Because the Elizabeth Whelan Design studio is responsive to today's textile marketplace, anticipating its demands is one of our primary design objectives. Nevertheless, the creation of our textile products rests on solid artistic fundamentals. Highly developed skills of drawing, painting and computer rendering are employed at the conceptual stage of a project. As an idea emerges, structural and pattern studies bring about a tangible material. After this, comes the crucial phase of material exploration and experimentation. Academic research is conducted to substantiate the idea behind the textile, its purpose is refined and its end usage specified. Finally, various techniques are explored to adapt the textile to manufacturing and mass production. This formula has succeeded in bringing to the marketplace unique textiles of exquisite construction, extraordinary quality and clarity of purpose.

In the studio we are busy with a number of tasks on any given day which may include: preparing woven design samples and studies; conducting painted pattern work; preparing specifications for the mass production of our textiles; and seeking out new sources on a vast range of raw materials.