Meet Ann Hurley, Creativity Personified!

Some of you may already know Ann Hurley, Woman of Wear-Dated and Creative Manager, Product & Color for Solutia Inc., involved not only in Wear-Dated, but also our Ultron contract carpet fiber division.

If you aren't familiar with her, you are in for a treat!

That's because Ann Hurley is the most creative and colorful person I've met. And, whenever I spend time with her, I am guaranteed to walk away with a renewed perspective on color, pattern, texture, food, trends, fashion, carpet... and creativity.

For example, not only does she take terrific photos, do serious gardening, and design clothing, fabric, jewelry and carpet, but she also avidly supports Chattanooga's Wine Over Water event, regularly entertains like minded creatives - attending local art shows with them - cooks feasts, arranges flowers, takes part in fiber art/quilting [she's currently making 4 t-shirt quilts -see picture below - for graduating high school seniors], develops the most inspiring trend boards ever, and constantly searches out intriguing colors and dyestuffs, as she treks around the world attending trade shows as diverse as NeoCon and Heimtextil.

Ann also has more than 25 years experience styling and developing contract carpet. That includes custom styled products for major end users, and she has coordinated all phases of product and color development for multiple running line products for many carpet mills, including 2 Ultron Doc award competition winning products...

That's not all!

Did I mention that Ann knows color?

Actually, she really knows color! She actively participates in The Color Marketing Group (CMG) - she's done so for more than 20 years - and now has a 'reputation' that comes from her active participation and that she is a chairholder and has served on the board of directors. She's also a member of the Color Association of the United States [CAUS].

Oh, yes! Our Ann is known as one of the industry’s leading experts on color.

No surprise, Ann applies her color expertise to Solutia's yearly color forecast for Ultron and Wear-Dated, and her creative development knowledge to the relations she weaves with our carpet mill partners.

She has also contributed the following to Flooring The Consumer : Ann Hurley's Trend Insights - 2008, What is Blue?, and Managing Consumer Expectations and to The Carpetology Blog: Red Around The World and Green Around The World. You can definitely expect more!

Ann graduated from the University of Tennessee with a B.S. in Fashion Merchandising / Interior Design. She is a featured guest lecturer at ASID, IIDA and IFMA functions, as well as in the college classroom.

Despite all of this, I get the sense that Ann stays grounded through her garden and the hospitality that her garden enables. As I'm writing this, she informed me that it's gardening time in the South and she has already planted broccoli, cabbage, romaine lettuce and spinach and a variety of herbs [see gate picture]! One of her favorite summer recipes is "black eyed pea dip/salad" that is great as an appetizer or as a salad with any grilled meats or veggies [I haven't yet tried it, but plan to!]. Best enjoyed in the company of many wonderful friends!

So, if you admire creativity as much as I do, don't miss her!

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