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30 Apr 10 // Art People Shopping

Mod Green Pod

By Samantha Pitchel Photos By Brian Mihealsick Issue Apr / May 2010 Neighborhood North Side

Mod Green Pod owner and designer Nancy Mims knows that inspiration can be found in the unlikeliest of places, but that the secret to success is the ability to integrate one’s talents and ideals to create a product that’s not only beautiful, but sustainable.

The Austin-based organic textile and wallpaper design firm has been gaining popularity for their uniquely ethical production methods, as well as their customizable, eye-catching patterns. Their growing legion of fans include Vans Shoes, who have optioned several fabrics for their classic slip-ons, and Yahoo, who commissioned a run of Mod Green Pod’s signature print—in their branded purple hue—for a global promotional project.

And this is just the beginning of Mims’ growing, but perhaps unanticipated, success. A pre-med student in college, Mims decided to pursue art history in graduate school, eventually leading her to dabble in textile design and sell around 1,400 designs over the course of her eight-year career.

“I was kind of pigeonholed in the ‘tween apparel market, so I was doing a lot of snarky bunnies and things,” Mims recalls. “It was great and really fun to do at the time, but I was trying to figure out a way to branch out into my own brand, and I wanted to do it in a way that tied in with my ethics and standards. I’ve been eating organic food since college, and I feel like I’ve lived pretty environmentally-friendly, so I wanted to make something that was in tune with what I was doing.”

Mod Green Pod got its start in 2005 when a brainstorming session with her sister-in-law led Mims to conclude that she wanted to explore the medium of organic cotton. After researching the emerging market for sustainable goods, the pair pulled together a business plan and hit the trade show circuit within a month. By the one-year mark, Mod Green Pod had released its first textile collection, which was completely hand-silkscreened.

Expanding the business to offer coordinating wallpaper was a natural next step, and while Mims has designed many fabric-only prints, she recently unveiled her first wallpaper exclusive: “Delight,” a classic, striking pattern inspired by French artist Hector Guimard’s Metro station light fixtures.

Creating a balance between design and production has proved to be a challenge for Mims. “We’re sort of in this weird zone between the design and sustainable worlds,” she says. “It’s an exciting but awkward place to be; people in the sustainable world are very hardcore about being green and the people in design, they want it to look good. So it’s kind of fun to be at that intersection. We go to great lengths to have no toxic chemicals in our production process, but I don’t want that to be our main focus. I want that to be a given, because I feel like that should be a given in the industry.”

Recently, a professor at Stanford University (who’s also positioned as Head of Sustainability at a notable design firm) had his students do a project comparing the sustainability of paint versus Mod Green Pod wallpaper; not surprisingly, the paper proved a better all-around choice, and when paired with eco-friendly adhesives, makes for a much safer home environment.

Studies like these are important to Mims because they highlight safety concerns that most consumers overlook or aren’t even aware of. “In most wallpaper, either the backing is vinyl or they add vinyl to the inks because people associate vinyl with cleanability,” she explains. “Consumers think vinyl is good, but it’s PVC, it’s toxic. Ours doesn’t have that… We’re sourcing as green as we can.”

Mod Green Pod has managed to keep up steady sales throughout this rough economic period, and is continuing to expand at a rapid pace; being based in Austin has certainly helped Mod Green Pod flourish.

“I feel like there’s so much support for small creative businesses in Austin, and it’s really inspiring to be [here] doing something like this,” says Mims. “Austin just sort of fosters creativity and really encourages small, strange businesses. I feel like everybody has great ideas for where I should go, and there are so many people here with interesting connections to other part of the country who have helped us grow. I can’t imagine being anywhere else, really.”

On the horizon for Mod Green Pod? Some very exciting partnerships, a batch of new wallpaper releases, and a set of upholstery-weight designs in anticipation of one of Mims’ new interests: expanding into the finished goods market. It’s an instinctive transition for a designer interested in sustainability, and Mims aims to bridge the gap between producing raw materials and creating lasting, re-usable items, a smart alternative to wasteful disposable furniture. Mims plans on starting with small items, like throw pillows, and working up to larger, more intricate household goods.

Look for Mod Green Pod designs in craft stores beginning this May, when textile giant Robert Kaufman will be launching international distribution of Mims’ signature designs—which will not only be a highlight of Kaufman’s inventory, but the first major organic line of craft fabrics.

www.modgreenpod.com