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THE GREAT INDOORS: Roantree Weaves sews into Philly's textile roots
Ann Roantree of Roantree Weaves is paving the way for a more personalized textiles market in Philadelphia through her work-of-art home fabrics.
THE GREAT INDOORS: Roantree Weaves sews into Philly's textile roots
Reporter Meg Augustin takes you inside some of Philly's most fab dwellings to showcase our city's unique grasp on design and architecture.
One of Philadelphia’s most important contributions to the Industrial Age was textile manufacturing. By 1904, Philly housed the largest fabtics industry in the U.S. Its textile factories employed over a third of 
the city’s population. But today, even though we have Fabric Row and remnants of old factories like Sherman Mills, this booming industry is a thing of the past. Today, consumers are buying rugs, fabrics, pillows and clothing from box-store retailers that don’t produce what they sell. Ann Roantree (pictured) of Roantree Weaves, however, is paving the way for a more personalized market in Philadelphia through her work-of-art home textiles.
Roantree’s experience with textiles and home creations has quite a history. “Growing up, we had to make everything,” says Roantree of her mid-century upbringing. “We were taught to make our own clothes and learned everything from crochet to how to operate a sewing machine.” It helped that Roantree came from a long line of home-based textile makers. Her father and grandfather made everything for their female family members and taught them to do the same. However, it was Roantree’s own exploration into weaving that led to her current business. “I signed up for a weaving class in central Pennsylvania … and the minute I touched my foot to the loom pedal, something clicked.” Shortly after buying her first loom — a Colorado-manufactured, mid-sized piece that currently resides in her living room — she quickly realized her work was good enough to sell. After developing a business plan with her husband, Roantree Weaves was born.
When creating fabrics, Roantree adopts a custom approach. Harkening back to the colonial model, she works out of her home to plan and craft her pieces. These materials allow her to create complex works of art, using the enlarged textiles as a blank canvas. While she does work with clients to develop individualized pieces, Roantree’s works are influenced by her own mathematical organizational interests and a variety of artistic movements including 20th-century architecture, abstract expressionism and juxtaposing colors. You’ll also get glimpses of global culture in Roantree’s work, such as Southwestern and Peruvian graphics, Asian architecture and African patterns. “[My] designs are modern in perspective,” she notes, “but are easily integrated into ‘traditional’ and contemporary settings.”
In general, it takes 6 to 8 weeks for her to finish a rug. The majority of that time, surprisingly, is not spent on the loom. Roantree starts all of her works with an extensive planning process. “Because weaving 
is based on numerical calculations both in width and length, every design detail — or just about everything — gets thought out in advance of preparing yarn for the loom and starting the weaving.” Roantree plans each of her designs in Excel, creating precise mockups of not only the finished piece but visuals of what it’ll look like in the intended space. Roantree works one-on-one with every client to create a custom piece that matches their home by incorporating their interests and color schemes.
Prices for Roantree’s work vary greatly. Scarves and pillows, which are available through her Etsy site, are obviously less expensive. But smaller doesn’t always mean cheaper. “Sometimes the smaller mats are more expensive simply due to the amount of materials and planning,” she says. On the larger side, Roantree’s current loom can weave up to a 5-foot-wide piece, with larger widths being constructed out of sewn-together sections. Length, however, is never a problem. Some pieces can reach as long as 30 feet. Wool rugs currently start at around $65 a square foot while her less-time-consuming cotton-rag rugs start around $55 a square foot — all including the planning and design consultations with the client. Roantree purchases wool and other materials that are made in the U.S. She travels around the country every year looking for the best product — just one more way Roantree Weaves is staying true to its history. info@roantreeweaves.com, http://www.roantreeweaves.com.
Have a home or design business you'd like featured in an upcoming Great Indoors? Email the author at megan.augustin@citypaper.net.
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