Design No. Five is shaking up the world of home design with coastal chic fabrics and wallpapers.
by Janice Randall Rohlf
“Go down to the beach and collect everything you find in the sand.” Beth Odence took this “rather primitive” (her words) approach with her business team six years ago when her interior design clients were looking for something coastal other than the ubiquitous starfish and lighthouses. As unprofessional as the scavenger-hunt tactic may seem, it worked!
Inspired by the flotsam and jetsam that came home in a basket that day—mermaid’s purses, seaweed, and horseshoe crabs—Odence launched her Cotuit-based textile and wallpaper company, Design No. Five, based on this trio of creatures.
“Most coastal patterns we were seeing looked like they were either from the tropics or Key West,” says Odence. “These were authentically New England.”
In subsequent years, other designs were added: oysters and painterly stripes, plus Under Sail, a loosely nautical pattern that “is always controversial in this household,” says the entrepreneur, “because my husband races Cotuit skiffs, which are gaff-rigged.” In the last six months, the collection has grown to include Fiddler Crab, Nautilus Shell, and Wavy Stripe.
“We live coastal, we know coastal,” says Odence, who has been coming to Cotuit ever since she married into her husband’s Cape Cod-loving family more than three decades ago. She runs her business out of her studio in the couple’s late-1700s sea captain’s house atop Cotuit Harbor. “Luckily, it is a lovely village,” she says.
Design No. Five’s repertoire now comprises nine unique patterns in 34 different colorways in the linen fabrics. Each pattern can be scaled to various sizes, offering even more options. The wallpaper has grown from four selects at the end of 2023 to a full line of 22 unique patterns and colorways, with more coming. Hailing from across the country and overseas, designers and their clients alike are attracted to the company’s refreshing, cliché-averse take on coastal patterns.
To keep up with the demand for textiles, which are digitally printed on Belgian linen, Odence recently contracted with surface designers and formed an in-house sales team. The surface designers, all veterans of Williams-Sonoma companies, have significantly streamlined the production process, and the sales team keeps relationships with customers on a personal level.
“We do a lot of work internally to research designers who may be a match for us—those whose coastal design work involves pattern and wallpaper,” says Odence.
One such designer is Peyton Lambton, co-owner of Washashore Home, based in Dennis. “We try to collaborate with local artists and vendors as much as possible when the design allows,” says Lambton. “Our clients appreciate the inclusion of local pieces, and Design No. Five provides so many interesting options. They are authentic to what we find on Cape Cod and present such a fun and whimsical element to add to our designs.”
Increasingly, Design No. Five’s unwavering commitment to an eco-friendly world has become as important as their allegiance to coastal authenticity. Every design is printed on 100-percent Belgian linen sourced from Libeco, a leading European linen-weaving mill that uses the most sustainable methods available. The linen ground is then printed in the U.S. using an eco-friendly ink-jet technology. Moreover, the flax used to fabricate the linen is produced without the use of pesticides or the need for ground water.
Odence works with two American mills—one for printing fabric, the other for wallpaper—that are equally committed to sustainability. “What that means,” she explains, “is not only do they use eco-friendly inks, but they also treat their wastewater sustainably.”
With experience in sales as well as interior design, Odence has deliberately grown her business slowly; nevertheless, the popularity of Design No. Five gallops forward.
“Our repeat rate is really high,” she says, meaning the same designers come back again and again. Currently there’s a high demand for Oyster Shell in Cape Cod Grey on a white or flax background. “It gives a nice base to either window treatments or duvets and pillow shams,” says Odence. “Mermaid’s Purse in Mariner’s Blue and Nantucket Red are strong, and Horseshoe Crab in the bright, beautiful Sunny Gold sells really well, too.”
But the Fiddler Crab is giving all the frontrunners a run for their money. “It’s new this year and available in Waterloo Blue, Grey, and Flax in wallpaper as well as fabric,” explains Odence. “Its popularity has been fun to see.”
Design No. Five
@designnofive
