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Janet's carpets came in all shapes and
sizes -including stair carpets and bath mats - and are indicative of
styles from eight different time periods. Many carpets have coordinating
footstools and cushions. TOP LEFT PHOTO: "May (blue" carpet, cushion, and footstool were inspired by the William Morris era. These items in both this blue colorway and in a pink colorway are offered in kits from Janet Granger Designs. "Band Sampler" is available as a kit in both pink and blue colorways, with the needlework stand included. TOP RIGHT: "Jessica," a Victorian carpet. Matching cush-ion and footstool available. LOWER RIGHT: "Elizabeth," a 9" x 9" William Morris-style carpet also has a matching cushion and foot-stool. CENTER INSET: "Katrina" footstool. |
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Little Luxuriesby Michelle Howard |
SIMPLE PLEASURES AND LIFE LESSONS WITH MINIATURE ENTHUSIAST JANET GRANGER. [Extracted from an article in Stitcher's World, January 2000] |
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 [Photo: Nick Nicholson] |
It's one of those lessons in life, I suppose,"
Janet Granger says with a smile while looking over her beloved little
doll house. "If you wait long enough, you often get what you
want." She did, indeed, wait long enough. As a young girl growing up in an "ordinary little house" just outside of London, England, |
Janet dreamed of owning a doll house, but she never got one. Instead, her 4-year-old sister got one, and held it over her older sister's head like a tempting treat that was sometimes attainable, and sometimes not. "I was about 7, and I desperately wanted to play with it," Janet recalls. |
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| "My sister didn't even really care about it - I was the one who always decided where the furniture should go, and I would make up stories about the people inside. If we argued, though, she wouldn't let me play with it, so I had to work at staying on good terms with her." When she wasn't able to play with the doll house, Janet would fill her time with other quiet activities. "I was very solitary as a young person, she reflects. "I liked to read and garden. I had a little patch in our back yard where I would play around with seeds and try to make things grow. There also was a field near our house where I liked to play - I would take my dolls there and have little tea parties. | Though she says she never has considered herself an artist, she grew up doing various crafts. "I always liked artwork and making things," she says. "I liked getting books on crafts and I enjoyed weaving kits." Her love for fiber arts began at the tender age of 4, when her grandmother asked her to reorganize a box of threads. "I think she just wanted to give me something to keep me busy, Janet recalls with a smile. And it worked. The little girl sat quietly for hours, untangling the mass of threads and arranging them neatly by color. "I became fascinated with fibers," she says, "and I learned to do surface embroidery the following year. Her fascination didn't fade. By the time she was 12, Janet was designing her own embroidery projects. | But while she loved it and was obviously skilled in it, designing wasn't something she was encouraged to pursue. "I was an academic person in school," she explains, "and if you were academic, you were steered away from art into other things." When she entered high school, she was no longer allowed to take art classes. She still loved doll houses, though, and had become interested in all types of structures, so she considered a career in architecture. That thought, too, was stifled, however, because of the architecture program's woodworking requirement. "I was told that woodworking wasn't for girls," she says, "so I didn't pursue it." |
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| With her art and design dreams crushed, Janet decided to study psychology. Amazingly, the school system discouraged that, as well. "I would have had to take science classes, but I was good in English, so I was steered towards it, instead," she explains. Though she did like English, Janet was frustrated with the lack of control she was allowed to take on her own career path. At 16, she dropped out of school. Still hungry for knowledge and drawn to books, however, she went to work in a public library, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Meanwhile, she continued designing and doing embroidery work, and at the age of 19, her collection had grown so impressive that she had her own exhibition. | After so many years of being held back as an artist, it seems that this recognition would have given Janet the confidence and encouragement to dive into design - or at least to pursue a career in it - full time. But that didn't happen. The introverted artist was battling some personal and powerful demons that kept her from focusing on her future. At 12 years of age, around the time she designed her first piece of embroidery, Janet developed anorexia. Throughout the next 12 years, she struggled with the disease and maintained a weight of just 77 pounds. "I didn't plan for the future because I didn't think I would be around that long," she now says candidly. "Instead of thinking of going to the university to study for a career, I was wondering how I could stay alive." | She found some happiness when she got her first doll house at the age of 20. It was a Georgian town home, and, as typical with doll houses for adult hobbyists, it came with no furniture, wallcoverings, or lighting. She taught herself how to run the wiring for the lights, and set out to decorate it. Around the same time, she learned to needlepoint, and began searching for kits to needlepoint miniature rugs for her house. A history buff, she wanted to find designs that were historically accurate for her Georgian home, and when she couldn't find any, she decided to try to design some herself. |
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| Working in the library, she had excellent resources at her fingertips, and carefully followed them to develop rugs that were of the period's typical colors and proportions. Encouraged by the outcome of her first few designs, she decided to create more and try to sell them as kits. "I was very hard up at the time, though, and didn't have the resources to do it right," she explains. "I couldn't get the packaging right, so the business never really got off the ground." Janet continued working in the library and on her doll house for the next several years. During that time, she managed to conquer her eating disorder and began regaining her health. Though her recovery would be a continuous battle, her worst days with the disease were behind her. | At 29, her life took another upward turn when she met Chris Granger, a congenial high school science teacher. "I introduced him to my doll's house the first night we met," she recalls, describing the event as if she was introducing a suitor to her children. "We'd met over drinks and we talked about the normal things people talk about when they first meet. I took him back to my flat for coffee, and I thought, 'I'll just go ahead and show him the doll's house and if he thinks I'm peculiar, that's it - he'll be gone. Fortunately," she adds with a laugh, "he thought it was a brilliant hobby." Janet and Chris soon married, and two years later, Janet gave the carpet business another try. "I was writing a book on the carpets, and I started making up kits based on the designs in the book," she explains. | "I started out with 25 kits, and I did some trade and retail craft shows." Both the kits and the book began selling very well, and Janet found herself devoting as much time as possible to her flourishing business. She had left the public library when she was in her early 30s and had gone to work for a college library. Though she didn't like working for the college as much, she kept the job for a few years until early 1997, when she quit to dedicate all of her time to designing and marketing her carpets. One year later, Chris followed suit. "He had been coming home from teaching and spending every evening working on the business" Janet recalls. "He helped with the packaging and marketing, and he learned how to build our website. He did a great job with ours, and now he even has a business on the side building websites for other people." |
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| Though spending all day and night together might be a bit much for some couples, Janet wouldn't have it any other way. "We get on really well," she says of her relationship with her husband. "We tend to work until about midnight every night, but we enjoy it." The two recently moved from London to Staffordshire, and Janet is excited about the effect her new surroundings might have on her work. "I get a lot of ideas talking to customers," she says. "That's how the decision to do the cushions came about, and then later I did the footstools. I also get ideas from books and magazines and museums, but I think being in the country will inspire me, too. There is so much to see around here. | Perhaps I'll do more scenic designs, like landscapes on wallhangings." Other future projects, she says, might include pole screens and upholstered chairs, as well as a limited edition of bedhangings. "We're also looking into doing smaller counts of fabric," she adds. "The smallest we do now is 28 count, but people are requesting things on much smaller counts. With all of these plans for more design work being considered, is Janet also thinking about treating herself to a little playtime with a new doll's house? "I'd quite like another, but don't tell my husband," she laughs. "I've had mine for 15 years, and I've still got quite a lot of work left to do on it." | Janet isn't worried about time, though. After battling a deadly illness for a decade and overcoming the obstacles set before her by a narrow-minded school system, the quiet young designer has blossomed into a happy and successful businesswoman. The little girl who once had to ask permission to play with her younger sister's doll house now earns a living helping to decorate thousands of others' all around the world. Good things come to those who wait. And for Janet Granger, the wait is finally over. |
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