Designing Atmospheric & Spirit-Filled Spaces With Sarkos

 

Founded in 2015, wallpaper company Sarkos has created a moving approach to adding depth and beauty to your walls. Founded by Stephanie Dedes Reimers and her husband Adam Reimers, Sarkos creates 100% hand-painted designs with an earthly and atmospheric aesthetic. Stephanie is an artist specializing in both commercial painting and fine arts, while Adam is a builder and designer who brings deep installation experience to Sarkos.  The New York Times has coined Sarkos wallpaper design, Cosmos, “a wallpaper of uncommon beauty”.

Stephanie and Adam share their inspirational founding story and ties to Greece, tips on how to make the most out of wallpaper, their favorite wallpaper installer in NYC, and their thoughts on the wallpaper industry.


Sarkos is a husband-and-wife team founded by Stephanie and Adam. How did the duo decide to create a wallpaper company?

Somebody said the word “wallpaper” at the exact right time. Stephanie had been doing custom painting work (on-site specific) for some time, and had a few unique designs she was playing around with, holding them in her back pocket for a special project to come along. She showed these to one of her commercial clients, who loved them, but never hired her for their residential projects because, as they explained, their clients prefer to have something installed in 3 days, as opposed to someone working in their space for 3 months…and that was it. We went on a long overdue vacation in the only fashion we know how – 6 weeks, in Greece. During this trip, we talked and sketched and became endlessly inspired by what we could do. When we returned, Stephanie put all other work aside and hit the hustle and I kept working my design and build company while moonlighting on wallpaper collaborating and decision-making, and SARKOS launched 8 months later.

Sarkos (pronounced sar-KOS with a hard O) is an ancient Greek word that translates the tactile sense of our human and earthly spirit, it is of the flesh, and of us, as human beings; this sense correlates with what we are in search for with SARKOS – creating atmospheric, spirit-filled, inspirational spaces.

Sarkos Wallpaper

Photo by Aaron Hawks, Sculpture by Matt Austin Studio

Both the name, Sarkos, and some collections, are inspired by Greece. What types of experiences have you had in Greece that have created such great influence on your designs and brand as a whole?

Stephanie: My father grew up in a village along the Korinthian Sea, Domvraina, Greece. He immigrated to the U.S. at age 17. Unlike the rest of his family, he did not return to his home country for a very long time; he was fully immersed in the United States. So, when my parents finally took my siblings and I for a lengthy first trip, I was 14 years old. What stuck with me year after year from that trip was an utter fascination with the mountainous, rocky, dry landscape and an intense desire to return. In my mid-20’s, I took a trip to Europe on my own to travel around for a few months. I planned to go to Greece for the second time and spend maybe 3 days with my family in our village. I ending up staying for 3.5 weeks and I only moved along because everyone else was flying back to the U.S. or going back to work in Athens. I had never felt like this about a place. In Greece, I feel good. I feel that I have roots there. My body feels restored. My brain works wondrously slow and fast at the same time and a resulting calm motivation is over me all the time. As I breathe the air, as I see my family and friends, as I look around at the awe-inspiring mountain landscape, the seas, the olive groves, I feel completely at home.

Also, I am the luckiest person alive because Adam took to Greece his first time there in the exact same way I did years back.

Sarkos Wallpaper

Photo by Aaron Hawks, Sculpture by Matt Austin Studio

Your luxury wallpaper is 100% hand-painted – tell us about your production process…

We love doing everything completely by hand! When designing new lines, we always take into consideration exactly how the seams will line up differently, and this is worked into the design from the get-go. First, we prime all of our wallpaper panels with a mold-resistant primer, with a roller. Then, we apply the base and topcoats with a variety of much-loved brushes. Between each coat, panels hang to dry and cure over the course of a few days. For lines that have leaf applications, we apply our leaf sizing in the designs’ specific manner, roll out squares of leaf once the size has tacked up, and then burnish away the skewings with gilding mops and wool mitts. All of the processes are carefully watched over and considered, most especially the leaf applications. It’s all a lot of work, but it’s what we love to do, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sarkos Wallpaper

Photo by Sarkos

What are some spaces using Sarkos wallpaper that you’re particularly proud of?

Every single one of our installations! Because we do everything by hand, each order, and thus each installation, is unique in and of itself. Each panel has a slightly different “tilt” and seeing that in every installation makes us very proud, and completely happy! With that said, if we had to pick favorites, our COSMOS line has been applied on numerous ceilings and this makes us feel giddy every time.

Sarkos Wallpaper

Photo by Aaron Hawks

Sarkos sells wallpaper and paper framed original paintings – what are some of your best-sellers?

COSMOS is by far our best selling line! Our colorway, ELIKONAS, the darker graphite color, is first, with KORINTHIAN SEA, the blue sea obviously next, with the sun HLIOS in third place. ONEIRO and AVRA, with their soft, undulating waves of color, are other best-sellers. We think our STRIATIONSMOTHER OF PEARL with its fancy, sexy, layers will be giving the other two lines a run for their money soon!

Sarkos Wallpaper

Photo by Aaron Hawks

How does Sarkos prepare for a design conference, trade show, or fair?

We usually have a quick meeting to talk specifics, including time, location, and constraints, soon after deciding to participate. From there, we both throw ideas around our own heads, and some time later, over dinner or a nightcap, we’ll begin to talk our ideas through with each other. From there, we’ll make drawings to hash out the ideas, and then we dedicate however much time is needed to make our test pieces and design the space.

When installation day comes, we are nervous and excited; we then bask (preferably with our feet up) on the beauty of our labor, and that of our fellow designers.

Sarkos Wallpaper

Photo by Aaron Hawks

In your opinion, how do the walls of a room affect the way a person may feel in the space?

So very much! What surrounds us can help us feel lifted up, cradled or weighed down, fiercely inquisitive, relaxed or claustrophobic. While wallpaper is two dimensional, our original designs are wildly full of depth. Installation on a large scale allows viewers to get lost in their own thoughts while meandering their eyes through the brushstrokes with their slight ‘imperfections’ or bursts of gold in a night sky. Our wallpaper has space to it; it allows us (and we think many other people too) to rest our minds and to go down a wonderful path of thought at the same time. Because no two strokes are ever the same, there is something new to explore on every inch of our panels. Wallpaper, as such, happens to be the perfect culmination of our individual creative wants and needs; the wallpaper medium takes the sensibilities of what we do well professionally and of what we crave to see in front of us, and allows us to envelop ourselves in it  – as well as whomever else would like to join in!

Sarkos Wallpaper

Photo by Sarkos

What are 3 tips of “best practices” to offer interior designers for choosing the right wallpaper and making the most out of wallpaper when decorating a space?

1. For us, sheen is such an important factor! When we ask, “what will be great on this wall?”, we first think about the feeling we want the walls to evoke and sheen is a great place to start. Do you want the reflection of something somewhat glossy, or metallic? It’s a bit more energized and sexy in a certain way. Or, is super velvety matte that someone really gets lost in and absorbed into (completely sexy in a very different way) the right move?

2. Think about how the design of the wallpaper will move through the space – considering the furniture pieces, any artwork, and what the lighting will be in the day and night times.

3. For our wallpapers – hire a seasoned professional and trust their opinion (in NYC & surrounding areas, we can’t recommend Three Fingers Painting enough).

Sarkos Wallpaper

Copyright-2016-Sunset-Publishing-Corporation-photo-by-Thomas-J.-Story

How do you feel about recent wallpaper trends, such as “feature walls”, or “unexpected accents”?

We think accent and feature walls are a great way to go in tons of situations. When the colors and pieces around an accent wall are perfectly in tuned with that wall, the result is a highly sophisticated space. This is also a fantastic way for people with a smaller budget to be able still add some more incredible beauty to their world (and we have no minimum order for this very reason!). With all of that said, in an equal amount of environments, where the budget is possible, being completely submersed by all walls in the atmosphere our wallpapers create – this is something very special indeed.

Sarkos Wallpaper

Photo by Aaron Hawks, Sculpture by Matt Austin Studio

What’s your focus for 2017?

We’re so excited to be gearing up for our 3rd year in business (which is in May)! Every year has been unexpected and brilliant and we love to see all of the new directions we find ourselves in.

Our clothing line, in collaboration with Olivine Gabbro, will fully launch with a show in February! We can’t wait for this – we have been working with Grace Kang and her crew closely, figuring out how to apply our Cosmos design to her fabric. It’s very special. We will be offering a printed version of the clothes, as well as a hand-gilt version.

For the Architectural Digest Made Show in March, our second year there, we will have our booth intertwined with our friends at RexHill furniture company, which is making the show even more fun for us. We met them at the show last year and saw that they are all about subtle luxury in the same way we are – a match made in design heaven.

We will also be showing a few object pieces that we’re currently prototyping, and that is really exciting. We have ideas of launching small editions of furniture pieces every now and again, things we really want to make and to have – to compliment our steady streams of wallpaper panels. We will also launch a new line, and lots of new colorways, for our existing lines, just prior to the show.

Sarkos

Photo by Sarkos


Contact Sarkos

W: http://www.sarkos.nyc/

P: (929) 322-4727

E: sarkosnyc@gmail.com

@sarkos.nyc

Designing Travel Accommodations With Parallel

 

New to the hospitality scene is Parallel, a travel-accommodations brand that professionally manages and designs vacation rentals around the country. Parallel taps into local markets by hiring local interior designers to design their properties with local designs from artists, home decor and furniture suppliers. This way, travelers can have an authentic stay, getting to know a city through local design.

The team at Parallel has shared their dedication to rebuilding design standards for a travel brand, their deep ties to local design communities, and their passion for storytelling through the expertise of local designers.


How is Parallel Travel different from other accommodations brands?

One of the mantras around the Parallel office is: “Who ever wrote the rule that…?” It’s a line from Danny Meyer, a master of hospitality and one of New York’s top restaurateurs, that says you shouldn’t inherit the way things have been done. You should create fresh ideas, new contexts, and novel experiences for consumers. That’s what we are setting out to do with travel accommodations, and that’s precisely why we have local designers in every market design each unit we have. It’s a new way to build design standards for a travel brand, and it’s a new way for travelers to interact with cities – through curated design from true locals.

Also, all of our properties are hand-picked by our real estate team and come with the comforts of home, like fully furnished kitchens, so life isn’t interrupted on the road. They are all dedicated vacation-rental units, so you’re not spending the weekend in someone else’s residence, making you feel like you need to walk on eggshells. We also brought all management in-house. This means the quality of your experience isn’t determined by a single host, but rather a dedicated team of field-ops agents, customer service reps, and in-market cleaners. These operational decisions allow us to provide our guests amazing end-to-end experiences.

Finally, we truly want to have local impact in the communities we operate in. These cities have opened their arms to us, and to thank them in kind, we donate a percentage of revenue from every single guest stay to charity. We believe travel should have an impact for everyone involved.

Parallel Travel Belltown

Photo by Chad Savaikie, Designed by Andrea Bushdorf of Inner Space Designs 

What does the name mean?

A lot of thought went into this name, which was important for us — to have a defined sense of brand early on. Parallel is a reference to the latitude lines that run east-west around the globe. It’s an invisible thread that connects people in communities, and connection is important to us. Also, local impact is so important to us, and the notion of our guests being impacted by travel, while our communities are impacted in parallel, is a powerful one. Finally, the three L’s in the word represent the three pillars of the Parallel experience: the travelers, the spaces, and the cities we’re in. We want to make sure we are doing good by all three.

Parallel Travel Bedrooms

Photo by Chad Savaikie, Designed by Alison Wilkinson of Wilk Design Workship

How does Parallel leverage local design to establish Parallel in the travel-accommodations industry?

Local design is a fundamental part of our brand and guest experience. We want each property to have its own unique vibe, character, and story, and there’s no better way to do that than to have an individual designer with creative autonomy take on each unit. We also look to our designers to be city liaisons of sorts. We look to them to tell the story of their town to our guests through original design. Finally, we view our designers as partners, not just contractors. We’ve had designers go back in and update units or add new pieces when new inspiration hits – it makes the units these living things that evolve over time, not just static spaces. It also allows for our portfolio of properties to be dynamic in ways that others aren’t.

Parallel Travel Crest At Millenia

Photo by Rickie Agapito, Designed by Jessica Neal of Unite Design Co.

Parallel is headquartered in San Francisco – how does the innovative energy of the local city affect the Parallel brand?

The climate of our location has a big impact on who we are and how we operate. Innovation is at the core of our business, and we think it necessarily has to be. The travel space is changing massively, going from siloed hotels with very singular identities to distributed, diverse inventories of inspiring accommodations — and we are trying to solve that challenge by bringing interesting technology and rich data to this space. We see the potential for some some seriously magical moments when you infuse authentic experiences — locally designed units backed by a network of creatives and travel enthusiasts — with tech and data. We want to restore the richness of travel —  that dialogue and exchange of ideas and cultures — and use technology to facilitate those experiences.

Parallel Travel Crest At Millenia

Photo by Rickie Agapito, Designed by Jessica Neal of Unite Design Co.

Each Parallel property is designed by a local interior designer – how do you source your designers?

We use some of the expected routes, like Houzz and design schools, but as our network continues to grow, we’ve been able to get great referrals through our designers. And we think that’s the exciting part of what we’re doing here: creating an amazing community of creatives and artists around the country, and ultimately around the globe, who can connect and collaborate.

Parallel Travel Bedroom

Photo by Katie Storey, Designed by Doug Thompson

What guidelines do you provide your designers to complete a Parallel space?

I think that’s another part of the magic and fun of what we’re doing: we pretty much don’t give them any guidelines. We have a few light parameters – create an experience that feels authentic to your city and no cheesy word art, haha – otherwise, we really want our designers to have creative freedom. In fact, it’s important they do. We purposefully don’t want any two units to look alike. Plus, there are no better storytellers than our designers who know their cities so well and have such amazing vision, so we’re really looking to them to tell us what’s so special about a place.

Parallel Travel Joule

Photo by Chad Savaikie, Designed by Alison Wilkinson of Wilk Design Workship

Based on their designs, what are some go-to vendors your designers are using to furnish a space?

We encourage our designers to shop local. We think it’s important for the communities we operate in, and we think it’s important for creating original and authentic travel experiences.

We actually have a designer in Nashville who makes his own furniture, and he outfitted his unit with all original pieces. We were blown away. That’s the sort of creativity we want to celebrate. This is your canvas, your medium to express yourself and do amazing work. And to that end, Parallel buys all of the big-ticket essentials for spaces: TVs, kitchen supplies, linens, etc., so the designers can focus the budgets we give them on the fun stuff.

Parallel Travel Bedroom

Photo by Rickie Agapito, Designed by Nicole Belle – The House Healer and Jessica Neal of Unite Design Co.

What’s the demographic of the Parallel traveler?

We never had a defined demographic going into the creation of this brand — well, not a traditional target demographic.  But our goal, from day one, was always to create amazing accommodations that everyone can enjoy. And I know that sounds a bit hokey, but it’s true. We want families to be able to cook meals together in our kitchens. We want business travelers to feel like they’ve got an office on the road. We want friends to share a bottle of wine in our living rooms. One of our driving mission statements from day one: we are creating spaces to empower others to create.

Parallel Travel Joule

Photo by Chad Savaikie, Designed by Alison Wilkinson of Wilk Design Workship

How have your Parallel travelers been responding to your unique accommodations?

The response has been been amazing. We’ve received so many positive comments about how amazing the decor and furnishings are. We are very young as a brand, but we already have repeat customers, which we did not expect so soon.

Parallel Travel Living Room

Photo by Chad Savaikie, Designed by Joy Rondello of J+Studios

In your opinion, what’s the most essential element to a Parallel listing?

The unexpected ones. Going back to intentionally not being prescriptive with design guidelines, we made that choice because we want to be surprised by the magic that happens when designers are free to create. One of our most-booked units has one of our boldest statement pieces, a technicolor painting of Abraham Lincoln, which we would never have thought to put in a unit. We also have a designer in Nashville who makes his own furniture, which has allowed us to put pieces in an apartment we would literally never be able to. It demonstrates how much people crave things that are new and different and unexpected. And that’s what travel should be about: new, different, unexpected experiences — those unpredictable moments of serendipity.

Parallel Travel Abraham Lincoln

Photo by Thomas Morgan, Designed by Anne Rue of Anne Rue Interiors

What’s Parallel’s focus for 2017?

Continue to double down on our brand vision and deliver special experiences for our guests. We have an amazing lineup of ideas to make our guests’ stays that much more enjoyable, and we can’t wait to roll them out. It also means growing the number of designers in our network. We are always looking for creative, fun people to help build out these experiences. Ultimately, we want to let our brand evolve and grow organically, as we’ve seen a lot of success with that approach, and we think there is a lot more magic to unlock here. Travel is about serendipity, so why get in the way of it?


Contact Parallel:

W: http://paralleltravel.co/

E: hello@paralleltravel.co