Inspired by her upbringing in South America, housewares and textiles designer Karen Young creates table runners, dinner napkins, decorative pillows, and home accents that capture the fusion of colonial British influences and tropical colors and prints that defined her childhood stomping grounds. The name of her company, Hammocks & High Tea, captures this synergy between high society elegance and primness and laid-back, breezy Caribbean cool. Given how much inspiration Young derives from her surroundings, it's only fitting that she would employ eco-friendly and socially responsible materials and manufacturing methods — all of Hammocks & High Tea's offerings are crafted by hand using organic soy, hemp and cotton fabrics, and they feature water-based, solvent-free inks.
For Spring 2011, Hammocks & High Tea is expanding its reach, adding the Kashmir Market Tote and Essentials Dopp Kit to its current stable of tea towels, napkins, pillows, table runners, and drawer liners.
We're loving the Dopp kits, which celebrate the old-school ritual of a man unpacking his razor, shaving cream, aftershave, and cologne from a zippered leather or canvas bag and propping these toiletries atop the bathroom counter, then looking in the mirror before commencing his grooming routine. Having watched my father unpacking his Barbasol shaving cream, blue Gillette razor, and Old Space fragrance every day throughout my childhood, I can relate to Young's fascination with dopp kits, the male versions of our beloved makeup bags. And, of course, her Dopp kits are so incredibly funky that they transcend gender, making them great travel-ready pouches for your own bathroom essentials.
Pictured above are three of the new Essentials Dopp Kit styles, all of which are made of a cotton/linen blend, feature a slim Italian leather handle along one end, and measure 9" in width, 5" in height, and 4" in depth. The Namad style (pictured at top) fuses together Southwestern motifs and bright '80s colors for a groovy take on tribal kilim rug patterns. For a more subdued option, check out the Sumba (pictured second), which features black zig-zagging lines that resemble EKG lines on a monitor. Lastly, inspired by intricate gates leading to secret gardens, the Linden bag (shown third from top) reinterprets the traditional Ikat pattern with coral, charcoal gray, and punchy turquoise shapes floating against a light gray backdrop.
Hammocks & High Tea Dopp Kits, $49.50 each. Available at HammocksAndHighTea.BigCartel.com
