Conrad has been weaving window coverings in San Francisco since 1956, when founder Edie Conrad began creating shades from the natural materials she found extraordinary: grasses, reeds, and fibers gathered from Korea, Japan, and Indonesia, hand-loomed by master weavers into over one hundred original designs. Every shade is handcrafted start to finish, which is why designers and architects worldwide specify Conrad when a room calls for texture and light that machine-made fabrics cannot produce. For Bay Area homes there is a quiet bonus: these shades are woven a few miles from the windows they will hang in, an authentically local material in a market that imports almost everything else.
Motorized shading systemsConrad offers two custom handwoven programs. The Original Sunshades collection is the premier line: natural grasses, reeds, and fibers woven into shades whose subtle handmade variation is the point, each one effectively an original work of art. DesignerLine is the award-winning companion collection crafted of natural wood-pulp fibers, bringing the same design language to a broader range of projects. Both are made to order across roman folds, roll-up shades, sliding panels, drapery, and cornices, and both diffuse daylight the way only natural fiber can: as a warm, textured glow rather than a flat screen. We help clients and their designers select the weave, the opacity, and the operating style room by room.
Request Conrad samples and weavesThis pairing is why clients bring the project to us rather than a drapery shop: Conrad's handwoven textiles riding on Lutron's whisper-quiet motorized drives. We engineer Conrad fabrics into Lutron Sivoia QS and Palladiom shading systems, so the shades that look like art operate like the rest of an automated home, rising with the morning scene, tracking the afternoon sun, and settling with the goodnight command, from keypads, apps, and schedules. The wiring, the drives, the programming, and the integration with HomeWorks QSX, RadioRA 3, Savant, Control4, and Crestron are all our work as the C7 low voltage and C10 electrical contractor, so one team answers for the fabric, the motor, and the system.
Lutron shades and drapery systemsA shade woven by hand should not be measured by guesswork. Our installation practice covers what custom natural-fiber shades actually demand: precise inside and outside mount measurement that controls light gaps, correct treatment of tall and wide spans, corner and bay window planning, mounting hardware chosen for the substrate, and clean power and control wiring concealed for motorized runs. On remodels we coordinate with the contractor so blocking and power land where the shades need them before the walls close; on finished homes we install with the care a plaster ceiling and a handwoven textile both demand.
Lutron HomeWorks QSX systemsConrad is a designer-specified brand, and we work the way design teams need a dealer-installer to work: honoring the specification exactly, coordinating samples and submittals, protecting lead times, and handling the motorization engineering the workroom cannot. Designers keep the client relationship and the creative direction; we supply the fabric program, the Lutron drive hardware, the wiring plan for the electrician or our own crews, and the installation and commissioning. The same partnership covers our architectural fixture lines, so one technology partner can carry a project's entire lighting and shading specification.
Architectural lighting fixture linesClients ask whether handwoven naturals can live in real rooms, and the answer is yes when they are selected well. Natural grasses and reeds carry inherent resistance to ultraviolet light, the weaves are strong and durable, and opacity is a design choice: open weaves that filter view-preserving light for living spaces, denser weaves and lined options where bedrooms need privacy and darkness. We advise honestly about where naturals excel and where a Lutron roller or drapery is the better tool, then often combine them, naturals as the visible layer with a blackout roller behind, each on its own motorized channel.
Visit the San Carlos showroomWe supply and install Conrad shades throughout San Francisco, the Peninsula, the North Bay, South Bay, and East Bay, Wine Country, and the Carmel and Monterey area: the light-filled Victorians and view homes of Pacific Heights, Sea Cliff, Presidio Heights, Noe Valley, and Russian Hill, where a hometown atelier's shades belong; the designer-driven estates of Atherton, Woodside, and Hillsborough; vineyard homes in Napa and Sonoma where natural fiber suits the setting; and coastal properties in Carmel. Bring a designer's Conrad specification or start from our showroom, where motorized shading runs live for direct comparison. Contact us to begin.
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Yes, and that pairing is our specialty: Conrad's handwoven fabrics engineered onto Lutron Sivoia QS and Palladiom motorized drives, integrated with HomeWorks QSX, RadioRA 3, Savant, Control4, and Crestron so the shades run on scenes, schedules, and keypads. The fabric, the motor, and the system are one team's responsibility.
Original Sunshades is Conrad's premier line, handwoven from natural grasses, reeds, and fibers with over one hundred original designs. DesignerLine is the award-winning companion collection crafted of natural wood-pulp fibers. Both are custom made across roman folds, roll-ups, sliding panels, drapery, and cornices, and we help select between them room by room.
Yes. Conrad is a designer-specified brand and we work accordingly: the specification is honored exactly, we coordinate samples, submittals, and lead times, and we supply the motorization engineering and installation the workroom cannot. The designer keeps the creative direction; we make it operate.
Well, when selected correctly: natural grasses and reeds carry inherent resistance to ultraviolet light and the weaves are strong and durable. For intense exposures we advise on weave density and lining, and where blackout or maximum solar control is the priority we pair naturals with a Lutron roller behind them, each on its own channel.
Yes. Motorized shading runs live at our San Carlos showroom alongside Lutron lighting, so you can operate the systems, hear how quiet the drives are, and review weave and fabric options in person before anything is ordered.
The shading platforms and lighting programs Conrad pairs with, each covered in depth.
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1300 Industrial Rd, Ste #12
San Carlos, CA 94070
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