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INSPIRED. QUALITY. CREATIVITY. INNOVATION.

Makers


Everyone at The Oriole Mill actively participates in making the final product. Some members of our crew have been in the textile industry for decades. We rely on their support, while we create a different organization from any they have been in before. They are included in the discussions that result in decisions that perfect our products.

Any idea is only as good as the ability to make it happen.  Our team has a common goal of maintaining the highest quality throughout the manufacturing process.  The Oriole Mill shares a studio and a vision for progressive production and quality design with Sew Co. The two work together to develop discerning products with inherent longevity.

THE ORIOLE TEAM

peak-definition-oriole-wnc-180_slideBethanne Knudson

Bethanne has a background in art and design. She started as an academic, a teacher of art and textiles. Her work in the textile industry since 1996, as training and technical support for JacqCAD MASTER® software, provided the foundation for her to take her art background into industrial production. She is now the designer and creative director for The Oriole Mill.
Just as Bethanne’s first weaving experience was on a hand loom, her first love is the handmade object. That sensitivity of a maker is evident in every fabric produced at The Oriole Mill.

Stephan Michelson

Stephan Michelson came to the textile industry with a PhD in economics, a successful statistical consulting firm, and a passion for quality. Besides functioning as CEO and CFO, Stephan’s vision informs operations and product. For an economist to say “let’s not be driven by the market,” and for a professional data analyst to say “let’s not be driven by numeric analytics” may seem heretical, but he is not a stranger to non-conventional ideas. His success as an expert analyst in litigation is based on his sense that there are better ways to determine the facts than are typically used by traditional “experts.” He takes this same approach into the textile industry.

peak-definition-oriole-wnc-170_slideSEW CO.

Sew Co. is a full-service cut-and-sew manufacturer committed to preserving the skill of sewing and our domestic manufacturing economy.

Libby O’Bryan

Founder Libby O’Bryan arrived at the company’s concept through her lineage as seamstress, production manager and artist.  Sew Co. offers the production of everything from pattern design to fabric and notions sourcing to constructing boutique garment collections.

Sew Co.’s crew is composed of veteran factory workers who learned how to sew on the job during the South’s manufacturing heydays of the 60s and 70s and have been sewing ever since. They are teamed with women who studied fine dressmaking and costume design.  The hybrid backgrounds are wonderfully meshed to create an artisanal factory setting where everyone is learning from each other.