Douglas Funkhouser wants to make the world a more beautiful place. The Valencia, California–based artist and founder of Le Gracieux is on a mission to create handmade textiles that both elevate and inspire spaces. “I strive to be optimistic in my work,” he tells Business of Home. “I want my pieces to have a positive effect and impact on those that come in contact with them.”
Growing up in New York, his father was an art director and his mother was a fashion illustrator. Both encouraged him to start painting as a child. In college, he studied under costume and set designer Lester Polakov at the Studio and Forum of Stage Design, a small private school devoted to theatrical art. “It was through his mentorship that I began to work as a Broadway scenic artist,” says Funkhouser.
In the 1980s, he opened his own studio, where he spent the next decade designing and painting scenic backdrops for commercial photographers and theater, television and movie productions. He worked with the likes of Hubert de Givenchy, Nike, Harley-Davidson, McDonald’s, Disney and Coca-Cola. “When the ’90s came around, I decided to take what I had learned from painting and apply it to the world of residential interior design,” he explains. “I reinvented myself and began to produce exclusive decorative finishes, murals and textiles for high-end residential interiors.”
Funkhouser’s client list quickly grew to feature an array of noteworthy designers, including Michael S. Smith and Waldo Fernandez, and his works appeared in the homes of celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Elizabeth Taylor. He was introduced to Rose Tarlow in 1997, and the two collaborated together on what would ultimately become her first line of textiles, the Melrose House collection.
_Production_Run_Resist_Dyed_Linen_Textile__Regello_.jpg "This artist’s hand-printed textiles are an A-list interior designer favorite")
Motivated, he launched Le Gracieux in the spring of 2002 with nine hand-printed linen upholstery patterns. “I began to experiment with the resist dye method [an ancient batik-like process where specific areas of fabric are treated to prevent dye penetration] and set up a 10-yard printing table in my backyard under an old oak tree,” he says.
Orders came flooding in—including a hand-stenciled design for a wallcovering that Smith created for former President Barack Obama’s White House—and the rest is history. Today, Le Gracieux’s SoCal manufacturing facility is home to a trio of 25-yard-long print tables, where Funkhouser and his team hand-produce each and every piece using the centuries-old printing and dyeing techniques. “Though they’re made with traditional European craft methods, they are genuinely an American-made product,” he says.
_Promotional_Shot_for_Jeffrey_Bihuber_for_le_gracieux_(photo_by_Kelly_Taub).jpg "This artist’s hand-printed textiles are an A-list interior designer favorite")
Funkhouser continues to work with acclaimed designers on bespoke textile designs and has released collaborative collections for Le Gracieux with Orlando Diaz-Azcuy and Jeffrey Bilhuber. “Every designer is unique in their own creative process,” he says, “and it’s a pleasure to work with so many so closely.”
More recently, the brand released Le Jardin, a collection of five French flax linen patterns based on traditional motifs from around the world. “They are beautifully resist-dyed linens offered in a palette of vibrant colors designed to relate to and coordinate with some of the collaborations we’ve launched with other designers,” he says.
Currently hard at work on the brand’s first line of performance fabrics, he is also collaborating with Tarlow on an upcoming collection of exclusive, Le Gracieux–produced textiles. Additionally, Funkhouser is revisiting his early love of painting and putting together a gallery show. “My career as an artist has spanned six decades,” he says. “I have cultivated an attitude of peace and thankfulness.”
