Nantucket Looms: A Legacy of Style

Nantucket Looms: A Legacy of Style was published by Rizzoli in March.

Painter M.J. Levy Dickson’s The Kerosene House lends color to Beach Bucket’s dining room and complements the rug and handwoven linen placem

In the enclosed porch, Nantucket Looms’ handwoven South African mohair and Japanese spun-silk throw drapes across an ottoman with a nailhead detail; the painting is by Jocelyn Sandor Urban.

Mark Sutherland’s wooden model of an 1870s sloop is displayed on a bedside table in the Cliff Road home.

For more than five decades, island landmark Nantucket Looms has transformed cashmere, alpaca, mohair, and cotton into blankets, rugs, table linens, scarves, and sweaters. This spring, it celebrated the release of its first book, Nantucket Looms: A Legacy of Style (Rizzoli), which features projects from Nantucket Looms Interiors,
the textile company’s full-service interior design branch, born in 1998.

The book explores residences across the island, each curated in the brand’s signature palette and textiles, including the charming Cliff Road retreat, cheekily referred to
as Beach Bucket. It also touches upon Nantucket Looms’ history and connection to the community.

Andy Oates and Bill Euler inadvertently started a craft movement on Nantucket in 1968 when they opened the store. Their protégé, Elizabeth Winship, inherited the business after nineteen years and nurtured its reputation, passing it down to her daughter, Bess Clarke, who is now the CEO.

“It was really important for all of us to pay tribute to Bill, Andy, and Liz, in particular, because we learned so much from her over many years,” says principal designer Stephanie Hall, who is a partner in the business alongside Clarke and master weaver Rebecca Jusko Peraner.

The book—and the shop—also spotlights local artisans. Nantucket Looms invites artists to bring their work to the shop before it opens on weekdays for the opportunity to sell their wares, a tradition that empowers local imaginations. “It’s special,” says Clarke. “It’s a business about the people, the staff, each other, our clients, and the artists.”

In addition to the year-round store, where shoppers can often hear the upstairs looms hard at work, and the interior design firm, the company also supports local high school graduates through a scholarship fund. It’s all part and parcel of a business that has spent fifty-plus years weaving itself into the fabric of the island.

Nantucket Looms, nantucketlooms.com