ANNALI’s Origins

ANALI’s beginnings trace back many years before it’s incorporation in 1991. Lynn Goldstein and Sally Wallace learned at an early age the separation of art from craft. Grandmother Anna Weber inspired the business by teaching Lynn and Sally the art of fine handcrafts, fueling a passion that would one day turn this favorite pastime into ANALI—which translates to “little Ana” named for their grandmother. The family tradition continues today in the ANALI line of luxury bedding, table linens, decorative guest towels, and gift products.

 

Exquisite Needlework

After many years as successful business women in the financial and architectural arenas, Lynn and Sally continued to pursue embroidery ventures as hobbies. Lynn traveled in Europe, always admiring machine-embroidered patterns on fine Italian linens. Sally had a strong desire to design a home accessories store. One Christmas holiday, Lynn and Sally sat together and discussed their artistic ideas freely over a glass of wine. It was then they decided to explore the possibility of designing and manufacturing linens of their own.

Lynn and Sally had the name, now they needed a corporate identity and color designs. Lynn designed the ANALI logo, incorporating threads to symbolize their embroideries as part of the large A. The first full color design, a yellow pansy flower framed in a striped border, posed such intricate shading patterns that a graphic artist and friend insisted they add “Exquisite Needlework” to the brand name – setting a standard for the company and the embroidery designs to follow. Lynn and Sally created six initial designs and then patiently waited to see if anyone else was as captivated by these designs. People were captivated, and from there the line grew from a few table designs to guest, bath, and bed linens. In 2007 Sally’s daughter Anna joined the company after gaining experience in sales while living in Arizona. She was only 11 years old when the business started and had always dreamed one day working together her her mother Sally.

Today, ANALI is just as dedicated to “Exquisite Needlework” as it was at the first debut. “It’s all about the embroidery. At, ANALI we work to make the fullest and best use of this medium. ANALI’s quality embroideries are identifiable by their fans whenever they see them in catalogs or stores, mostly for the intricate thread paintings and renderings of botanical subjects,” says Lynn Goldstein, designer. “In these designs, layers of threads are set and blended to create very stunning and realistic results.”

Sally Wallace describes the basis of their work as classic and traditional. She explains, “Most of our pieces use a lot of embroidery, and people do voluntarily use the word “exquisite” to describe them. Yet the next most often used word to describe the look is ‘clean’ and ‘very American’ while inspiration is taken from European and Asian sources.”

At Emissary Fine Linens, we find that family businesses like ANNALI embody the very essence of what our store values: quality materials, expert craftsmanship, and an honest commitment to making the very best and most creative fine linens possible. Please shop online or stop by one of our two Washington, DC-area locations, and see for yourself what exquisite needlework looks like. Far from being a lost art, fine embroidery is very much alive at ANALI.