MAKING IT IN MAINE Swans Island Blankets give new meaning to warm

There’s nothing flashy about Swans Island Blankets. Their muted colors – ecru, pearl gray, chocolate brown, deep teal, indigo, rose – evoke a secluded cove on a wind-whipped day. Their patterns – stripes, checks, buffalo plaid – are practical, simple.

And yet, there’s an undeniable luxury in these hand-woven, hand-dyed coverlets. Visitors to the Swans Island showroom on Route 1 in Northport can feel it, see it, smell it as soon as they walk through the antique oak double doors.

At Swans Island, quality and tradition have reigned supreme for the last decade. That was part of the allure for Bill Laurita, who along with his brother Tom bought the company a year and a half ago from John and Carolyn Grace. The Lauritas moved the headquarters to the mainland.

“It was really intriguing,” Bill Laurita said. “It is this product where you start with the sheep and end up with these beautiful blankets, and we can control every step of the process.”

It’s a process that has deep roots in Maine. In the 18th century, home looms were a staple in rural areas, and the tradition continued in an industrial setting with the advent of textile mills. Swans Island Blankets bring things full circle, doing everything from shearing to finishing by hand.

The process begins with sheep – the Lauritas have their own flock of 15, but they rely heavily on a larger, untended flock on Nash Island, off the Down East coast. For rare wool, which has a natural dark brown shade, the Lauritas work with a farmer in Starks who wraps the sheep in coats to keep them clean.

The wool is sent to a spinnery in Vermont, dyed in-house, woven by hand on two huge looms and finished with painstaking attention to detail. The weavers go over every inch of each blanket, removing any stray chaff with surgical tweezers and repairing any defects by hand.

It takes a day to weave each blanket and a day to finish it. Not to mention the shearing, dyeing and spinning.

“We believe we’re making the best handmade wool blanket on the market you can buy,” Laurita said. “These are not inexpensive blankets. These are really well-made blankets with a really fine attention to detail.”

– Kristen Andresen

Swans Island Blankets is located at 231 Atlantic Highway, Route 1, in Northport. Blankets are available in summer, equinox and winter weights. Prices range from $375 to $625 for summer-weight blankets ($450-$825 for rare brown wool); equinox-weight blankets are only available in rare wool and range in price from $1,500 to $2,200. Winter-weight blankets range in price from $725 to $925 and are not available in rare wool. For information or to order, call 1-888-526-9526 or visit www.swansislandblankets.com.