By Terri Sapienza
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 27, 2008; H01

You may not recognize the name. But that is likely to change soon.

Sisters Katharine Hable Sweeney and Susan Hable Smith own nine-year-old Hable Construction, a small New York-based textile company that designs and sells hand-printed fabrics and home accessories.

Hable's cheerful palette and organic patterns have made it a longtime favorite of designers and shop owners who say the fabrics, bedding, pillows, storage bins and other accessories are well made and timeless and work in both contemporary and traditional interiors.

The company is about to hit it huge: Pottery Barn Kids is using seven Hable fabrics for its new custom nursery collection of gliders, rockers, chairs and ottomans. The upholstered pieces were introduced in the chain's catalogue in January.

The sisters sell accessories and some upholstered furniture pieces to the public at a tiny store on Perry Street in New York's West Village, online at http://www.hableconstruction.com, and at more than 100 boutiques and department stores across the country, including Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Barneys New York. Fabrics are sold only through designers.

The Texas-born siblings (Katharine is 40; Susan, 37) founded their company in 1999 and took the name from their late great-grandfather's road construction business. ("Our dad is bursting his buttons, he's so proud," Katharine says.) Many shoppers have come to know their look through the Garnet Hill catalogue, which sells Hable holiday items such as wool-felt stockings and tree skirts, and which recently introduced the company's pillows, quilts, shams and sheets.

"Our customers just love Hable," says Wendy Thayer, spokeswoman for Garnet Hill. "They have created a reputation for being amazing textile designers and having really beautiful designs."

But such stylishness will cost you. A Pottery Barn swivel glider covered in a standard brushed twill costs $849; the same glider with a Hable fabric costs $1,849. On the Hable Web site, a lovely canvas storage container for towels or toys is $275. Totes start at $110, pillows at $95. But price does not seem to deter a growing group of loyal customers. At the store's sample sale last spring, there was a 45-minute wait to get in the door.

We talked to Katharine and Susan by telephone from New York about their style and upcoming projects.

How did Hable Construction start?

Katharine: We started out selling silk scarves, then shifted into silk hand-beaded pillows. They were beautiful, but too precious for our lifestyle. We're blue-jeans-and-cowboy-boots girls. We're very utilitarian, and at the end of the day we wanted something that was that durable and practical. Now we print on canvas and cotton linen.

How would you describe Hable Construction's look?

Susan: Cheery, fresh, organic, hand-drawn patterns. People have called us the "queens of the sun porch or sunroom." Our collection isn't edgy, and it's not retro. I never want to attach those words to Hable. We are the antithesis of that.

What attracted you to Pottery Barn?

Katharine: We've always loved their aesthetic, and they have a great color palette. We offer four fabrics from our collection, and we did a few prints exclusively for them. Now if someone wants a chair with our fabric, they don't necessarily have to use a designer to get it.

How would you describe your personal style?

Katharine: My clothing style is classic and simple, but my home in Brooklyn is kind of wild: bright and colorful, more modern. I have three kids, so I have a lot of modern furniture that's easy to wipe off. My house is not the house of beige.

Susan: I love to wear color and pattern. I take more personal risks in what I wear but tend to be more classic with my Manhattan home. That said, we're building a home in Georgia, and the door is going to be hot pink.

Do you use Hable products in your home?

Katharine: All over the house: a custom Poppy fabric in lemon on my sofa, chairs in our turquoise Bead. The bedding in my twin girls' room is our Pebble quilt in white with hot-pink sheets from Garnet Hill and Hable's cupcake pillow. Our Circus bedding collection from Neiman Marcus is in our son's room.

Susan: Pretty much all over our apartment: the bedding, the decorative pillows. I had a pair of big, upholstered drum lamp shades made with our Shells fabric in tunis (a dark green-blue). It's my favorite fabric.

What is your favorite Hable item?

Susan: The storage bushel. I have them in every room in the house, and I use them for everything: toys, laundry -- they really trap all the loose ends. The room can be a disaster, and five minutes later it can be completely picked up. They make my life easier, and they're aesthetically pleasing.

Katharine: Our camping cot. They fold up, so they're totally moveable pieces of furniture. We've used them for extra bedding, for kids' sleepovers. You can use them for parties for casual seating outside: Just throw some pillows on them.

What's new for the spring and fall?

Katharine: We've added 14 new fabrics this spring and three new patterns: Rope, Tides and Sails.

Susan: We have two additional patterns coming in the fall and a really big bird pattern for the following spring. We're also developing a new fabric that's 100 percent organic, which we also hope to debut in spring '09.