Meet Samantha Gallacher | Designer, rug and interiors

We had the good fortune of connecting with Samantha Gallacher and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Samantha, how do you think about risk?
I think they only way to really get a new business started and thriving is to be willing to take risks. Whether you believe you can do it or not you must convince yourself that anything is possible. When I started my rug company I believed I had a great product but I wasn’t sure how I was going to get to the place I wanted to. I just had to believe and take a risk that hard work would get me there.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am an a rug designer and an interior designer. The path to this career was not straightforward. I worked in advertising , advertising sales, and the financial sales all before deciding to switch it all up and go back to graduate school for Interior Design. For a while I worked in financial sales while in design school to keep a steady income stream.
After design school I worked for a handful of New York Interior Design firms before going to work in corporate at West Elm as a rug and textile designer. I loved that job and really found a passion for the rug business.

After meeting my, now, husband, I moved to Miami. There were few employment options here so it really forced me to go off on my own and create my own brand, Art + Loom, and I could not be happier about the push it gave me.

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and tried many different ideas with little success. However this time I was combining my love of fine art and textiles and I think my passion for those disciplines is really what lead to the success of the brand.

Art+Loom was created out of my own interior design need for some out of the box artful style rugs, I was so pleasantly surprised by how many other designers took an early interest in my rug designs. The concept was to create art pieces for the floor, with size, shape or color constraints and to this day that is still our mantra.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Miami has evolved a lot since my first few years here and my favorite spots are an ever changing list. The best places to hang out for here, for me, have to be in the actual water. I love wakesurfing with my girlfriends and we do that in the bay. SO for someone visiting if you wanted to give it a try I would go to edgewater and book some time with a great coach at Miami Wake Sports.

I love the rooftop of Klaw, for the views and the elevated bar menu, also in Edgewater.
For ambiance and a great cocktail I would head to the Surf club in Surfside.

Shopping, the design district has become an amazing destination for the some of the worlds best fashion designers (our shop is also there)

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would have to say my family gets full credit for the secret to my success, both my parents and my husband have been behind me the entire way. Whether that means stepping in to help with my kids so I could be everywhere I needed to be as well as just being a great sounding board and source of encouragement.

Website: www.artandloom.com

Instagram: @artandloom

Image Credits
Andy Gallacher, for headshot and store photo images taken in Nepal of rug shots