The place mat sits low on the totem pole of design objects, but for Sandy Chilewich, it's the basis of successful brand. The New York-based designer and lifelong entrepreneur launched her eponymous company in 2000 with one product—a woven vinyl place mat—and has since spun that into a home textiles empire built on the assumption that the everyday things we use in our homes should be affordable, easy to maintain, and beautiful.
There's a good chance you've eaten at a table that's been set with one of Chilewich's place mats or table runners—even the Obamas have—but before she developed products that can be found in homes and restaurants around the world, she cofounded Hue, the fashion company known for its colorful tights. While it seems like a leap to move from hosiery to housewares, there was one constant: adapting new materials and tweaking manufacturing processes to innovate new mass-produceable designs.