Design House Launches BabaKool Line

“BabaKool” is many things.

It’s beaches. It’s childhood memories. It’s the places Design House team Suzanne Caldwell and Maria Greenlaw have visited—England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, California, national parks and trading posts.

But most of all, to the Southampton-based designing pair, it’s their latest hand-blocked, custom-printed cotton linen and wallpaper line born from an interest in the historic, artistic and exotic while living a life off the beaten path.

“It’s French for ‘gypsy,’” Ms. Greenlaw said of the line’s name while seated in a chair next to her partner at Design House during an interview last week.

“It’s such a cool thing to say,” Ms. Caldwell said from an adjacent armchair in the shop. “We have this Swiss friend, and I said it one day. I said, ‘Oh, that’s just so babakool.’ And he’s like, ‘How do you know that word? I haven’t heard that since the ’60s.’”

“It’s a hippy word,” Ms. Greenlaw said of the word that is also sometimes spelled “babakul.”

“I think it was probably not really a compliment,” Ms. Caldwell added. The women laughed, and she continued, “But I think it encompasses the gypsy spirit. I think that’s where the creativity comes from—where we’ve been and where we want to go.”

The production process began last summer, after the designers sketched up their three ideas in two color schemes—blue on white and brown on white—and sent them to their fabric house in India where they were hand carved onto blocks.

Once a customer picks a design and color—which can be customized, as well—the cut goods are made into any range of products, from bed skirts, duvets and curtains to pillows, seat cushions and, perhaps in the future, even towels, the women reported.

“We’re in it and know what people are looking for, what people are responding to,” Ms. Greenlaw said. “Handcrafted, more ethnic-looking, not mainstream.”

“More unique,” Ms. Caldwell added. “Nobody wants what the Joneses have anymore.”

The blue-and-white color combination on the cotton linen and wallpaper lends itself to a more casual, carefree Hamptons look, the designers said.

“Being out here, everyone loves blue and white,” Ms. Greenlaw said.

“It mixes well with Hamptons style,” Ms. Caldwell said. “It puts a twist on it. To me, after you go to the beach for the day and you’re crispy, sunburned, crusted with sand, you’re just so satisfied from being at the beach all day and you want to come home and cook dinner.”

She snagged the pillow next to her and hugged it into her chest.

“This fabric gives you that feeling,” she said, squeezing the pillow as she smiled.

One yard of the BabaKool fabric runs $135, and for wallpaper, it’s $78 per yard, the women reported.

On walls, they recommend using the larger pattern in smaller rooms. It encompasses the whole area, they said.

“It’s sort of the opposite of what people think,” Ms. Greenlaw said. “They think, ‘Oh, it’s a small room, it can’t be a big print,’ but it works the other way around, really.”

“And the blue color we have is like a black turtleneck,” Ms. Caldwell said. “We went back to the drawing board several times to get the right blue.”

The smaller print works well in pops and accents, the women said. Ms. Caldwell particularly likes it as a curtain lining, she noted.

“I just think it’s so understated but so over-the-top because it’s custom-made and we designed it,” she said. “I love that idea of it. That no one else has it.”

The design team is already working on phase two of their line, but the end result could be a result of where they travel to next.

“Oh, where do we start?” Ms. Caldwell said.

“Africa, Istanbul, Morocco,” Ms. Greenlaw said. “I’d love to go to Prague.”

“It becomes part of your personality—things that you grow up with, places you go,” Ms. Caldwell said. “Because I know when I travel, I want it all and I just want to immerse myself in the whole thing. That’s babakool.”

For more information, call 283-0111 or visit designhouseofthehamptons.com.