Sara Smedley designs and silkscreens modern textiles for the kitchen, table, and home. Her unique line of linen butcher’s aprons were inspired by aprons used by her grandfather as well as the denim chef’s aprons Julia Child loved to wear. Sara prints on heavyweight linen and cotton, and uses water-based inks. She aims to keep her patterns fresh and unexpected, but she carries with her an undeniable sense of nostalgia for all things mid-century through the 1970’s as well as a love for Scandinavian design.

Inspired by the concept of beauty meeting utility, Sara finds inspiration in a quote she read by Eva Zeisel. Eva’s goal was to "give pleasure to the user when he had time to notice them, and yet not disturb him when he was too busy or tired." When designing, Sara keeps those thoughts in mind. Her patterns start out as absent-minded doodles, later she will distill them down until they feel “just right.” Her favorite moments are when the ink dries and she can run her hand over the fabric, feeling where the ink meets the linen; her original “little scribble” now a tactile thing. The other is when that fabric becomes a finished product, a “whole thing” that can blend gracefully into the everyday.

Sara feels lucky to have grown up in the rural farmland outlying Kutztown. She went on to live in Brooklyn NY, while she attended Pratt Institute, and then spent time living in Cambridge MA. Regardless of her love for both cities Sara couldn’t resist the pull and the peace she felt from the rural landscape of the Kutztown area. She also enjoys the unique mix of cultures and friends that exist there, the traditional: Pennsylvania Dutch and the progressive: artists, academics, and environmentalists, to name a few.