Nothing goes together like stripes and flowers.

That’s what textile designer Sina Pearson believes, and she’s out to prove it with her newest collection.

“They go together really well,” she says. “They’re two iconic kinds of patterns that we did at same time.”

She’s designed durability into them too, making them bleach-cleanable for use in hospitality, healthcare, education and offices.

But it’s her crisp designs that sets these fabrics apart.

Eschewing the computer (“When I went to Cranbrook we didn’t have computer-aided design,” she says), she designed the stripes by cutting and pasting strips of paper, side by side. She drew the flowers by hand, then cut them out of construction paper, Scotch-taped them together and scaled them down.

“The colors are really fresh – they’re great reds, great neutrals, with greens, and butter yellows – and in new combinations,” she says. “They’re the same kinds of colors as I used 23 years ago when I started, but with tweaks in intensity.”

The colors of yarns, provided by yarn banks at the mills she deals with, provide her with inspirations. “When we go to the mills, we’ll say that we want more colors,” she says. “And when we go to the architects who are designing, they’ll say: this is what we’re looking for – more colors, higher performance and more durability.”

While she’s responding to the designers, the mills are responding to her. There, artisans work with computers to turn designs into fabric.

“Selecting the weave is important, so that a ribbon pattern actually looks like ribbon – sometimes it’s more important than the pattern itself,” she says. “The third leg of the stool is color, and using all three well means a successful product.”

And with a lifespan in the market of 10 to 15 years, the fabrics need to do double duty.

“It has to look fresh, but last a good long while,” she says.

And the combination of stripes and flowers easily fills that bill.

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For more information, go to http://sinapearson.com/