Since its inception in Los Angeles in 2008, Ferrick Mason Inc. has been creating beautiful artisan textiles and wallpapers for the trade. The brand’s designs are created by artist Alex Mason, whose love of nature and organic forms, and her instinctual aptitude for color combinations, together create light-hearted and captivating designs for the home. At the 10-year anniversary of the brand, Ferrick Mason opened a flagship showroom in Mason’s home state of Kentucky. In our most recent Studio Visit, we sat down with Mason to hear about the inspiration behind her dynamic, youthful designs and learn of the brand’s mission of “Color + Pattern = Happy and Chic.”
Q: Could you talk a little bit about your background as a designer? How did you get into creating wallpapers and fabrics for the trade?
A: I graduated with a MFA in Painting from Pratt Institute and I immediately moved to New Zealand to be with my future husband. He told me I couldn’t be a starving artist and that I would have to make a living. A few people suggested that my paintings would make good textiles. So when we moved to Los Angeles in 2001 I enrolled at Otis College of Art and Design in their textile repeat design program based on the methods of William Morris. Once I started the program, I knew I wanted to have my own line one day.
Q: What is your process of creating/designing? Do you draw the imagery first before it is replicated?
A: The paintings I do are based on an iconography that I have developed over 20 years which is often transforming and evolving. Many of the new shapes and symbols in a painting will inspire a textile or wallpaper. Sometimes it is the other way around and I will come up with a repeat idea which I will start incorporating it into my paintings.
Q: What was the inspiration behind your Good Fortune Dragon wallpaper and fabric design?
A: 2018 was our 10 year anniversary and I wanted to celebrate with a grand design symbolizing my gratitude of our business making it through the economic downturn of 2008 and beyond. There are many Chinese symbols in it that represent prosperity, good fortune and well being, such as the dragon holding the pearl, the heron, the praying mantis, butterflies, the money plant and the lantern. Now you can cover your home in Good Fortune and reap the positive vibes.
Q: What is the concept behind your Zen Garden Storm Cloud designs?
A: Originally Zen Garden was intended to be a seascape, but in the end, I thought it looked more like a raked sand garden rather than the water element. So instead of naming it Neptune’s Garden, we named it Zen Garden which is peaceful and serene.
Q: A lot of your designs draw inspiration from nature, such as the Fiddle Leaf Fig design and Shelby Rain, among others. Could you talk a little about these or other botanical-derived works?
A: I am definitely drawn to flora and fauna for inspiration. If a design is more abstract, it is also hand painted and includes the imperfections that come from my touch. I focus on beauty encompassing imperfection rather than hard lines, straight edges, and perfection. Nature is always changing with birth and death and motion. I like to incorporate the elements of motion and life into the designs.
Q: What about your floral designs? How/what kind of room or home do you imagine these designs being used?
A: My designs are a bit whimsical and colorful. I think a lot of designers see it being in children’s rooms but I see it everywhere. I think we are now entering a phase in design where designers are embracing color and pattern and making bolder choices where they once would have chosen something more staid. I have Ferrick Mason all over our home and I hope other designers will see the versatility of the line. I am a definite maximalist when it comes to color and pattern. More is more!
Q: Do you create fabrics and wallpapers for them to be used together in a single interior (such as a bedroom with matching fabric on the bed and the walls), or do designers typically use one or the other for a room’s design?
A: I used to make each collection with a lead design and two coordinates, but starting this year I have stopped worrying about simple coordinates and focused more on intricate colorful designs. The printed fabric and wallpaper market is so saturated. Designers have moved away from one-stop shopping and really pull from the diversity of their libraries. I hope that when they are looking for the lead or the wow, that they will think of us.
Q: How would you describe the overall aesthetic of Ferrick Mason?
A: Bold, colorful, chic, and happy.
