Maclaren

The snow has thawed, and the ice has melted — Spring is finally upon us! Celebrate the warmer weather and blooming flowers by grabbing your lil one and heading outside. To help you do just that, we're giving away a Stroller-a-Day for 10 days! We will be giving away strollers from some of our favorite and most-trusted brands, keeping you and your child traveling in style this Spring and beyond.

Day 10 is here — the last day of LilSugar’s Stroller-a-Day Giveaway — and we’re giving you the chance to win the best-selling Quest stroller from our friends at Maclaren. With the perfect combination of lightweight ease and added comfort, this stroller will easily transport your baby as an infant though his or her toddler years. As part of Maclaren’s special-edition Objects of Design collection, the lucky winner of this Denim Quest can select the stroller liner appropriate for a boy or girl.

Enter now — this stroller giveaway ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. PDT.

Now that's sweet! Just in time for Summer, Maclaren is introducing the latest addition to its designer stroller line – the Dylan's Candy Bar Buggy ($150). The NYC candy emporium's signature rainbow color palette and candy prints will cover the popular lightweight Volo frame for a fun, Summer travel pushchair.

With a striped hood, candy-adorned seat liner, and candy-print rain cover, the bright buggy joins a long line of fun themes produced by the stroller giant, including the Beatles-themed Yellow Submarine stroller introduced last year. The umbrella buggy will be sold exclusively at Maclaren showrooms and Dylan Candy Bar locations beginning this month, meaning it's only a matter of time before tots start screaming, "I want candy!"

What do you think of the new buggy?

LilSugar associate editor Rebecca Gruber recently had the chance to chat with interior and furniture designer David Netto about his new bedding and textile collection for children's lifestyle company Maclaren. Since I've long been a fan — I featured him as a Designer Spotlight back in '08 — I sent her some prying questions for Netto in advance. The first segment of Lil's interview is already up, so be sure to check that out. But first, read below to hear how preppy rebellion inspired David's design career, two reasons why he's like Ralph Lauren, and why he hates blogging.

CasaSugar: You're a terrific writer; in fact, you recently wrote an article for WSJ magazine. Do you have plans to write more, or have you thought about keeping a blog?

David Netto: I hate keeping a blog, and so far I have evaded keeping a blog. I like contributing to blogs, but it's so hard to keep it fresh and to commit to doing that every day. I don’t know how Gwyneth Paltrow finds the time. She really puts her back into that.

I contribute to Giggle.com’s blog. I mean they don’t chase after me that often, but the WSJ is a great job. I’ll do anything for anyone who’s nice to me. Deborah Needleman, the editor, was a great friend to me at Domino. I admired that magazine, so when she asked me to come on board that team this Summer, I was very excited. And that’s been great. I need jobs that I can do in my pajamas from California. I’m there with my kids now.

CS: What’s your favorite kind of client? Do you prefer a really hands-on client who has a lot of input, one who says just do whatever you want, or somewhere in between?

DN: There is no such thing as someone that says do whatever you want. That’s a myth. I don’t think that ever really happens, and if it does, it's even more scary, because then you’re completely on your own. Because what if they don’t like that? It’s risk-reducing to work with someone that has opinions and knows something about what they want. What I find very helpful when working on a project is if somebody has a collection. I love it when there’s a book collection, a photography collection, something that has to be accommodated so that there’s a jumping off point for ideas. It’s pretty lonely when there isn’t one.

Continue reading for the rest of the interview!

It's been 10 years since David Netto shook up the world of nursery design with his modern, case-like cribs. Now, after selling his company to Maclaren, the interior and furniture designer is further expanding the stroller stalwart's home offerings with his first line of crib linens. The "serene designs, but very hot colors" are heavily influenced by the bold patterns of Marimekko and strong colors of Belgian Shoes, as well as the input of his two daughters – Kate, 9, and Madeline, 4, – who are "wild about color." The renowned designer answered a few of my questions as he showed off the four new designs.

LilSugar: What led you to do textiles at this point?
David Netto: I had always planned to. I had plans like that for a long time, but I really didn’t know how to enter that business intelligently. I had enough on my plate trying to make furniture work. To get committed to soft goods and table top . . . There’s a whole bunch of bags designed too that we just never figured out how to make with confidence.

LilSugar: What other influences came into play with the linen design?
David Netto: I wanted it to be the opposite of what the furniture was like. The white serenity and Scandinavian vibrations of all of our hardscapes have always been what we’ve set out to do, and they’re beautiful. But there’s a certain kind of friendliness that a nursery has to have, that comes from fuzzy stuff and things that aren’t sleek. So I wouldn’t have wanted to add to that since the whole premise of the furniture was if you do the architecture right, then you can have the big birds, and stuff, and it will never look that bad. Most people seem to really like bright colors. Nobody really seems to want to live in a disciplined, minimalist environment that’s top to bottom like that. I wanted them to be fun. I looked at all the things that Maclaren is already making and I thought what do I like about modern design when it’s handmade and eclectic and surprising.

I would be afraid to do something too plain. And also, that’s out there. There’s very beautiful Italian stuff, like linen with a scalloped pink edge, and stuff. I’m not going to teach anybody anything new with stuff like that.

There’s a decorating saying that I love that says, “Give them what they never knew they wanted.” Albert Hadley said that. So I’m always trying to get customers to like us who never thought they liked modernism. That’s what this is supposed to deliver as well.

Keep reading to see what the designer said about designing a stroller for Maclaren, and the next piece of furniture he wants to add to his collection.

Stroller giant Maclaren is giving mama a place to sit! After acquiring David Netto's design firm last year, the brand began selling cribs and changers. And, now the buggy maker is adding love to lil lairs with a Heart Glider and Ottoman ($1,100 and $400).

I had the chance to test out the comfy seat at a press preview of Maclaren's 2011 collection. I also spied samples of the new color combinations for the Volo (bright blue and pink), the Triumph (royal blue), and the Quest (bright blue, pink, and denim) strollers. And, I got a peek of the new colored frames for the Techno XT and a debut collection of diaper bags that have mom's needs in mind. Check everything out in the photos below!

To see the other items we saw at the showroom, read more