Waites Offers Bedding Line

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 9/6/2004 12:00:00 AM

New York —

Raymond Waites is launching a contemporary bedding collection this fall — Metropolitan Chic — which features polka dots, origami flowers and masculine graphics.

The collection will have new packaging, to be featured in an expanded showroom at 230 Fifth Ave.

“I'm going back to my youth,” Waites said. “Metropolitan Chic is very modern, very retro. It's what I did in the '60s — white walls and floors and bold fabrics. It was a blast to return to this style and design a bedding collection around it. And global sourcing allows me to incorporate unique details and fabrications into the collection.”

Metropolitan Chic was first tested in Waites' ceramics line, where positive results induced the company to expand the look into bedding, he said. About 12 designs will debut in the collection, ranging from Asian and ethnic inspiration to urban designs.

Origami is an Asian-influenced pattern of stylized white flowers on a colored ground, with the exception of random flowers in contrasting colors. Origami is offered in green, blue, rose and yellow colorways. The duvet Geisha is constructed of a quilt colored in soft green tea, with rose and sand florets. Rainbow Stripe is a multi-colored stripe pattern with quilt stitching.

Nara comes in blue and yellow colorways. The ethnic-inspired Sumatra has a garden look with palm fronds and flowers on either a melon or yellow ground. Polka Dots is covered in embroidered white dots on a colored ground, available in citron, melon, rose, blue and sand. The classic paisley Delos is paired with bright blue and pink grounds. Chloe, a floral from last market, is now offered with a citron background.

Zen contains swirls of black on a cream ground as well as vice versa. Metropolis is a weave with floating threads in a pocket weave, and is colored in saturated reds or greens, or ivory. Japanese Garden has a worn look with a repeated leaf pattern with a golden sheen. Azure incorporates eyelash fabric in an aqua colorway.

Metropolitan Chic will have its own packaging in a Bauhaus graphic style colored in black, citron and mango and with white lettering. “I love citron — it's the accent color I use throughout my home,” Waites said.

Adjacent to the existing area at #1404, the new space will almost double the size of the showroom.