Gothic Lace Curtains; Not Just For Old Houses!

When Cooper Lace introduced the Gothic lace curtain panel, we envisioned them enhancing grand, mid-century homes with high ceilings and broad windows.  Their elegant architectural motifs are a natural for this kind of interior, and indeed, they've been used in mansions all the way from California to Australia.Then, a client in south-eastern Massachusetts just purchased four of them for his loft apartment; it's on the ground floor and abuts the parking lot.  He's delighted that they allow plenty of light, but give him privacy at night.

It's The Times for Galaxy!

Cooper Lace's (and the world's, for that matter)  first Mid-Century Modern lace curtain pattern, Galaxy, was featured in the November 27th edition of the New York Times!  The response has been fantastic, and we're grateful that the publication was impressed enough with Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpaper's Steve Bauer and his design to show it to the world! Please contact us for more information or samples.

Many Meadow Lily

One of Cooper Lace's most popular patterns is Meadow Lily, and a customer in New York just sent us this wonderful installation photo of her bay window embellished with five of them (there are several more hung throughout the expansive room).  If you are interested in Meadow Lily or any of our other dozens of patterns, please contact us.
Cooper Lace offers Meadow Lily lace curtains at the lowest prices, with the most affordable and fastest shipping!

We've just added a slideshow of some of our customers' installations on our home page you can see them here.

Tales From A Tower

A customer from Pennsylvania just sent us these installation photos (and please, send us yours!) She owns a wonderful Victorian home with a tower, and chose Alexandra for her first floor and Hunter Rose for the second.  
She writes: "Thank you for helping me dress my tower windows in beautiful lace. Both patterns are so very pretty." This is the most rewarding part of my, and my associate Christine Light's job, making your houses beautiful. 
 

Anything For You!

We love custom orders; they challenge us to make our clients' homes more beautiful in ways we might not have considered.  Such is the case with this recently completed job, where our customer loved our Prairie Sumac panels, but needed them a few inches wider and much longer than our stock lengths.  Our brilliant Art Department was able to accomplish this, and the results are depicted here.

We also create custom designs working with your concepts or artwork, or will weave any of our patterns in any length (16 feet long?  No problem!)  The cost is much less than you'd think, and the minimum number of panels is usually around a dozen.  Please email or call me for more details.

I Share Your Frustration.

@%$#&^%$!

I am appalled at just how terrible customer service seems to be with many online companies.  I want to use much stronger language, but I'd rather not offend anyone who doesn't know me well.  Those who do know me can easily imagine the actual words currently being flung around my office.

This past week, instead of being in the position of assisting customers, I had to be one; I'm helping a design client with some major purchases for an Arts & Crafts style home spa, and have been commissioned to source materials.

My client is spending thousands of dollars, and I CAN'T GET THE COMPANIES TO CALL OR EVEN EMAIL ME!!!

Hello, certain hot tub and sauna companies: you come up high on the search engines, but you refuse respond to very basic technical questions: You're off the list.

Decorative finish company that can't seem to produce a sample? We went to your competitor.

We at Cooper Lace hear the same sort of complaints from our customers who looked elsewhere first:
They get bumped to voicemail or their emails are never returned. No one helps with measuring. There's a complete indifference to those who want to buy something!

What's so difficult about communicating with your clients?
I LOVE speaking with you!
Day or Night.
Weekday, Weekend or Holiday.

I've spent countless hours over the last 20-odd years with one spouse on the telephone and the other on a step-ladder with a tape measure.  Bring it on; I'm here for you.

Do you have a question about our lace? Call or email me NOW. The office line forwards to my cellphone in the off-hours; I shut it off when I'm sleeping.  Otherwise, we're open for business. I promise to respond to your email as soon as possible; usually within the hour (once again, unless I'm sleeping or on an airplane).

Click here for our contact information and the best customer service of any company, anywhere.

That's my promise to you, Dear Client.

Dan

With Thanks To You All

Seven years ago, on Thanksgiving weekend, I quit my job of 16 years. I was deeply unhappy, and after taking a little time off, decided to create the best lace curtain company in existence. It was a field I knew intimately, and I wanted to offer the most distinctive patterns that were unrivaled for their artistry and quality. Additionally, I was determined to have the finest customer service, not only for any company selling lace, but for any company, anywhere. 

To make my task even more challenging, I launched just as the Great Recession began taking its toll on the global economy. It was damned scary for the first couple of years, but I stuck it out, steadily adding patterns and always keeping my customers' interests in the forefront. My goal was and is to always satisfy my clients and to do it as quickly as possible, even with the typical bumps and glitches that every retailer experiences.  In fact, I received this email today:

"Mr. Cooper, We would like to state that the exchange occurred because of my error. We noticed that when we made you aware that an exchange was needed that you immediately sent the replacements even before receiving our payment.  We have thoroughly enjoyed doing business with you."

Today, Cooper Lace is the largest retailer of Scottish Cotton lace in North America. We now offer more than seven times as many patterns as when we started with our Exclusives, including our recently added Historics line which features the highly popular Meadow Lily Arts and Crafts pattern. We've grown so much, that I've enlisted a colleague, Christine Light, to handle fulfillment for this and our Traditionals line.

Yes, I'm blowing my own horn, but only because I wanted to show just how very grateful I am to all of you for contributing to that success.  I am humbled by your patronage and your faith in the company that bears my name.

Thank you, and I wish you all the happiest of Thanksgivings.

Dan Cooper

Thanks on Loan

Cooper Lace just received this touching, handwritten note from a very happy customer, and we're very flattered. She's not only thanking us for her curtains, but also for our Lace-on-Loan sample program, which has been hugely popular:  we'll send out entire panels for a two-week loan so that you may examine them in your home at no cost to you, other than the return postage.

If you'd like to see any of our lace curtain panels, please contact me or Christine Light.

Rushing Alpha House

Cooper Lace was just selected to provide a large number of our William Morris Cherwell Lace Curtains for an upcoming episode of Amazon Prime's Alpha House starring John Goodman and Bill Murray. As with most film and television productions, time was of the essence, and we were able to deliver 18 custom-sized panels in record time, thanks to the efforts of our seamstress, Ana Sousa. We'll post the air date as soon as we have it!

We're a Bargain!

A friend sent me the above image: it's an 1850s Illinois newspaper advertisement for lace curtains, and it proudly proclaims lace curtains priced at "$5 to $100 a pair"  I did a little research, and it seems that an 1850s dollar, with inflation, would be worth $27 today.  Thus, this firm's cheapest curtains would be $135 a pair or $62.50 a panel.  In fact, our Cottage Lace Panel starts at only $69 a pair! We don't have anything, though, that costs $2700 a pair or $1350 a panel...

Fastest Lace in the West

Neo-Grec

Victorianna

In the heat of the summer,  you'd think things would quiet down in the World of Lace. Not so; in fact, Cooper Lace's Historics line has been flying off the shelves. For those in search of Nottingham cotton lace curtains in the Victorian and Arts and Crafts styles, our extensive selection of long-time favorites such as Victorianna, Neo-Grec, Meadow Lily, Kelvin Rose. Not only does Cooper Lace offer these at the lowest prices, we promise to deliver them in less than 10 days from date of order, or the shipping is free. As of this writing, every pattern and length is in stock, and we've been making a lot of customers very, very happy with our speedy delivery times and personalized customer service. If you're reading this from outside of the United States, we'd be delighted to be of assistance! In the past month, we've shipped to Italy, Finland, Australia, Russia and Canada. Please contact Christine Light at 866-286-6552 (toll free in the US) or 781-718-9339, or email her at christine@cooperlace.com. 

Kelvin Rose

Meadow Lily

We're Adorable...

While Cooper Lace has been featured prominently in many films, television programs, and museums, this is the first time the world of fashion has come knocking on our door:  Adore Me, creators of a beautiful lingerie line contacted us recently; they were in need of lace curtains for the set of a fashion shoot, and were seeking something light and airy that would accentuate their latest additions to their line.  We sent them a large box of samples from our Traditionals collection, and they selected several, including Lydia.  We were mightily impressed with the results; although we admit to being upstaged just a little by the enchanting model....

We're The Best! Ask our customers....

We've always felt that Cooper Lace had the finest customer service, best patterns and largest inventory, but this unsolicited email appeared in our in-box this week.  I promise you this was a new customer, one previously unknown to us, and someone who had absolutely no interest in promoting us:

Oh my God! You guys really take first place! Your website is amazing and you have the best stuff. I have been trying to find just the right lace curtains for months now. No one ever has anything in stock and some don't even respond to emails. I am holding my breath for my curtains to arrive. I cant wait! 

Thanks for being so great.

My best,

(name withheld)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overly Sensitive?

Every so often, I get a call from someone who suffers from being extremely allergic to chemicals in their home environment, and they want to know if Cooper Lace curtains will be safe for them.  Their questions typically focus on fabric content and and post-weaving treatments such as Scotch-guarding (which is kind of ironic, as our lace curtains are woven in Scotland...)

Anyway, our Exclusives line is comprised of 100% cotton, with no synthetics. Our Historics and Traditionals lines are 95% cotton 5% polyester, but note that this tiny amount of synthetic fiber is the stitching on the edging.  We will be happy to loan you one or more of our curtains if you wish to test for adverse reactions.

The are no harsh chemicals used in finishing our lace curtain panels; if need be, a gentle washing in cold water before hanging is suggested for those who prefer to do this with
all fabrics entering their households.  If you or someone you care for is highly chemically sensitive and you have any questions about our lace, please call me at 888-433-7801 or email me at ceo@cooperlace.com

Yours,

Dan Cooper
President & CEO, Cooper Lace

Two New Lines; 19 More Patterns!

Meadow Lily 

Finally!  

Yes, I know I said February 1st, but in the scheme of things, March 14th isn't too bad.  So here's the news:

The Scottish mill that weaves our curtains has been so impressed with our progress (we're their largest North American lace curtain customer), that they've offered us two new lines of historic reproduction lace curtain panels to represent!

Our current line has been renamed Cooper Lace Exclusives, and the two new lines are Cooper Lace Historics and Cooper Lace Traditionals.

Our Historics line is composed of cotton Nottingham lace curtains woven in documented patterns from 1870-1930, and features such notable designers as C. F. A. Voysey.  There are also great mid-Victorian designs, and some wonderful Arts & Crafts patterns such as Meadow Lily (seen above), and a Mackintosh-inspired panel, as well as a Chinoiserie/Art Deco pattern.

Our Traditionals line, also of Nottingham weave, is assembled around the mill's archival patterns of late Victorian and early Edwardian designs; these are the finest examples available of floral and foliate patterns embellished with swags and wreaths. All of our new patterns are available in pure White or Ecru/Ivory.

Lydia from our Traditionals

Because we're literally doubling our offerings, I've enlisted the services of an associate, an old friend and colleague, Christine Light.  I met Christine and encouraged her to work with me for another firm  many years ago, and thus, she is very familiar with the Historics line.Christine is a terrific person, and in her, you'll find the same exceptional customer service and attention to detail that you've found at Cooper Lace Exclusives. You can reach her at christine@cooperlace.com or 866-286-6552.

Patience is a Virture

Or so I'm told...

In my last post, I told everyone to watch this space for a major announcement on February 1st.

The day came and went, and....nothing.

And today, a reader asked "Well?"

Sorry, I was premature.

It's nice to know that someone's reading our blog, though.

We still have a big announcement coming up, but our web designer and developer have been so busy implementing it, we haven't had a chance to launch.  It'll happen sometime this month, and I promise you, it's very exciting news in the World of Lace.  In fact, it will cement Cooper Lace's position as the leading resource of historic cotton lace in North America.

So, thank you for your patience and understanding, and stay tuned!

Yours,

Dan

Starting the Year Off Right

Happy New Year from Cooper Lace!

I received the following unsolicited email from a client recently, and it (along with many others) made my day:

"Just a quick note to let you know I got my lace yesterday.  That was fast; I really wasn't expecting them so soon.   I have to say, I Love them!  Thank you for the great service.  I've been looking at your web site for a while and always pictured how fabulous the lace would look in my home.  If you haven't guessed, it's an old A&C bungalow.  When you love your house it deserves the very best! Looking forward to placing another order in the future.  I will send some pictures soon."

Thank you, Cathy, and thanks to all of you who have purchased out lace curtains over the past five years!

 Also, Brownstone Lace is now available for your windows and doors!  

In closing; watch this space on February 1st, for we will have a very exciting announcement about our line of lace curtains!

Dan

Privacy Made Perfect

Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s a sneak preview of Cooper Lace's newest pattern, Brownstone, and it will be available January 1^st, 2013.  

I spend a good amount of my time in Brooklyn’s charming Park Slope neighborhood, (as well as Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco) and as I studied all of your beautiful front doors, I realized that they were crying out for a lace pattern that was harmonious with the architectural styles dating from 1850-1900. 

Old house dwellers in urban areas need privacy and light, and Brownstone provides both without sacrificing either! Designed by Steve Bauer of Bradbury &Bradbury wallpapers, it emulates the etched or frosted glass patterns that were found in so many entries during the mid-to-late 19^th century.

Brownstone will be sold as a running yardage with side borders that we will custom-cut to your requested length at the time of order.  We will add rod pockets at the top and bottom, if you request them, and then all you need do it slide them onto to your curtain rods.  If desired, we can also make pairs of curtains for your windows.  Brownstone is not only a “city” pattern, it’s perfect for suburban and rural settings as well!

That's Showbiz

photo credit: HBO

Cooper Lace appears frequently on the sets of films and television shows; aside from having the most distinctive lace curtains available, we also keep extra large sizes in stock just in case a film company needs a rush delivery. Last week, we were very proud to ship our Eastlake Panels to the set of HBO's Boardwalk Empire. As the new season unfolds, I'll be able to tell you where and when to watch for them.