Linn launches own firm

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 9/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

Industry veteran Valborg Fletre Linn is gearing up for the launch this fall of her high-end area rug company, VFL Designs.

Linn, who for 10 years worked for Park B. Smith Ltd. as its director of design and merchandising, has spent the past 16 months working as an independent designer. She will be previewing her initial line at her design studio loft in SoHo during the upcoming market, she told HTT.

This new company represents her first solo enterprise.

VFL Company's new Nepalese-made area rug collection, titled Playing Fields, is comprised of made-to-order, 100-knot hand-knotted Tibetan wool with silk accents. There are 11 patterns and she describes as graphic and abstract and they fall into three groupings — plain color fields, linear structural fields (architectural line structures) and chalk fields At first, Linn said she will court architectural design and interior designers. But she is also looking at "department stores and special independent rug stores, and possibly into new constructions that hit a lower price point," Linn said. "Also, I'm looking to possibly pair up with an area rug supplier to create new collections for retail."