Designer Barry Lantz drew inspiration from his original artwork for a new textile collection with Kravet.
Photo: Courtesy of Kravet

Kravet’s Latest Textile Collection Reimagines Colorful Abstract Paintings

The artful new Canvas to Cloth line takes cues from Indianapolis designer Barry Lantz’s art practice

Over his extensive career in interiors, Indianapolis designer Barry Lantz has dabbled with a variety of styles, cultivating myriad residential spaces as well as a number of unique outliers ranging from a bowling alley to a church to a fast-food restaurant. In the midst of the 2009 recession, he began painting as a way to offer himself a creative outlet as well as add another layer to his business, which also includes a namesake furniture and home-accent boutique.

The collection's Goldie pattern in Linen, geometric Sherlee print in Granite, and blossom-like Manders in Sky. Photo: Courtesy of Kravet

After mixing in a number of his paintings into a series of vignettes he created for a charity fundraiser, Lantz was surprised when all of them were purchased. Soon after, he hosted an exhibition at a local wine bar and sold 30 canvases. Eventually, he stared working on custom commissions and creating unique works to enhance his interior projects. “I’ve never taken a painting class, and I don’t intend to,” he says. “What I’m doing is working for me.”

As he painted, Lantz also had the inkling that his pieces could find a second life in textiles. Now, that fantasy is becoming a reality. Launching in February is the Barry Lantz—Canvas to Cloth collection with Kravet, which transformed elements of his artwork into patterns that his daughter and collaborator, Amanda Lantz, helped translate into artful repeats.

The array is designed to work together in similar colorways; from left, Goldie and Tracy in Indigo, Manders and Sherlee in Sky. Photo: Courtesy of Kravet

Each of the five patterns, which are offered in several colorways, is named for an important woman in Lantz’s life. Goldie, for example, pays homage to Lantz’s grandmother while Manders is in tribute to his daughter. “The patterns represent to me the people—Goldie is very much like a kaleidoscope and my grandmother brought me several kaleidoscopes when I was little, and we used to look through them and talk about color,” he says. “There’s a memory reflected in each pattern that I identify with. I’m an overly sentimental, appreciative type of person.”

Textured neutrals balance out the Canvas to Cloth collection's watercolor-like prints. Photo: Courtesy of Kravet

Rounding out the collection is a selection of heavily textured solids, ensuring the multiple selections work together in a cohesive aesthetic. “As a designer, I like to repeat a lot of fabric; I like to find it in more than one room,” Lantz says of the patterns, which he has already started incorporating into interior projects from Indiana to Colorado. “I think it grounds the house. I love that continuity and the fluidity that it gives with textile patterns. We kept that in mind when we were colorizing the patterns so that people could use more than one pattern if they wanted to in the very same room.”

Designer Barry Lantz drew inspiration from his original artwork for a new textile collection with Kravet. Photo: Courtesy of Kravet

Further bringing all of Lantz’s work together, Kravet is offering the Canvas to Cloth textiles alongside a selection of 21 pieces of his artwork. “I have always loved a lot of color; I just love a statement,” he says. “I think one part of the reason the art has been successful is its very colorful, it is very deliberate, and it is abstract, but it also has a recognizable quality about it in every subject. There is something you can find as an onlooker that you can relate to, and everybody loves the idea of updating their art collection or their room with a little bit of modern.”

Cover: Designer Barry Lantz drew inspiration from his original artwork for a new textile collection with Kravet.
Photo: Courtesy of Kravet

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