Loving your Decorative Pillow

A decorative pillow can be beautiful, but beauty is only the beginning.

The first thing that draws your eye is usually the art—the color, pattern, shape, contrast, or the way it fits into the room. Maybe it harmonizes quietly with everything around it. Maybe it does the opposite and demands your attention. Either way, a good pillow changes the feeling of a room.

But I've always thought there should be more to a decorative pillow than looking good.

Beauty draws your eyes. Comfort draws in your body.

A pillow is one of the few pieces of art in your home that you're actually supposed to touch. You lean against it. You pull it toward you. You put your feet up beside it. You grab it when you're settling in to read a book or watch a movie. It gets used.

That seems obvious, but somehow decorative pillows became props. They're arranged carefully for a photograph and then moved out of the way when somebody actually wants to sit down. I never thought that made much sense. If something is going to occupy one of the most useful spaces in your home, it should have a purpose beyond looking pretty.

That's why comfort became such an important part of designing Third Coast Pillows. I experimented with almost everything that could be changed—the fabric, fabric weight, fill material, fill weight, fill volume, construction, zipper, front and back materials, and the size of the pillow itself. I made different combinations and put them in front of people from different generations. Some choices were easy. Others weren't. When people preferred different pillows, the interesting part wasn't deciding who was right. It was asking them why.

That process eventually led to what I think is a better decorative pillow: something that looks good enough to draw you in and feels good enough to make you stay.

A quiet reading room might call for muted colors, botanicals, or artwork inspired by nature. A family room can handle more color, contrast, and energy. A formal room might benefit from something restrained—or from a single unexpected piece that gives your guests something to talk about.

That's where a pillow can become more than decoration.

I've designed pillows around Chicago, the Great Lakes, state flowers, animals, architecture, and other subjects that carry their own stories. A flower can remind you of where you grew up. A building can bring back a city you love. An animal can make you smile. A piece of artwork can start a conversation that has nothing to do with the pillow itself.

That's what I mean when I say that our pillows are art.

Art doesn't have to hang on a wall. It can be something you live with. It can make you think, make you laugh, remind you of somewhere you've been, or simply make a room feel more like yours.

The goal isn't to fill every empty space.

The goal is to choose something worth putting there.

A decorative pillow can be a small thing. But when the artwork, the room, the people, and the purpose all come together, that small thing can change how a space feels—and how you feel when you're in it.

That's the kind of decorative pillow I wanted to make.

Something beautiful enough to look at, comfortable enough to use, and meaningful enough to become part of your home.

That's the art of comfort.