Bethanne Knudson & The Oriole Mill
Bethanne Knudson is the Design Director and CEO of The Oriole Mill and a fiber artist. For many years, Knudson trained textile designers to use software for Jacquard looms, and in 2000, opened the Jacquard Center in Hendersonville, NC, where weavers could come to study industrial Jacquard weaving design.
In 2006, she and partner, Stephan Michelson, founded The Oriole Mill, many years after the decline of the Western North Carolina’s textile industry and at the point when remaining American textile manufacture was being outsourced to Asia. A brave and courageous move, based in the belief that by producing high quality elegant textiles, they produce heirloom quality goods that people wanted but could no longer procure except from the best artisan textile companies in Europe. Their belief in quality proved to be right.
Today, The Oriole Mill is thriving and currently outputs a stunning line of home decorator products as well as performs custom weaving for artists and designers.
