About Us
The author of several design books, RICHARD KOLLATH is a nationally recognized designer and craftsman. As a quilt and textiles expert and contributing editor for Country Living magazine, Richard has appeared regularly as a guest on the Discovery, Lifetime, QVC, and NBC networks.
Growing up in his parents’ retail flower business in Schenectady, New York, Richard was an award-winning floral designer by the time he entered college. He was educated in fine arts and art history at the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Hawaii, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His painting and photography were exhibited during a university teaching and lecturing career at UNC Greensboro, Northern Illinois University, New College in Sarasota, Florida, The State University of New York at New Paltz, Duke University, Barnard College and Columbia University.
For six years, Richard conducted arts research in India and Pakistan where he built a museum caliber collection of hand-made textiles. In time, he transitioned from teaching to a professional design career, accepting a product development position with an international giftware manufacturer — a job requiring frequent travel to Asia where Richard designed prototypes and oversaw production for the North American market. Opportunities followed that led Richard to design home decorating features for national magazines. The book contracts and television appearances that followed gave Richard a platform to demonstrate design skills he’d honed over decades – principals of balance, composition, and function that he now applies to his work in the hospitality industry.
On his first trip to Yosemite National Park, Richard offered some design assistance to The Ahwahnee Hotel. The following year, the holiday feature about the hotel that he and partner Edward McCann produced for Country Living prompted invitations from the hotel’s management to return to the Yosemite valley again and again, and to eventually refine and redesign the hotel’s public spaces and guest rooms — design projects that continue to this day.
Richard’s current focus on hospitality is the culmination of a career in design – and he brings a lifetime of knowledge and expertise to every new project. “Every room tells a story,” says Richard, “and it’s a privilege to be able to interpret these stories in such remarkable places.”
EDWARD McCANN holds degrees in business administration and communications from the State University of New York, and won national awards for his work as a television writer and producer.
Ed created commercials, originated a weekly magazine show, and collaborated on a series of documentaries and special news reports before leaving broadcast television for a writer/producer position at The Culinary Institute of America. At the C.I.A., he created instructional videos for students and hospitality industry professionals before partnering with designer Richard Kollath to form a new company.
The organizational, troubleshooting, and project management skills Ed developed during a decade in video production serve him well in the hospitality work he does today.
“My training as a producer—managing crews, locations, finances, and schedules—provided a valuable skill set that translates directly into this arena. Each project Richard and I take on is a unique creative challenge, but we always work within budget and meet our deadlines.”
A professional writer whose features and essays have been published in national magazines and literary journals, Ed’s also a contributing editor for Country Living magazine and the founder and editor of Read650.
Published Designs
Our designs have been featured in these and many other national publications:
