Hidden Gems: Meet Deborah Main

Today we’d like to introduce you to Deborah Main.

Hi Deborah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My story began after I graduated with my Master’s degree in Intergenerational Studies. Three months later, I became very sick. I went jogging on Thanksgiving Day, took a nap on the sofa, and when I awoke, I knew something was terribly wrong. From that point on, my life changed forever. I was struck down by the debilitating, incurable disease ME/CFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), which affects between 17 and 24 million people worldwide; 2.5 million in the United States. Within four months, I had to quit my job because I could no longer function physically or cognitively. I had lost everything in my life – my job, my new career, my social life, and more. I could no longer read a newspaper, carry on a conversation, watch TV, or do anything. I had to learn how “to be” because rest and time were what I needed.

Although horribly devastating and scary, it turned out that I was one of the lucky ones that got better over time. After five years of being bedridden and cared for by my husband, I slowly began to heal and dabbled in decorating our home. I had always dreamed someday of owning my own business, but it was only a dream. I had no idea what I could physically or mentally do since I was no longer able to work.

Then, one day, while looking for fabric to decorate my living room, I had an epiphany in the fabric store. An hour later, without realizing what was happening, I had designed a ribbon pillow on their cutting table. It was kind of surreal and my first artistic experience in my adult life. I bought that expensive ribbon and hid it in the back of my closet so my husband wouldn’t see it. The only problem was I did not know how to sew.

A few years later, I learned of a pillow-making class with Leslie Bonnell, owner of Stitch Lab, where you could bring in your supplies and in 3 hours you’d leave with a pillow you made. I had bought a vintage sewing machine and thought this class would be a great way to start learning and using the ribbon I had purchased. Plus, it would give me something creative to do while I continued to rest and recover.

Jump to 2004, and I saw an Open Call for Designers at a local boutique, The Garden Room, in Austin. I handcrafted three ribbon pillows, not knowing at all how they would turn out, and received wonderful feedback and praise from the design panel. It was risky to become an entrepreneur because I was still chronically sick and homebound, but my husband noticed how making pillows made me incredibly happy. My ambition and drive had begun to come out again. He supported me and we launched our business, Deborah Main Designs, so I’d have a way to showcase and sell my work on a website. I had zero business or design experience but my love for textiles, color, and texture grew into a passion to make one-of-a-kind pillows. Having not been able to do anything for five years, my creativity poured out of me. Frankly, I could not stop making pillows!

It really was like “my art” and both my husband and I could see it was helping me heal. I started collecting rare vintage French trim and soon discovered a vintage shop nearby, Amelia’s Retro-Vogue & Relics. The owner and her friend a milliner saw the potential in my pillows and became dear friends and my cheerleading squad. I learned all I know about vintage from them and they constantly encouraged me to continue making and selling my pillows.

Then in 2009, my milliner friend, Laura Del Villagio of Milli Starr, suggested I apply to Austin Fashion Week as they had a Home Accessories category. While incredibly nervous about being in public, I conquered my fears and slowly began to get out of my home and interact with more people. I loved every minute of it – meeting new people, learning to put on events, and attending fashion shows. I’m a very social person at heart, and coming from a very limiting “sick world”, all of this was making me feel “alive” again. By 2011, I had won Best Home Accessories Designer three times in Austin Fashion Week, and my pillow-making career took off from there.

I’ve had a boutique design studio now for 18 years and fashion, art and design have always been my inspiration. I have made hundreds of pillows, filled custom orders, exhibited in art galleries, sold wholesale to luxury retail stores, donated tons of pillows to silent auctions, and participated in tradeshows, fashion show events, designer show homes, and The West Austin Studio Tour. In addition, my pillows have been featured in many Austin home and design magazines and on several seasons of the Austin Modern Home Tour. On the national level, I’ve been recognized by the Martha Stewart American Made Awards, worked with top interior designers across the country, and was a participant in four seasons of The One Room Challenge. I also write The Pillow Goddess blog and do social media campaigns for luxury brands.

Fast forward to 2021, one of my most unique pillow designs, The UnZipped Collection, has been picked up nationally by New York City celebrity interior designer Robin Baron of Robin Baron Design. Robin and I collaborated on this very exciting collection for a year. The new, sexy UnZipped collection is now available exclusively at RobinBaronDesign.com.

It was always a dream of mine to one day take my pillows to a national level and I could not be more thrilled to have made it this far. And I never, ever forget that this life I live has been a blessing. In two years, I’ll be celebrating 20 years in business.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Being an entrepreneur with absolutely no business or design experience is challenging in itself, let alone being seriously ill and limited on top of that. There were countless times things didn’t work out, or I was too sick, and many years of confusion, and self-doubt. I really wanted to give up almost every day. I had no idea what I was doing business-wise, who my audience was, or how to sell pillows. I even artistically wasn’t sure which direction to go in. But there always seemed to be a new opportunity on the horizon.

My biggest struggles have been my chronic health limitations (as I can relapse for weeks, even months at a time) and my lack of confidence.
Being struck down with such a debilitating disease and having to give up your entire life and career really shakes your confidence. And then trying to enter the art and design industries with no formal training or background, well you always feel like the imposter.

I basically learned how to be an entrepreneur, artist, and designer by jumping in with both feet, through trial and error, and a lot of failures. Someone told me once “You can’t get it right until you get it wrong.” Well, I got plenty wrong. And while not a smooth road and often lonely and frustrating, I’ve had incredible support and patience from my husband and other small business owners and mentors to help me grow every step of the way.

The lessons I’ve learned as an entrepreneur are to – Be bold, take risks, fail and try again, and ask for what you want. I naively thought, build a website and they will come. That is the farthest from the truth; it is much more complex than that. Unless you make a product that flies off the shelves, it is very hard to sell your artwork when you don’t really have that business skill set.

While making pillows has helped me heal, despite the obstacles, the driven side of me always keeps pushing forward. I’ve learned so much over the years about what to do and what not to do, and of course, now the entrepreneur landscape has changed entirely with the addition of social media.

None of this has been easy, as I still suffer from debilitating fatigue and serious cognitive problems. It’s a constant balancing act. Everything I do mentally or business-wise takes about ten times longer than a healthy person. And there are decisions I have made, both good and bad, that were made because I do not have the mental or physical capacity.

However, with all these challenges, pillows have been my passion and I wouldn’t change a thing. The biggest thing I’ve learned is not to give up and keep on learning. You cannot do it alone, so surrounding yourself with supportive mentors and action-takers is also very important.
I am happiest being in my studio working with textiles and ribbon, and creating pillows that my clients will love. In fact, I’m thinking about going back to the beginning and making the ribbon pillow designs I did when I first started and doing LIVE videos sharing more “behind-the-scenes” in my studio so people can get to know me. I also love collaborating with other artists, designers, and brands.

I truly believe art and design have the power to heal. I feel I am living proof of that. Am I fully recovered? No. But making pillows and helping people make their homes more beautiful has given me a meaningful purpose in life that I might never have had otherwise. And I’ve made so many dear friends and supporters along the way. So, while challenging beyond words to be an entrepreneur, I feel very blessed and incredibly grateful to have this creative opportunity to participate in the world and make the world a more beautiful place one pillow at a time.

As you know, we’re big fans of Deborah Main Designs and The Pillow Goddess For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I was once dubbed The Pillow Goddess by a Houston magazine, so even though my studio is called Deborah Main Designs, the name stuck and I’m known best as The Pillow Goddess. I specialize in helping homeowners and interior designers make their spaces absolutely gorgeous with custom luxury pillows. From modern to traditional, I create incredibly unique pillows that are entirely American-made here in my Austin, Texas studio. Each pillow is one-of-a-kind, or a limited edition, handcrafted with new and vintage textiles, vintage French trim, or ribbon that no one else has.

What sets me apart is that I solely specialize in handcrafting one-of-a-kind luxury pillows in the USA that you cannot find anywhere else. This is my expertise and I save my clients time by custom-making extraordinary pillows for their spaces and providing personal customer service.

I don’t make ordinary, mass-produced pillows. I have a vast collection of materials that I’ve collected for years, from rare vintage French trim to vintage designer silk scarves, vintage brooches, and modern silks I hand-selected along the Silk Road in Suzhou, China. My studio also upcycles and repurposes vintage textiles and clothing, like vintage cocktail dresses, into pillows, so we are very aware of helping the environment and being eco-friendly. Even our pillow forms are manufactured in the USA. You won’t find the look of my pillows anywhere but from The Pillow Goddess studio.

I’ve had 18 years of experience and I’m incredibly proud of all I’ve accomplished – my determination despite my chronic health condition, the high quality of luxury pillows I make, the relationships I’ve made over the years, and The Pillow Goddess brand I’ve built and continue to build.

I work with many top interior designers across the country and have a website and Instagram for consumers to shop online. Homeowners and/or their interior designers can set up an appointment any time to visit with me virtually or stop by my studio to discuss their project needs. I am given mood boards or photos of the materials used in a project and I then select textiles and pillow sizes to present to my clients. I make my clients’ lives happier and easier by creating stunning luxury pillows and saving them time and frustration looking for the perfect pillows.

Pillows are my passion. I love color and texture and believe my pillows add beauty to the world and joy to people’s lives. I love working with clients to help them put the finishing touches on their rooms. I am also often brought in at the beginning of a project so that the pillow textiles can be selected first. The Pillow Goddess’ pillows not only transform spaces but transform lives too by making people happier with a more beautiful environment that truly represents who they are and all they love.

In addition, through The Pillow Goddess blog and my social media audience, which is mainly affluent homeowners, interior designers, and architects, I provide strategic social media campaigns for luxury home design brands to help them increase their visibility.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The home décor and interior design industries are experiencing major shifts and changes. With Amazon and Wayfair just one click away, redecorating the home is far more accessible to homeowners than ever before. Plus with the Pandemic, homeowners have been stuck at home and now see the importance of making where they live, and now perhaps work every day, more beautiful and suitable for their needs.

As a result, interior designers are in big demand and so are home products. However, because of the Pandemic, there are supply chain issues and sometimes consumers are having to wait months for a brand new sofa.

With this in mind, and the Pandemic beginning to shift society’s mindset, maybe we have a chance of becoming less of a disposable society. I see a real trend now and into the future of being much more aware of our home surroundings, conscious of the environment, striving more for what makes us happier, and being active participants in making our world a better place to live.

While luxury goods are more accessible to consumers and not quite as exclusive as they have been, I still see a big demand for them and perhaps that demand increasing. I also see the demand for more artisan-made products and more upcycling/repurposing of materials, which I’m very happy about. I think more and more people appreciate handcrafted products. Consumers want to personalize their home and life, and luxury home goods, custom-made, and Made in America, can help them achieve the lifestyle they are striving for.

Contact Info:

• Email: pillowgoddess@deborahmaindesigns.com
• Website: https://wwwdeborahmaindesigns.com
• Blog: https://deborahmaindesigns.com/all-post/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepillowgoddess
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeborahMainDesigns
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/pillow_goddess
• Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah-main-b1574b5/

Image Credits
Gregg Cestaro, Cody Kinsfather, Deborah Main