WORDS BY PEARL HILL
IMAGE COURTESY OF CARA GEORGE
Cara and I meet on a video call; she in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, me in Notting Hill. Behind her is a wall of textile samples: small squares of sumptuous patterns printed on quality fabrics, offering a taster of collections to come.
The brand takes its name from Cara’s great-aunt, Otea Pollera, who holds a somewhat mythical status for Cara. Whilst the two never met, Cara’s designs are influenced by photographs of Otea’s life. Woven into the fabrics and wallpapers are threads of history, memory, and imagination, intertwined. Otea Textiles creates canvases to backdrop your life, filling your home with playfulness and vibrancy.
She seeks to unite customers with the rich, languid joy associated with Italy’s coastal coves and foodie cities. Beneath this whimsical façade is the reality that such pleasures rely upon the vitality of the ecosystem: Otea Textiles speaks to this Southern European daydream whilst actively supporting ecological sustainability.
Cara is cognisant of the need for modern creators to be deliberate about their practices; in a bid to combat this statistic, Otea collaborates with sustainable manufacturer, Twenty2. The Connecticut based factory was founded in 2001 by married couple, Kyra and Robertson Hartnett — originally as a small wallpaper and textile design studio. Twenty2 go above and beyond, boasting intentional business practices which span from inclusive hiring to ecological commitment. They source materials locally, with the exception of certain fabrics — such as linen — being sourced in Europe.
For Otea, sustainability in no way means compromising on beauty. As seen styled in the Salon’s Reading Room, Otea Textiles’ range of wallpapers, fabrics and homeware are vibrantly designed to imbue your space with colour and texture. In true maximalist style, each pattern has delightful layering potential. A fundamental corner stone of Otea’s sustainable practices is their made-to-order protocol. Like a personalised gift, every fabric and wallpaper is crafted to your individual requirements so that no cloth is ever wasted.
Cara’s design process begins with sketches and water-colour painting; her ideas are sparked by nostalgia, often from sifting through old photographs of family members and asking the people close to her to retell the stories which she heard as a child. During our conversation, she frequently reminisces about her grandmother’s kitchen. There is a fine line between inspiration and recreation, and Cara notes that ‘the best patterns come naturally.’ Whilst she may draw upon the details and motifs of fabrics in photographs, her best designs materialise within her. Cara reflects that the process requires her to be discerning, selecting those designs which are not solely beautiful, but which also suit their function.
Bespoke fusions of cotton, linen and grass cloth paper — materials which have stood the test of time — have been expertly integrated to produce fabrics and wallpapers which feel pared-down, raw, and natural. These materials hark back to basics, allowing quality to speak for itself. The parchment paper absorbs ink rather than producing a printed effect.
Cara also alludes to an upcoming collection, expected this Winter, which is rooted in depictions of Cara’s grandmother, the sister of Otea. You can expect botanicals and Otea’s signature old-world style, influenced by images of the matriarch and nature. You can also expect new colourways and smaller scales of her current collection in Autumn.
Old world maximalism is a common theme of Otea’s creations, so I ask Cara what this really means to her. She draws again upon the theme of contrast, describing tension: between design which timelessly exists outside of the trend cycle, yet which appeals to the modern eye; between the refined and the unrefined; between nostalgia and beauty — which is both unexplainable and outrageous. Her own ‘old-world’ is her grandmother’s kitchen, a blend of mid-century American kitsch, replete with elegantly clashing wallpapers and tablecloths.
I am curious to know what Cara’s own home looks like. She tells me that she lives in a 1952 home, which is more modern than she is accustomed to. Rest assured, she has incorporated allusions to the old-world, with Otea antiquity wallpaper in her kitchen and Otea plaid wallpaper in her hallway. She even promises that her house will be photographed soon, so that we can all get a glimpse into her unique style in action.