Nickey Kehoe @nickeykehoe
Todd Nickey and Amy Kehoe are the design duo behind Nickey Kehoe. Coming together in 2004, the pair - from different design backgrounds - now run a design firm (focused on residential and commercial projects) as well as their retail shop - full of retro and modern pieces.
Nickey comes from a retail design background, while Kehoe has worked mostly in hospitality design. Working across Southern California, their unique blend of old world patina and modern simplicity keeps their aesthetic fresh and timeless.
Retail shop trinkets and ethnic fabrics feature on their Instagram. Color-pops on white backgrounds showcase vintage finds, modern homewares and a selection of handpicked goods from around the world. We love the natural-fiber rugs, textural throws and wall hangs, next to the grainy, upholstered chairs and lounges.
Moss In Garden @mossingarden
"Imagination in a bottle" is the philosophy behind Moss In Garden. The home decor venture is lead by just one photographer-turned-designer, whose love for nature saw him creating terrarium as a hobby.
"Nature is one of my biggest inspirations - ever," explains Charles Loh, the Singaporean creator of Moss In Garden. "As a young teen, I had become engrossed with the idea of merging art and nature - from fish breeding to aquascaping."In 2014, the terrariums use an unconventional growing style - mixing minimalism and quirkiness - for a contemporary home piece. The Moss In Garden Instagram captures the essence of the outdoors and bringing it in.
Luscious greens from the mini-tank plants are juxtaposed against the dry, woodiness of a table or a svelte leather bound book. The designer himself sometimes appears wearing organic-look, double denim outfits coexisting with earthiness of his products. They may not be an abundance of textiles or fabric on screen but Moss In Garden offers design insight into colour, texture and the notion of nature colliding with art for the home.
Alice Gao
Based in New York, Alice Gao is a photographer who knows her way around the camera. Producing simple, elegant photos - from fashion flatlays with exotic patterns and textures, to close of ups of colorful, velvety fabric on a pin-cushion lounge - each image creates a sense of yearning for the past, by instilling a 'want' to be where Gao is, right this second.
Gao's innate sense of style translates onto her Instagram feed. She has a love for linen apparel in its rawest, naturally-dyed form, contrasted against her appreciation of micro-geometric prints. Shapes and shadows feature squander-ishly on screen with Gao accentuating the importance of the absence of color, so that when it does arrive, it truly is the feature.
Mary Katrantzou @marykatrantzou
Print-lovers, beware. Greek-born, U.S.-based designer Mary Katrantzou and her trompe l’oeil prints have taken the fashion world head-on. Mary completed a BA in Architecture at the Rhode Island school of design, before transferring to Central Saint Martins in London to complete her BA degree in textile design. Graduating in 2005, Katrantzou shifted her direction from textile design to womenswear, with a focus on print – the latter she is now renowned for most.
Her leitmotifs include vintage perfume bottles, the interiors of old issues of architectural digest, and objects of art and postage stamps.
Drawn to cityscapes and street graffit, Katrantzou's Instagram is a personal glimpse into her pattern-savvy mind as a designer. Color and print spill onto her feed - stemming from experimentations with graphics for own textiles, as well as the little embellishments and bumps in her world. And then there's the occasional Rihanna pic too, sporting one of Katrantzou's galactic, color-popped outfits.