The New York Times Magazine

Home Design Supplement, October 1996
Lucy Young

"the most innovative ideas in home design are coming from young artisans—who aren't afraid to reinterpret tradition.

"Drunk Love in a Log Cabin" is how Denyse Schmidt describes the design pictured at right; another of her works has been called "Josef Albers on a bender." She is not sure if her designs appeal to the Amish women who hand-quilt each one (she only speaks to an intermediary, "someone with a phone"), but her vibrant, slightly wobbly patterns are certainly attracting people who previously showed no interest in quilts. Because of the craft’s old-fashioned connotations, "I was a little shy of calling quilts at first," she admits. Schmidt, 35, is a trained graphic designer who has also developed her own typeface, Scamp, which looks as if it came from a Tex Avery cartoon. Her sewing experience began in childhood: by age 8, she was making all her own doll clothes. Later she graduated to working for the Boston Ballet ("I made a terrible mess of a tutu once") and sewing for the St. Joeseph’s Abbey in Spencer, MA, "doing hooded things and bishops’ miters." But quilting is what she loves best. "The graphic possibilities are endless," she says."