When Celeste Coughlin and William Sanders founded Asterisk Designs more than 25 years ago, they had no idea the wonderful response their work would receive. Rooted in handmade artisanal finishes, their strength lies in their innovative applications and exploration of traditional materials in unconventional ways.

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Early projects included private estates that only a select few get to step inside. They worked alongside artisans from a vast variety of disciplines who came from all over the world to join in the mission of finely crafted excellence. Their signature decorative plaster finishes are made with Synthetic Venetian plaster whose translucent properties make it perfect for their layered textures imbued with mica wax and burnished to a high / low sheen. The flexibility of this material proved ideal when developing a line of Venetian Plaster Wallpapers, which have been installed in fashions houses across the globe. 

 

Asterisk is ever evolving and continues to seek out diverse materials and applications which are environmentally concious. They offer many lime plaster finishes that can be troweled on to provide a natural marble-based product that has an alluring physicality. Lime paint is applied with a big rectangular brush and can have washes of color added for warmth and depth. These eco-friendly lime-based finishes are steeped in centuries of tradition and yet feel fresh and modern in contemporary homes.

 

Although there is a current trend toward digital formats in the textile industry, Asterisk remains committed to keeping their hands in the physical process of hand-made finishes. Leaning in to a Wabi-sabi philosophy Asterisk unapologetically embraces the perfectly imperfect and celebrating the beauty of visually seeing the hand of the artisan. This ideology comes from a love of traditional practices and materials, ones which yield tactile surfaces and highlight the subsequent nuances.

 

Asterisk Designs has been fortunate to work with world-renowned architects and interior designers who challenge them to elevate their offerings. Excited to partner with people who embrace the intricacies of the design process, Asterisk Designs understands the time, patience, and craftsmanship necessary to realize their clients' vision.