Thompson Traders Launches Quintana Collection with Designer Kara Cox
Kitchen and bath manufacturer Thompson Traders has debuted their Quintana Collection, a collaboration with interior designer Kara Cox, featuring five products finished in satin brass and burnished nickel.
The Quintana Collection consists of a farmhouse and bar/prep sink, range hood, vanity, and bathtub. Pieces fit nicely into other products from the company, which is known for their distinctive hand-made, hand-hammered products crafted in Santa Clara del Cobre, Mexico, using 14th century techniques.
Cox and Thompson Traders founder Alejandra Ochoa de Thompson say their latest venture is a “perfect match.” Both Greensboro, N.C. residents, the two worked together for close to five years on custom pieces for Cox’s clients before making the move to design an entire collection.
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Inspired by Cox’s trip to Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, The Quintana Collection joins Ochoa de Thompson’s heritage and brand with Cox’s feminine approach to design. The house Cox stayed in while visiting Tulum was unlike any other she’s seen, she says. Everything was rounded inside and out, from the walls to the staircase.
“It was just so inspiring to me because I do have a very feminine aesthetic in my work,” Cox says. “It’s the idea of marrying that softness of curves in what typically we see as very hard-edged rooms in our homes. So how could we bring in a feminine feel with those curves into the kitchen and bath?”
The duo did so in the kitchen by creating an oval range hood. The hood is primarily burnished nickel with linear accents of satin brass. Each piece mixes cool-toned nickel with warm-toned brass in the form of linear details.
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Arguably their most difficult piece, the Quintana tub is a 5-foot long, 2-foot tall rounded bath with a brass interior and nickel exterior. The piece took some special maneuvering to create a smooth, seamless transition between metals, Cox says.
Ochoa de Thompson’s favorite piece is the under-mounted Quintana vanity that comes with a coordinating drain. Sizes for each product can be customized to fit specific needs, and the finishes are easy to clean and maintain, the company says.
“To me, you place that vanity in a powder room and you can completely change the whole environment,” Ochoa de Thompson says. “It’s like putting the most expensive piece of jewelry in the bathroom, and it is going to be a conversation piece. It’s so unusual and so elegant, and it’s a sexy kind of part of it.”
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As a designer, Cox often received questions from clients about mixing metals and how to do so effectively. This became another inspiration for the Quintana Collection: pieces made to mix metals well. Cox hopes these statement pieces, as she describes them, will help homeowners and designers marry golds and silvers easily.
With Cox’s experience with designing, she not only wanted to mix metals and create curvature, but also take on the task of putting something on the market that has never been done before, she says. The collection came after a year and a half of designing on Cox’s part and feedback from Ochoa de Thompson’s nearly two-decade experience.
“We have been doing this for close to 18 years, and we really have become experts in working with this type of materials,” says Ochoa de Thompson. “We are also very careful about any product that we design. We have become experts in working with the material and of course, [Cox] is an incredible designer, so the combination created this incredible line.”
Thompson Traders’ Quintana Collection launches with a virtual trunk show on August 21 hosted by Cox and Ochoa de Thompson.