became pregnant. I had to quit the fashion industry since my husband has a movie job that requires him to travel. We couldn’t find a way to manage for me to work long hours with no other support or family around to help.
It was quite challenging to get back into the workforce after being home for several years with my children. I struggled to find a job with fair compensation and manageable working hours. I was worried that there was no way to simultaneously have a family and do what I loved professionally.
It took me a few years to find a way to re-enter the industry, and just as I was getting into staging/interior design, I got sick with a brain tumor. Around this time, I started to get bad headaches and vertigo. When I told my first doctor how much pain I was in, she chalked it up to being a struggling mother of two young boys. After failed treatments for a misdiagnosed inner ear problem, I got myself an MRI against my doctor’s advice.
The diagnosis: a hemangioblastoma on my cerebellum which needed to be removed immediately! I was blessed with the right doctor, who had spent his career studying this kind of tumor. The doctors and staff at Ronald Reagan Medical Center at UCLA saved my life.
I began to create my own textiles in my backyard studio while recovering from brain surgery. It became my sanctuary and helped me recover my balance and motor skills. During my months of physical therapy and recovery, I started playing around with denim and other fabrics. This creative outlet aided my healing and was also the inception of Dyehouse Studios. Sometimes what can feel like the end can be the birth of a new beginning.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My textiles are inspired by a lifetime of infusing trends and inspiration with fashion and self-expression. The early days of my fashion education were in New York’s Lower East Village. I was the oddball eighth grader who used to drag my mom around to Antique Boutique and all the classic vintage haunts. Even then, I gravitated towards textiles, patterns, and bohemian aesthetics. I’ve had a circuitous path to find my calling but all of my past experiences have lead me here in my creative journey.
After co-owning and operating an art gallery in Austin, TX, I became obsessed with knitwear. This passion is ultimately what brought me out to Los Angeles; enrolling at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Afterwards, I landed a job at Lucky Brand Jeans in their knitwear department and it was there my career in fashion started blooming. After becoming a mother and my health crisis, I created textiles and began interior decorating. I found that creating bespoke interior fashion brought me back to that eighth-grade me and that sense of wonder and discovery.
It was only natural to start Dyehouse Studios
I love the techniques used in modern fashion but I’ve found that there’s a disconnect between those approaches and current home decor. With my fashion background, I respond intuitively to modern hues of colors, washes, prints, and patterns. I was yearning to get back my creative expression and started making my own textiles using indigo denim with different hand-dying techniques. I began turning them into pillows, curtains, and other home decor. I love denim fabric; it’s classic. Denim and linen washes easily, is extremely durable, and there’s so much freedom in these fabrics to create the laid back, yet put together, look that embodies the Southern California vibe that I love.
Dyehouse is an homage to the natural beauty of the West Coast. I purposefully chose to create hand dyed, small batched textiles taken from the inspiration of my home state, California. My goal with Dyehouse is to bring a fashion aesthetic to home goods through the lens of a fashion vernacular, not just home decor. I believe color can bring life and energy to a space and that the right textiles can transform an environment. With our designs, we strive to be that little detail in your home that offers joy in your surroundings; helping you achieve a house aesthetic that fits your lifestyle. We accomplish that by being a boutique design studio that offers design services, special textiles, and custom furniture.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Los Angeles is a city of transplants. Even though it’s been my home for close to twenty years now, it’s not the only place I’ve ever lived. Don’t throw out your old address book! I can’t tell you how many random people I’ve met remember my old gallery in Austin, TX, The Escapist. Everyone eventually comes to LA.
Los Angeles is a huge place and whatever you love to do here, however you find your bliss, you will find others that share your passion. Whatever you’re into, you’re not alone. I’ve been blessed to be a member of different support groups for mothers, women in design, female artists, etc. The groups I’m in are filled with the most talented, generous, and successful of the Los Angeles creative class. They are a cross-section of Angelinas that encourage and support other women in their careers and support them as they transition back into working after having kids.
Though these groups, I have a community of mentors who have helped to lift and support me.
I hope to help and inspire new designers the way my mentors have guided me.
Pricing:
- Sunbrella Pillow 18″ sq $65
- Sunbrella Lumbar Pillow $60
- Denim 18″ sq $125 (with insert)
- Ombré Lumbar (with insert) $95
- Ombre Throw Blanket $200
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.dyehousestudios.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/dyehousestudios
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fashioninspiredtextilesforthehome
