By Emily Griffin
An artist for as long as he can remember, Will Rhodarmer is changing the interior decorating game with his innovative, decorative folding screens.
As a trained artist with multiple art degrees, he built on this foundation by pursuing additional studies and expertise from oil and acrylics to Sumi-e drawing, print-making and other unique painting techniques.
With his new company, EClan Design, he is focused on taking that artistic experience and creating beautiful, hand-crafted folding screens made specific to each client.
“I just had a brainstorm and thought, ‘This is what needs to happen’,” Rhodarmer says. “What a great niche in the market… I just thought custom was the way to go. It becomes interactive for the client.”
Trying to keep the process as collaborative as possible, Rhodarmer makes sure his clients are as involved in the artistic process as much or as little as they want to be.
“I recently did a fireplace cover for a client in D.C. who knew exactly the artist’s point of departure and the palette they wanted to use and sent me pictures of where it was going to go in their home,” he says. “That one was really collaborative but most of the time people just say ‘I need something here and I like this’ and then I start presenting ideas.”
Not only does Rhodarmer hand paint every screen, they are also created with whatever medium the client wants.
“We’re totally custom so I have fabricators of all types of craftsman: wood, fabric, metal, some synthetic materials that I’m working and experimenting with right now,” Rhodarmer says. “We’re doing dog screens that you put in front of a doorway to keep them out a room, fireplace covers, couch screens for behind the couch if you have a couch in the middle of the room.”
Rhodarmer is creating space solutions, but is also giving his clients a piece of art they will pass down for generations.
“The pieces we create through collaboration become highly crafted, heirloom pieces,” Rhodarmer says. “The interior design community searches out unique, functional art to complete their artistic vignettes and we love being that solution whether it is a small space, luxury condominium or a country estate home.”
Learn more about Will, his journey, and his design process:
See more work from EClan Design
[…] , maybe earlier, and often depicted idyllic scenes beautifully wrought by craftspeople and artists. EClan Design master artist Will Rhodarmer is honoring that history with the one-of-a-kind folding screens he […]
[…] a beautiful home,” she says. “While living in Washington, D.C., I had the chance to see Will’s art and screens first hand in a beautiful Georgetown home. I was excited to connect with him after […]