Our Collaborative Designers

For Michael Koch, a curiosity with materials and found objects prompts an internal response.

What catches the eye? Color, light, texture. Possibilities.

His life turn occurred when choosing a creative path in his early twenties. Studio practices of drawing, color and design began at Kansas University in Lawrence, KS then to RISD with an emphasis on textiles. There, explorations in structure, yarns, materials and finishes merged with questions on processes and the skills and equipment to achieve.

More recently, from 2004 to 2019, he and his husband owned and operated LA Mills, a textile weaving mill in downtown LA. Prior, upon leaving RISD in '87, he moved to NYC and into Jacquard weaving for interiors. Various experiences include working with Jack Larsen and his studio, as a senior designer. And, in the early 90's for Tony Lambert and his Menswear Collection team.

Along the way, Michael has continued his own personal studio practices of making, exploring, and thinking.

Amelie Mancini is an artist and designer based in Brooklyn, NY. She was born and raised in Lyon, France and studied fine arts and design at the Universite Sorbonne in Paris, graduated in 2005 and moved to NYC shortly after. She has been living in Brooklyn ever since. She work primarily with block prints and line drawing, specifically for textile design. She also enjoy painting, sewing and ceramics. Her favorite things to draw are plants of all kinds and cacti in particular, slightly wobbly Greek columns, friendly fat felines and equally out of shape baseball players. Her favorite places to go for inspiration are the Brooklyn botanic Garden and the Met, specifically the Ancient Near Eastern Art galleries.

Karyn Villante is a knit designer with a strong background in the domestic knitting industry. As the founder and owner of MADE*HERE NEW YORK®, she specializes in knits made with cotton grown in the US, spun and plyed in the Carolinas, knit in the New York metropolitan area, dyed here and sewn here. Karyn Villante's mission behind MADE*HERE NEW YORK® is to provide beautiful cotton sweaters and blankets manufactured locally, using the best and most detail-oriented mills. In the face of factory collapses and inhumane working conditions overseas, she's especially dedicated to giving consumers an outlet to shop with a conscience.