Well-Traveled Interior Designer Re-Creates Vivid Details of Trips

When Gary Glant wanders through a Balinese temple or lounges in a lush Venetian hotel, he’s working. When he gazes at the brilliant colors of the French Riviera or studies the intricate pattern of Phoenician filigree jewelry, he’s working.

It may sound like an endless dream vacation, but for Glant, founder and owner of Seattle’s Glant Textiles Corp., it’s a vital part of his job.

He takes images from his travels to create luxurious, patterned fabrics for furniture--fabrics for which customers pay $100 to $175 per yard on average in showrooms from Seattle to Hong Kong to London.

“Frankly, he is unrivaled in the marketplace,” said George Massar, president of the Kneedler-Fauchere showrooms in San Francisco.

Kneedler-Fauchere was the first to show Glant’s designs when he started out 20 years ago. Since then, Glant fabrics have helped furnish hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton in Paris, retail stores such as Georgio Armani’s Madison Avenue location in New York and homes such as Oprah Winfrey’s.

He has a special red that the late Ginger Rogers used to decorate her house, and a chenille pattern called Lakewood that Martha Stewart uses in hers.

Glant’s fall collection is inspired by and named for a trip to Bali. The Bali collection features colors such as Imperial Gold, Dragonfly Red, Deep Plum and Bamboo and patterns such as Bali Scroll and Temple Carving.

Inspiration for his latest collection of about 150 items came from the “gorgeous temples,” “beautiful carvings” and contemporary architecture of Bali, Glant said.

In Bali, he found an artists colony called Pita Maha in the highlands of Ubud. In the land of terraced rice fields, every farmer also seemed to know a special craft. Glant describes his corresponding Pita Maha design as “very Asian and textured.”

“There are a lot of textures that reflect the richness and luster of the royal fabrics, as well as the beautiful textures that reflect the landmark crafts of the Balinese,” Glant said.

This fall, the trend in furniture fabrics is for a “regal, aristocratic air,” said Terry Allen, vice president of design for the Pearson Co., a North Carolina-based high-end upholstered furniture manufacturer. Fabrics this fall will come in deep, lustrous colors, Allen learned at a recent fabric show in Italy.

Glant’s new collection should be no exception, said Kristine Donovick of Kristin Donovick Interior Designs Inc. in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood. Donovick often uses Glant’s fabrics for her high-end residential customers.

“He’s gotten back into more classical looks,” she said. “You can really do a beautiful, subtle interior.”

The colors in Glant’s collections are sophisticated, rich and quiet, said Dorian Muncey of Seattle’s Dorian G. Muncey Interior Design.