The Company
POLLACK first lit up the industry stage at NeoCon 1988 with a memorable offering of 22 designs targeted to the high-end corporate market, less than a year after Mark Pollack, Susan Sullivan and Rick Sullivan joined forces to launch the new venture. At the same time, with corporate offices already established in New York City's Chelsea district, a showroom in the D&D Building also opened its doors. Six years later, with a steadily growing fabric line and a broad network of representatives around the country, the company moved into a 10,000 square foot space in Soho.
When POLLACK cut a swath into the high-end residential market in 1995 with the aptly named "Residential Collection", the principals established the direction for the company's future sales, which today are almost evenly divided between contract and residential. The "Travel & Leisure Collection," introduced in the fall of 1996, marked POLLACK's first foray into the burgeoning luxe hospitality market. By the company's 10th anniversary, it had doubled the size of its headquarters, expanded its line, its staff and the number of domestic and international representatives.
With the fall 1999 launch of the "Alpha Workshops Collection," POLLACK for the first time fielded designs inspired by art coming from beyond its own studio walls. The "RISD Museum Collection" of spring 2002 continued that trend with textiles inspired by details of garments in the Museum's collection. By its Sweet 16th, having grown to 300 designs, POLLACK premiered its extensive website.
The last quarter of 2006 brought still more growth, with the headquarters expanding to 30,000 square feet. A second RISD collection, "Women's Work: A Common Thread," inspired by needle arts from around the world collected in the Museum's archives, and another collaboration with the Alpha Workshops, "alphaPOLLACK", followed in 2007 and 2008.
Now in its twentieth-second year, POLLACK looks forward with the fabric of its identity stronger - and more distinctive - than ever. Over the last several years the company has groomed and appointed three vice presidents to assume the responsibilities of the main aspects of the business - sales, operations and design. Says Susan Sullivan, "Our executives are homegrown, and each has been with us for many years. Brad Bloom, our vice president of sales, joined us in 1998, and was the first junior executive to be promoted to senior management. Susan Whalen, our director of operations, has been with us since 1999. Rachel Doriss, our associate design director, is, like Mark, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design; she joined us in 2000." With the principals now progressively delegating increased responsibilities, Sullivan expects even more transition over the next few years.
Today, POLLACK's total number of designs stands near 500; classics mingle with new designs that are brought to market, with enviable consistency, in two original collections each year. The January 2010 launch of the "Pure collection", the company's first unique "label" of luxury textiles, marks yet one more step in this tradition of steady and colorful growth.
Mark Pollack
Renowned textile designer Mark Pollack has been "solving problems" - his definition of the design process - since graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1976. "Anything you design can be used," he insists, "but how well it can be used is a critical measure of how well designed it is". Put into practice at his namesake fabric company, Pollack's emphasis on both function and beauty has earned him the recognition as one of his field's greatest talents.
He has taught textile design at RISD, Philadelphia University and Moore College of Art. Prior to the founding of POLLACK, he spent eleven years as associate design director with Jack Lenor Larsen, Inc. He lectures widely to professional groups around the country and serves frequently as a juror for design competitions.
Pollack's designs have won numerous accolades, including Roscoe/BOY awards and IBD awards, and countless nominations. His widely published fabrics have been included in many museum and gallery exhibitions and are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the Denver Art Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the RISD Museum of Art, among others.
In 2007, for his contributions to the field of textile design, he was awarded the prestigious Honorary Royal Designer for Industry by Great Britain's Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce. He is the 2008 recipient of RISD's Athena Award for Alumni Achievement.
The fine art sensibility infuses every aspect of a Mark Pollack design: "My background is in fine arts. I am interested in fine arts. And I try to inform my fabrics with a fine art sensibility."
Rachel Doriss
Rachel Doriss has been pursuing an interest in textiles since 1996 when she entered The Rhode Island School of Design's undergraduate textile program. An art major for the 2 prior years at the University of Massachusetts's Amherst campus, Rachel brought training in printmaking and painting to RISD, where she worked in both printed and woven fabrics. Graduation in 1999 brought about a move to Brooklyn NY and a job in the custom department of Echo, designing printed silk scarves. In November of the following year, Rachel accepted the position of designer in Pollack's design studio.
150 Varick Street New York NY 10013 USA • telephone: 212 627 7766 • customer service
150 Varick Street New York NY 10013 USA • tel: 212 627 7766 • fax: 212 924 8396