Ann Gish: Behind The Brand

My mom, Ann, started the brand out of frustration. She was working as an interior designer and after an experience with a terribly crappy client rejecting a custom tablecloth, she decided she was going to design…capes. Yes, capes. This quickly morphed into washable silk tabletop (the creative mind, am I right?) which she first pitched to the Mottura showroom in the LA Mart on the day Bush Sr. first bombed Iraq (driving down the LA freeway, she thought “there goes that $5K in silk I bought…”).

Mottura loved the line and immediately placed an order, so then she had to figure out production. Turns out one of her many talents did not include being able to sew in a straight line, so she found a seamstress who began cutting & sewing the napkins and placements. However, my mom had sent the silk to a commercial laundry to wash it, and the laundry used a mangler, which re-stretches fabric after washing. But then when you wash it again, it shrinks up like a seersucker.

Despite these mistakes, the silk tabletop was a hit! She quickly moved into designing pillows and was placed at several high-end stores within months. Within a year, she was designing washable silk bedding, being featured in magazines, and specified for celebrity homes.

In many ways, the success of the brand has always been about a willingness to experiment and then learn from mistakes, and to be fearless in creating.

I’m so proud of how much we’ve grown in the past five years! Between our Met x Ann Gish collection (ever-growing!), our reintroduction of Ready-to-Bed 2.0 (sustainably woven from a renewable fiber), the Art of Home (Ann Gish junior) and our core Ann Gish line.

The company runs differently now – we are (or at least try to be) more proactive given everything we have learned. This touches diverse areas: design, production, operations, etc. We’ve also been responsive to the shifts in the industry landscape: the growing importance of the interior design trade, the internet, and the customer’s desire to luxury but also ease of care.

Ann Gish belongs at 200 Lex – the clientele we want to serve come to this building. We are proud to be a part of the community here!

Are there any exciting things happening for the brand in the future?

Beyond continuing with The Met x Ann Gish, there are a few things that are not 100% firm yet. Don’t want to count the chickens before they hatch!

Where will the brand be in 5/10 years?

Bigger & better, but still sophisticated and unique.

What do you want people to know about the brand that they may not?

A lot of people are not familiar with our range – we are thought of as a very fancy line with products that are hard to care for. Not true! Lots of washable bedding.