Casart -Wall Coverings

Who are you?

Casart ™ coverings is a new product line of hand painted, decorative/faux finishes and murals that are reproduced onto high-end vinyl wall coverings that are repositionable, removable and reusable. This concept revolutionizes the cost effective convenience of decorating, offering the ease of change and Casart as seasonal slipcovers for your walls! Casart coverings is a female and family run business with artistic sister partners, C. Ashley Spencer (DC), Lindsey Wood (Denver) and their creative mother, Lorre Lei Jackson (New Orleans).

Where are you located and how long have you been in business?

We are an Internet, eCommerce based business, so we're global; although home based in Alexandria, VA. Casart coverings began in the summer of 2008 but has just launched this January. Senior partner, Ashley Spencer, has been in business 21 years as a professional illustrator, and 14 years as a decorative painter/faux finisher and muralist. Casart coverings is a product line of her ongoing business.

What do you create and do you do custom orders as well?

We create hand painted decorative and faux finishes as well as trompe l'oeil elements and murals. Currently, we are offering 3 types of decorative finishes: colorwashing, faux-padded harlequin, and faux linen. These finishes are offered in a light, medium and bold color palette, 15 colors per finish. Our finishes can be viewed as full scale concepts on our Gallery Page. The murals range from a unique "Woodland Stream" stair mural to seasonal garlands to trompe l'oeil, faux plaster shells on panels and multitudes of butterflies. We also offer eye catching photos and the ability to upload one's own personal photos. We are currently updating our stock images as new designs are presently being painted. Yes, we welcome custom orders. All our finishes can be matched to any Benjamin Moore paint color using Pantone inks (PMS system) and murals can be customized to certain size requirements and also color coordinated. Figurative elements in our murals can be combined with our finishes and/or extracted for single printing. Custom commissions can also be painted upon request by Ashley Spencer.

Where do you sell?

We sell our products on the Internet via www.casartcoverings.com.

What inspires you?

Numerous sources inspire us, as we see Art is Everywhere. We get a lot of inspiration from Nature. We chose the morphing of the butterfly as our logo to symbolize a natural transformation that is part of life's cycle that can sometimes be overlooked but at the same time is miraculous and beautiful. Magazine clippings of interiors including unusual combinations of color and clever use of design. We like practicality and things that are multipurpose.

What type of marketing is the most effective for you?

Exposure through the web, blogs, printed press and directly to the consumer through word of mouth. We hope to get the word out to interior designers, home stagers, realtors, developers, builders, renters and home owners as well as the commercial market, since our product is ideal for long-term or temporary use as seen in window display backdrops to museum exhibition design -- any place one wants versatility and change.

What long series of events led to you doing this?

As a decorative painter working singularly for many years, I became tired of working alone and I wanted the close partnership and collaboration of working with others, particularly my family members. I thought this would be an ideal, creative outlet for my sister and mother to partake. I was also seeing the slow down in the housing market affect the reliability of work and I wanted something more stable and that I could still do creatively without breaking my back -- literally on 8' ladders and scaffolding. I knew I couldn't do that forever. I was originally just looking for a way to reproduce my artwork but conceived in the process this completely new concept of using wall coverings as slipcovers for walls.

What is your favorite item in your portfolio and why?

I think all our items are fresh and new and offer a lot of variety but I have a preference for our stair mural -- both the concept and the design. You can see an example of a mural applied to a staircase on our web site. Stair risers are not a space that you think of as getting a lot of attention, but they are a real focal point as you approach to ascend the stairs and when covered in casart™, can help to personalize the space.

Do you have anything else you would like to share?

What excites us, speaking as somebody who has been involved in high-end home decorative finishing, is that Casart really changes how people can think about wall coverings. For example, you can take an 80 sq. ft space and place an accent treatment with casart, and then switch it back or switch to another treatment when season's change or for special occasions. With this out of the box way of thinking and technology, Casart provides tremendous flexibility.