Dans Papers - May 25, 2007

Art comes in many different forms as this week's cover, featuring a Hamptons pillow by Cat Studio, demonstrates. Terrell Swan, the Studio's co-founder, talks about how his love of travel and art provided the inspiration for his well-known business of creating designer pillows.

Q: Describe the pillows you make in case our readers haven't seen the real ones, which are sold at Rumrunner's in East Hampton.

A: They're made of cotton duck material and hand-embroidered in India. We also have pillows depicting scenes in Nantuckett, England and Iowa.

Q: Where did you get the initial idea to make pillows like these?

A: My wife, Carmel, and I had a clothing company, Swan Magic, and when we sold it, we got the idea to do local geography on T-shirts (like the one we did for the Atlanta Olympics.) Then we started doing pillows.

Q: The pillows are similar in that they celebrate local places. The one of the Hamptons features landmarks and icons including the Montauk Lighthouse, a sailboat and a seagull sitting on a pier post. How do you do your research, to know what describes the area best?

A: My wife had actually spent a summer in the Hamptons several years ago, so she knew what was important. We also do research on the Internet and call up people we have met from the area to get their ideas. But we also travel to the places ourselves, which is what I love.

Q: Tell us about that. Where have you been most recently?

A: We just got back from Ireland, where we celebrated my mother's 80th birthday. We also go regularly to India, about three times a year. I love to talk with people I meet, collecting their names and addresses in case I ever need their help. I lost my address book, by the way. If someone had said, what would you rather have, $200,000 or your book, I would say, my book.

Q: I bet you're always planning on what place to put on a pillow next. What are you working on now?

A: We have a total of 123 designs already in production. Paris is coming out in a month. We're working on Milan, Rome, India and Japan, among others.

Q: From the pillow on the cover we can see that there's a great deal of detail and care that goes into your work.

A: Yes, we keep working on a design until we like it. It's done with a lot of love.

Q: What in your background has helped you to go into designing pillows?

A: I went to law school, so I guess that helps me with the business end. I also have a background in anthropology, which draws me to different cultures. My wife went to the California College of Arts and Crafts.

Q: Although you travel a lot now, did you travel when you were growing up?

A: Yes. I grew up in Texas and Mississippi and seventeen years ago I settled in California, about an hour north of San Francisco.

Q: It's clear you love where you live now, but you'll never give up traveling, right?

A: Right. We call ourselves junior travel agents because we are always available to help people who need the name of someone in a foreign country. Traveling is the essence of what we do. We're kinda like gypsies.

Mr. Swan can be reached at his website, www.catstudio.com