Licensing Hotline: Colorful Cross-Merchandising

by Karen Raugust -- Publishers Weekly, 6/10/2002

Susan Sargent, a home products designer known for richly colored  textiles, has written her first book, New Country Color: The Art of Living. It will serve as a cornerstone of a licensing effort that includes furniture (from Lexington), bedding (Springs/ Wamsutta), wallcoverings (York), fabric (Robert Allen), decorative art glass and sculptures (Evans Designs) and painted dinnerware (Present Tense). Art Impressions is Sargent's licensing agency.

The book, which Watson-Guptill published last month with a first printing of 25,000 and a planned reprint of 10,000, is cowritten with Jake Chapline and features 210 photographs by Eric Roth. "It's about a philosophy of how to use color, and it's a single person's point of view," said Sargent. Her products have been marketed through Susan Sargent Designs since 1995 to upscale shops, including her own store in Manchester, Vt., and more than 25 catalogues ranging from Orvis to Neiman Marcus.