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Today, the Longstreets are an international hit with interior design firms,
decorators, and architects. Fine hotels, restaurants, resorts, and showrooms
proudly display their creations. Over the years, Saks Fifth Avenue,
Bloomingdales, Crate & Barrel, Neiman Marcus, and Williams-Sonoma have
featured the prints that sell from a few hundred to several thousand per panel.
The upscale Lane Crawford store in Hong Kong recently put in the largest
order to date. “We did a series of tulips in bright colors, and they bought
enough so that they have an exclusive throughout China,” Robert says. The
Longstreets’ handiwork crops up on television occasionally, adding cosmopolitan
style as backdrop accessories. One of their earliest projects adorned
chronically lovelorn columnist Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment in every episode of
the pop-culture classic, Sex and the City. “Warner Brothers called me up and
said they’d like to use our fern series on a new pilot program, but I didn’t
understand what it was and discredited it as some hokey, racy thing,” says
Madeline, laughing. “I wasn’t sure I wanted my ferns on something called Sex and
the City.” She eventually signed the permission form, but didn’t see the show
until reruns. “You know how starving artists are,“ she says. “I didn’t have
cable at the time.”
(g) This three-panel Majestic Palm on watercolor paper is a designer favorite.
(h) Rolls of artwork sit in stacks. They’ll be wrapped and sent out for
framing. (i) Large banana leaf prints. “I love them for their scale and
exotic beauty,” says Madeline.
The Longstreets’ Route to Success
a dynamic duo’s tips:
Develop an original style and protect yourself by
filing for a copyright.
When possible, farm out certain duties to others so
you can focus on the creative, fun side. “I employ one person to handle customer
service and invoicing and I also outsource for the framing,” Madeline says.
“Makes me a happy camper.”
Keep a positive attitude. Persistence pays
off.
Require full payment before shipping out the product. If possible,
attain a 50 percent deposit before starting the work.
Earthy Delights page
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