Colors of autumn make pillows pop in any decor

Steve Spatafore has been a Las Vegan for 20 years, but he has never forgotten his North Canton, Ohio, youth — especially those cool fall days when he would rake colorful leaves into large piles and then jump into those piles and scatter the leaves everywhere.

Those memories were an inspiration to Spatafore as he explained Leaf Ink Designs and Pillow Collection, the company he created that showcases the artistic designs of colorful fall leaves imprinted onto square and rectangle pillows that retail for around $35.

“People love trees and their leaves so I started photographing them in the fall whenever I went home to visit family,” Spatafore said. “I would see a pile of leaves on the ground and photograph them where they laid. I then started creating patterns and moving the leaves around and that’s when the idea came to me that maybe I had something unique here.”

What he had was the idea of imprinting the photos onto pillows. But the idea didn’t really come that easily.

The 49-year-old Spatafore moved to Las Vegas in 1985 to attend the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He graduated with a finance degree, but, in 1992, he turned his attention to full-time photography, a hobby since high school.

“ In 2009, I became a photographer for the World Market Center, the Las Vegas Furniture Market and Gift Show,” he said.

While walking the World Market Center’s many floors and photographing anything and everything related to home furnishings, Spatafore met a number of influential people. He showed them his photos and shared his idea of imprinting them on pillows.

Monica Pedersen, an interior design and lifestyle expert, television show host (HGTV and NBC), and furniture designer for Abbyson Living, encouraged Spatafore to further develop his idea.

“Steve has taken a traditional leaf motif and made it modern,” she said. “The variety of colors will coordinate with any color palette already in a home. It’s the perfect way to celebrate fall décor and bring a piece of the outdoors inside. I love it.”

Spatafore’s photo design collection includes leaves from 20 states.

“ “I have leaves from Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and many other colorful locations … Sometimes I’m able to mix them together to create designs and color palettes unique to most parts of the American landscape. You’re still looking at the true colors and grains of the leaves with a bit of artistic flavor added.”

Some of the leaf designs are a stark black and white and some are a bit more abstract in their colors, but all get an added pop when printed on metallic photo paper to hang on the wall.

“I can’t seem to discard anything from the collection because what I consider to be my favorite is not necessarily someone else’s favorite and vice versa,” he said. “Everyone has his or her own taste so I have kept everything in the collection, and this gives my customers a wider selection.”

A number of home design experts are lining up behind Spatafore. Through Pedersen, who has her “Make It Beautiful” line of fabric with Softline Home Fashions, Spatafore met the president of Softline Home, Jason Carr. He is manufacturing the pillows and believes the collection “make a bold accent in any home décor.”

“We’re excited to show the nature-inspired pillow collection to our retail partners to generate some feedback. If buyers want to place orders, they can do so for decorative pillows and fabric,” Carr said.

The technology of accurately printing a photo into fabric with the detail and rich colors of leaves, helps create an authentic feeling of bringing nature into the home. Retail outlets offer pillows of many patterns featuring solid colors, mixtures of solid colors, and many computer-generated generic designs including leaves. But there are no pillows, bedding or even outdoor furnishings with actual photos printed into the fabric conveying the authentic colors of nature like Leaf Ink Collection has done in partnership with Softline.

Shawn L. McNeace is design principal of SRI Design Group and manager of the Design Salon at the Las Vegas Design Center at the World Market Center. She is also creative director of the Las Vegas Fashion Design Council.

“The pillow’s vibrant colors and unique patterns bring a nice punch of color on a white sofa in a sun room,” she said. “They add a fabulous accent to any decor while bringing the outdoors indoors. Steve’s a consummate professional and his new pillow collection is an extension of his unique artistic abilities.”

Review the leaf collection at Leafink.net.