Your table’s best kept secret.
At The Table With: Alissa Landorf, Designer and Founder of Ali Landorf Prints
Name: Alissa Landorf
Preferred Name: Ali
Pronouns: she/her
Favorite Sur La Table Kitchen Tool: Sur La Table Silicone Tipped Tongs or Zojirushi Nonstick Electric Rice Cooker
Website: https://www.alilandorf.com/
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Nestled just 30 minutes north of busy, bustling and boisterous Manhattan lies the village of Irvington, New York. With a population of roughly 6,500 it is, by all accounts, small.
But for designer Alissa Landorf, that’s really the only thing about her childhood hometown that she’d call “small.”
“I feel like I have a very big ‘family.’
There’s my immediate family, which includes my husband, Mark, and our 3-year-old daughter, Charlotte. My parents, brother and grandmother, my husband’s family, and my aunts and uncles and cousins.
My mom’s side of the family lives all over the country, and growing up, the Jewish holidays and rituals brought us together. I often think about playing underneath the dinner table with my cousins, hoping to catch a glimpse of the hidden Afikomen during the Passover Seder, or the ridiculous songs we would sing to the tune of “Frère Jacques” at each other’s Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.
I also consider many friends as family. Living in New York, my parents regularly host the Jewish holidays, and everyone is welcome. Sharing these rituals feels like an extension of our family.”
Growing up, Ali was drawn to color and creative expression—a trait she is proud to say comes from her parents.
“My dad worked as a creative director in advertising and my mom left her full-time corporate job in the beauty world shortly after my brother was born to start her own branding and promotional business. Since my parents both worked in creative fields, pursuing an artistic career wasn’t out of the ordinary. I was encouraged to pursue what I loved.”
After graduating with a degree in Art and Fashion Design from Washington University in St. Louis, Ali spent 10 years as a clothing designer. But, as she tells us, that wasn’t her calling.
“I was a pretty shy kid, and I used color to express myself.
In elementary school I started taking art classes outside of school, and I found real freedom and confidence through art. It was much easier for me to ‘show’ my personality rather than to ‘tell’ it.
I ended up studying art and fashion design at Washington University in St. Louis. I began my career designing clothing, and after nearly a decade, I realized my proclivity towards print and color. To me, a textile comes alive through a grass green saturated cotton voile, an undulating watercolor floral or even just a simple blue and white variegated stripe.”
In October 2021 I launched my own studio, Ali Landorf Prints, and I now work with a range of clients in the home and fashion industries to help to tell their stories through print and color.”
One of those clients? Sur La Table!
Since 2021, Ali has been adding her artistic touch and designer’s eye to our seasonal tabletop collections, including Thanksgiving, Easter, Hanukkah and Passover.
“I had never really designed tabletop before working with Sur La Table.
I am so grateful because it opened a world I absolutely love. It’s so much fun to tell a story through setting a table—there are so many
opportunities to layer print and color. In fact, it inspired me to develop my own collection of table linens.”
And, she tells us, the idea that her designs might adorn the tables of families across the country is, well, pretty darn cool.
“One of my most favorite things to do is decorate for the holidays—set the table, adorn the walls, pick a color palette. I get excited just thinking about it. My husband is not Jewish, so I’ve been able to embrace his holidays, too. Decorating brings such joy and warmth to our home, and it’s pretty cool to think that I might be adding that to someone else’s home.”
For Ali—and many of us—the holidays hold a special place in her heart. But for her, it’s the Jewish holidays and her heritage that make her feel most at home.
“The Jewish holidays bring our family heritage to life. I look forward to seeing the family and friends who come each year and learning about what’s going on in their lives. There’s a camaraderie and closeness that’s unique to the Jewish holidays.
I think my love of telling a story through setting a table comes from all the actual stories that have been told at our past holiday tables.”
When Ali isn’t reminiscing on her family’s history or gathered around the table with loved ones, she’s finding inspiration everywhere, from museums to the markets in Mexico City.
I find inspiration everywhere. When I can, I love to travel. Being in a new environment makes me so much more aware of my surroundings.
I frequently reference the hand-painted tile facades I saw in Portugal or the saturated colors in Mexico City markets. I love museums. I recently saw the Klimt Landscapes exhibit at the Neue Galerie and was blown away by the color, texture and pattern within each painting.”
And speaking of inspiration, another muse for Ali? The silver screen stars of the 80s. When asked who she would invite to a dinner party, she didn’t hesitate:
I would invite Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) and Duckie Dale (Jon Cryer) from Pretty in Pink, Frances Houseman (Jennifer Grey) from Dirty Dancing, Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder) from Reality Bites and Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) from Say Anything. Technically these people are not living or dead, but I spent so much time watching them on screen that they felt quite real to me.
Each character seemed like such a thoughtful, quirky, creative, brave, and slightly tortured soul. They were each passionate about something or someone, but didn’t have everything figured out, and eventually realized that would be okay.
I feel like a dinner party with them would be full of warmth and laughter and perhaps some pithy advice on how to navigate life when you don’t know all the answers.”
Hungry for more? You can explore Ali’s designs via her Instagram, @alilandorfprints, or her website, Ali Landorf Prints. And, keep your eyes peeled this holiday season for more of Ali’s gorgeous work.
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