Daily Inspiration: Meet Keith De La Torre

Today we’d like to introduce you to Keith De La Torre.

Hi Keith, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I actually had left LA to study Marine Biology in Miami, FL. Soon realising that wasn’t for me I fell into a display gig w Ralph Lauren. I hadn’t a clue as to what I was doing but my boss saw something in me I wasn’t aware of at that time. Soon my display career flourished as I became a freelance artist procuring accounts w Tiffany & Co. Calvin Klein, Gianni Franco Fierre, Hermes, Gucci & a host of other stores wanting the difference I brought to this craft. It wasn’t long after a client offered me a project to do a new home they purchased which was my first exposure to amazing textiles.

I build my reputation as a high end interior designer w projects from Miami, Jamaica, NYC and of course at my first love, California. I found myself always wanting to design everything custom. I tried my had at rug design and honed that talent for a while and started offering my designs to my personal clients. They were well received. So I decided this could be an actual business. During Covid I spent countless hours drawing designs and looking for manufacturers who could bring my visions to life.

Finally I found one factory in the north of India in a small town called Varanasi. I made sample after sample refining and changing each one till I was happy with the results. And so was born KNOTS Custom 🐑. I started promoting myself to the interior design trade as I wanted to offer something that was and largely still is unheard of in the custom rug market.

I produce high quality renderings in 3-5 days. Strike offs in 3-4 weeks and a finished rug ready for shipment in 90 days or less. We have created over 3000 amazing rugs over the past 5 years and are currently producing rugs for a high end hotel brand for their residences and hotel opening this fall in Florida. (As soon as I’m out of my NDA I’ll announce) ☺️. I push myself everyday to think of things that aren’t currently available. Like our braided abaca, braided sisal and seagrass all made in nylon. So it’s super soft and wears like iron. Made for indoor and out. This product is like nothing currently on the market.

I feel beyond blessed to be in this crazy world of design. As a young kid wanting to be the next Jacques Cousteau, had someone told me I’d be a rug designer and manufacturer I would have laughed in their face

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest challenge I faced and still do to an extent is which designs to produce. No matter how well I think I’ve got it figured out I can’t really predict what people will respond to. I did a collection called “Naturals” made from jute/wool mix and nylon. To date it’s been pretty successful. When I first designed it I wasn’t sure I even liked it. lol. Goes to show you can’t predict taste, only trends. Which I try to avoid

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
It really started from the age of awareness of my surroundings. Growing up in a family of creatives. My mother one of the first female animation directors at Disney, and my father a set designer. I guess the creative gene was always there. Since a large part of my life was and still is to a degree in the world of interior design I am acutely aware of finishes and surfaces. Being the tactile personality I am I’ve always been drawn to texture. What sets me apart from designers in general is I’ve never had the opportunity to be told no, that doesn’t work. So often times I’d try things that seemed correct in my head. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. BUT…..When it did work it was brilliant. To date I’m most proud of my braided abaca, sisal and seagrass. This is a weaving technique we created specifically to achieve this look of natural abaca, sisal and seagrass. We’re the only ones doing this at the moment. Until someone figures out how we did it lol

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up in SoCal in Thousand Oaks riding my mountain bike in the hills and surfing at Point Dume. I had a fascination w texture from a young age. Before “daycare” I remember being at the studio watching my mother drawing Micky in a variety of ways. I didn’t realise then the impact this would have on my future. Growing up around the film industry what most people consider wild and crazy was my daily normal. This way of living opened a portal to a fascination with figuring out how things worked. I took apart everything and put it back together. Always thinking I had a better way of doing it. This practice little did I know would come in handy later on in my life! I was always fairly outgoing. I made friends easily. But always felt different than my friends. Growing up my life seemed normal. I look back on it now and realise it was anything but normal. This shaped the way I viewed everything

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.knotscustom.com
• Instagram: @knotscustom

Image Credits
Calotypelab photography

Alexandra Buckthorup design UK

AKP Interior Design