Coral & Tusk

Pencil drawings by Stephanie Housley, stitched mostly onto unbleached, undyed linen: Coral & Tusk began in 2007 with one embroidery machine in a Brooklyn apartment.

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About Coral & Tusk

Founded
2007
Known for
machine-embroidered linen with hand-drawn illustrations

Stephanie Housley studied textile design at RISD and spent fifteen years designing interior textiles in New York before starting Coral & Tusk in 2007, working from a single embroidery machine in her Brooklyn apartment. She and her husband moved to Wyoming in 2016.

Every design starts as a pencil drawing on paper. Housley scans it and redraws it digitally, stitch by stitch, so the embroidery machine can read it. An embroidery partner in India that has worked with the company for more than ten years does the stitching. The linen begins as flax grown in Lithuania, is spun in West Bengal and woven in Bangalore, and is left unbleached and undyed. It carries Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certification.

Coral & Tusk questions

How do you care for embroidered linen?

Coral & Tusk suggests hand washing in cool to warm water or machine washing on a gentle cold cycle, skipping the bleach and the dryer, and laying the linens flat or hanging them to dry. Dry cleaning keeps them crisp instead. Iron on the steam setting while the linen is still damp. Treat stains quickly: blot with a clean white cloth and dab with a little water, and never rub a fresh stain with bar soap, which can set it.

What fabric does Coral & Tusk embroider on?

Nearly all Coral & Tusk pieces are embroidered on 100% linen, a fabric made from the fibers of the flax plant. The linen is left unbleached and undyed, which the company says avoids the pollutants of standard dyeing and uses less water. It is Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified, meaning the fabric has been tested against a list of more than 1,000 harmful substances. The flax grows in Lithuania, and the linen is spun and woven in India.

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