Recycled, organic, and really good looking.
Richard Killeaney was raised in San Diego, California. He studied Studio Art and French at Hobart College and has a MFA in Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design. He has sold paper airplanes professionally, taught art in a children’s museum, worked for a winery, and taught English to French high school students. He has taught textile design to fashion students at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, The Rhode Island School of Design, and Moore College of Art & Design. He currently lives in Bridgeport, CT where he works on his own line of quilts and pillows. Ocheltree Design is inspired by the Southern California coast, Richard’s grandmother’s quilt collection, and the idea that green design can look good.
Ocheltree Design offers a synthesis of quality construction and contemporary design principles. The goal is to offer luxury that is more than just exquisite in appearance: it is also comfortable and socially responsible. These products consider aesthetics simultaneously as ideals such as recycling, organic fibers, and sustainability creating objects that are as beautiful as they are considerate of the world. While these products will not change the world, they are in support of practices that aim to keep our world beautiful.
The small leather goods collection started as a way to repurpose thrift store found leather apparel that was damaged and likely to be tossed. Today, many local interior designers and upholsters give me small scraps. All the leather used for handbags, zip pouches, clutches, and the like is either post-industrial or post-consumer, bringing no new leather into the world. Many of the pouches repurpose scraps from the larger bags. Cat toys are made using the smallest of upholstery scraps, resulting in durable and handsome gifts for your cat.
All Ocheltree products are manufactured at a quality to withstand daily use and to become heirloom pieces. The quilts are constructed using men’s dress shirts with organic cotton batting and backs. Shirt pockets remain in the quilt; ideal for hiding secret notes to loved ones. The quilts are designed in unlimited editions in varying sizes from crib to king. The decorative pillows at Ocheltree Design are designed to coordinate with the quilts and also stand alone, on a bed or couch. The pillows are designed using men’s dress shirts, wool sweaters, and tweed sports coats. No two pillows are identical but they fit together nicely as groups. All pillows feature zipper closure and kapok-filled pillow inserts. Kapok is a plant fiber down-alternative that is animal product free, hypoallergenic, and supports sustainable rainforest economies.
