Arc-Com’s Foundation Collection, officially released this past December, is inspired by the tools, techniques, and geometric forms used to build the grand European cathedrals. Amanda Eaton, the company’s vice president of design, collected some of her greatest memories to help develop the seven coordinated patterns—six upholstery and one wallcovering—that comprise the line. When Eaton was 17, she joined her father on a business trip and traveled to Europe for the first time. There, she explored Paris and visited the Notre Dame cathedral where she had an experience that has stuck with her ever since.
“[Inside] the cathedral there was a table set up with a miniature diorama that illustrated how the cathedral was built,” she recalled. “It included rudimentary equipment, animals, men lifting stones—it was just really cool. I was young at the time so it had a tremendous impact on me. Coincidentally, I had just finished ‘Pillars of the Earth,’ one of my favorite books, which chronicles the lives of cathedral builders. It is a fictitious story but it touches on that [real theme].” In developing the Foundation Collection, Eaton was brought back to her teenage experience as the fascination with process and craft has come to
the forefront of the maker and design cultures, despite the vast technological advances of recent decades. “[The Foundation Collection] speaks to people’s attraction and connection to craft,” she explained. “It connects to that trend
of today, which was certainly something I was thinking about. It’s about exploring craft and process, which people are [especially interested in] today with everything being so automated.”
