Design Thinks Big

April 6, 2018

Jason Yenter grew up with graphic design. His mother, Sharon Evans Yenter, started In the Beginning as a retail store for quilters in Seattle in 1977. In the Beginning Fabrics division was founded in 1999 to develop and sell cotton fabrics. Three years ago, the company closed retail operations to concentrate its efforts on the international wholesale side of business, and Yenter also created his own design business, J. Yenter Designs, to bring his vision to a wider market.

His repeat designs are a natural for wrapping paper, tissue paper and other stationery products. Ceramics, dinnerware and kitchen textiles are other categories that fit his designs. "My designs tend not to be centered around an image, so they work well for larger surfaces," he said.

International Greetings licensed his designs for a line of small paper products merchandised in dollar bins in Michaels Stores last year.

Yenter has also broken into the menswear category with a line of shirts for Johnston & Murphy. "The spring

line, which just appeared in their catalog, featured two shirts and T-shirts with a multicolored scroll design and texture in a soft green/teal blue combination," he said. "The shirts are contemporary and targeted to the 30- to 40-year-old customer." Johnston & Murphy is planning another two to three designs for their fall collection.

Yenter's most recent fabric designs are his graphix collections, including WintergraphixIIis, a contemporary winter-themed collection featuring snowflakes and trees; Hallowgraphix, featuring Halloween imagery; and Floragraphix IV, which mixes florals, geometrics and scroll designs.

"Sales reps pre-selling those collections since January are saying the response has been really strong," said Yenter.

Mixing different design elements from various time periods is a trend Yenter is following. "I'll take antique French textiles from the 1800s and scan the images then layer different motifs on top of those images," he said. "We're seeing more of this melding of different motifs to create a more layered, contemporary look. With a million different companies out there showing their designs, you need to find a look that hasn't been done before," he said.

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