An original painting, a pair of pajamas, and why every print we make starts with a human hand.
I've spent most of my career around prints. I know what a good print can do. It can stop you mid-step and make you feel something before you know why. It can make a piece of clothing feel like it was made for you.
So when Erin and I started Timo & Violet, we decided to commission original artwork from women artists around the world.
Every print starts on paper, with a brush and a person deciding where the color goes next.
Here's how that painting becomes a pajama.
It starts with a mood board
Before anyone picks up a brush, we gather references.
The curl of a leaf. The speckled inside of a petal. That green you only see right after rain.
I'm trying to pin down a feeling. When the pieces start talking to each other, I know we have a direction.
Nature is where Timo & Violet began. It's still close to my heart, but our inspiration has grown well beyond it.
Today a print might start with a tile we saw while traveling, a shopping trip in New York City, a memory, or wallpaper samples from past decades. What stays the same is what I look for: the small details that draw you a little closer.
Then we hand it to the artist
The mood board is a question. The artist answers it.
We share the board and the story behind it, then give her room to interpret.
We give her a direction, then leave room for her own ideas. The women we work with bring their own eye, their own experiences, their own way of interpreting what we share. That's why we commission them.
My favorite moments are often the ones I didn't plan. A color shifts. A shape loosens. Something appears in the painting that was never on the board.
Her interpretation gives the print its character.
When the painting comes back, Erin, our merchandiser Tessa, and I look at it together. We don't always agree. But when all three of us land on the same print, it’s usually a sign we have something special.
What watercolor does
Watercolor doesn't take orders. You negotiate with it.
Pigment pools at the edge of a wash and dries darker. Clean water touches a drying wash and the color blooms outward. Some pigments settle into the paper, leaving a grainy texture. The white of the page becomes the light.
Those details tell you something about how the painting was made. How wet the brush was. When the artist stopped. What she left alone.
They're the details we work to preserve.
From paper to print
A painting is one sheet of paper. A pajama needs yards of cloth.
We capture the original at high resolution, then arrange its motifs into a repeat that flows across the fabric. A sprig ending at the right edge has to continue at the left.
Then comes color. This is the part I watch most closely.
A pale wash on paper can look different on cotton. We compare printed samples with the original, adjusting until the colors and delicate washes feel right on fabric.
Where the painting lands
The cloth matters as much as the art.
Our children's pajamas combine 95% GOTS-certified organic cotton with 5% spandex for stretch. Our women's Parker Pajama Set blends organic cotton with TENCEL™ Modal for softness and drape.
Then the fabric is cut and sewn. The painting wraps around a shoulder and runs down a leg.
By the time you button up a Timo & Violet pajama, that artwork has passed through many hands. But somewhere, there's still an original sheet of paper, with the first brushstroke that started it all.
I love knowing that.
And I hope you can feel it.