{"id":9991,"date":"2022-02-11T18:14:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-12T00:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/susanharter.com\/?p=9209"},"modified":"2025-07-14T17:10:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T23:10:36","slug":"interview-with-kathy-kuo-of-kathy-kuo-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/susanharter.com\/uk\/interview-with-kathy-kuo-of-kathy-kuo-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Kathy Kuo of Kathy Kuo Home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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KATHY HUO \u00d7 SUSAN HARTER MURALPAPERS<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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I’m thrilled to share with you our collaboration with Kathy Kuo Home<\/span><\/a>!<\/p>

After creating a custom grisaille mural wallpaper<\/span> <\/a>for her curved hallway, we exchanged our mutual admirations in an a Q&A, as well as discussed how my mural wallpaper business came to be\u2014 read on here, or see the original post on Kathy’s blog, The Kuotes<\/a><\/span>!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Kathy\u2019s Muralpaper Reveal and A Chat with the Artist<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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KATHY KUO:<\/strong> Hi there, cuties! I am so excited to give you a special reveal right here in my own home in New York City\u2014 and also introduce you to one of my favorite artists and entrepreneurs in the home space right now: the lovely\u00a0Susan Harter!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Susan is an insanely talented artist who specializes in muralpapers (basically an amazing fusion of wallpaper and a hand-painted mural)<\/em><\/strong>. I recently had some of her muralpapers installed in my hallway and\u2026 just wow\u2026 I can\u2019t say enough about how much I love how this project turned out. I caught up with Susan recently about work, art, and home! Read on and prepare to be inspired!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cAs far as I know, we\u2019re the only luxury mural wallpaper that features the original work of one artist, done to an archival standard.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2014 Susan Harter<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The lovely Kathy Kuo in her beautiful home. Panels of our Calmsden Grisaille mural wallpaper lines her curved hallway, framed by architectural moldings. <\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Art, Technology, and Love for the Decorative Arts\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kathy Kuo:<\/strong> Hi Susan! First I have to say just how much I love my muralpaper installation! I\u2019m so excited to share your work with our readers\u2014 tell me a bit about how you founded your company and developed your signature muralpapers!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Susan Harter:\u00a0<\/strong>Decorative painting was something I sort of tumbled into, like everything else. I had studied art at Harvard, and as a broke young grad, lived with a group of girls, in a little cottage near Tory Row in Cambridge, surrounded by all these glorious old pre-Revolutionary houses.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cOur neighbors would toss perfectly good antiques into the trash if a knob fell off, or the finish chipped. So we scooped them up and started fixing and refinishing them.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I read up about the antiques we found, which introduced me to the language of decoration. I fell in love with the Swedish Gustavian<\/a> style, and started hand-painting so much pale blueish-grayish furniture that we started having house sales, just to make more room. One day an interior designer from\u00a0William Hodgins Inc.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0happened by, and asked if I painted furniture to order and I began working for them!<\/p>

Painting furniture led naturally to painting textures on walls, which lead to painting murals.<\/em><\/strong> I was tremendously influenced by historic New England painter\u00a0Rufus Porter<\/a><\/span>, and the murals I saw at the Harvard faculty club by the late\u00a0Robert Jackson<\/span><\/a>. Those idealized landscapes and muted colors really appealed to me!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cI think one thing we share, Kathy, is a love for a restrained palette. That\u2019s a very East Coast thing, the love of cool, calm, classicism.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Muralist Susan Harter with her dog, Dapper, and the hand-painted Rowlandson mural.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The printed murals came about because I began to have more hand-painted mural orders than I could possibly keep up with. My first thought was to do them in the studio, on canvas, then install on-site. That helped for a while. Then one night I walked out of my studio and literally collapsed on the grass, my legs refusing to work properly.\u00a0I realized I\u2019d painted for 63 days in a row, 12 hours a day.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

So I hired other painters to help me. Yet even though those artists were highly skilled, clients spotted the difference straight away. They\u2019d point out the spots other artists had done, saying they \u201cdidn\u2019t look happy\u201d like mine. That kind of amazed me, that they wanted it all to be in my hand.<\/p>

So I still had the problem of how to make more murals. My tech-genius husband came up with the answer. He\u2019d been helping replicate artworks for a museum.\u00a0He designed a special rig to photograph my large-scale original artwork for reproduction.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>I won\u2019t describe it, as it\u2019s a trade secret, but it\u2019s very cool.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cNow I can happily paint the large original artworks, and the team makes archival prints that look just like them. Designers are happy, clients are happy, and so am I.\u201d \t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Watch & Learn: Susan Harter Muralpapers in Kathy\u2019s Hallway<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A post shared by Kathy Kuo (@kathykuohome)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>