Pamela Rainey, Design manager

• Job: Design manager, Shaw Industries’ Hospitality Group, Calhoun

• What I do: Chances are, you’ve walked all over Pamela Rainey’s work.

She designs and oversees all the carpet that Shaw Industries’ Hospitality Group makes for its clients, which include hotels, convention centers, casinos and restaurants.

“I create the patterns,” said Rainey, 51.

She also sets the creative direction for the group, “researching trends and being aware of what’s happening in the design world.”

With a 500-square-yard minimum order, her projects are big.

“I think of what would be a cool pattern, what would work in an interior,” she said. “A lot of patterns are the focus of the room; others are a backdrop.”

One design, called “Passion Blossom,” is a circular flower about 2 feet in diameter in black and white.

Rainey usually creates a collection with similar design elements and colors. Clients can work with her to modify either the colors or patterns to suit their projects.

Some collections feature large, floral designs or bold geometric patterns. Others are subtle changes in pattern or texture without changing color.

Rainey also collaborates with noted artists and designers to bring their brands to carpet. Recently, she worked with Angela Adams of Portland, Maine. “She has the patterns and designs. I worked with her to translate that to carpet.”

Rainey and Shaw Industries’ other designers create more than 120 new patterns a year, of which Rainey is responsible for about 50.

More routine tasks include approving yarn colors and being the go-between for the designers with the marketing department.

Rainey also takes her palette of samples on the road to major hospitality design shows, where her designs compete for clients’ eyes with creations by other manufacturers.

“My goal is to be in front of our competitors, to have them chasing us,” she said.

• What got me interested in this: Rainey was an interior designer for 15 years, doing a lot of custom carpet work for an architectural firm in Houston.

While she was there, a carpet company asked her to do a part-time consulting job on developing a new project. The consulting work gradually took over from the interior design.

She has been with three carpet mills over the last 10 years — about two years at Shaw Industries.

“My background in interior design helps me,” she said. “I think of the other elements in the room.”

• Best part of my job: “Awards are really nice,” Rainey said, “but [the best part of the job is] when a sales rep says, ‘You really get it,’ and the client wants to use your work on a project.”

Additionally, she said, “in hospitality [design], you can be as creative as you want to be. You can do just about anything.”

• Most challenging part: “Continuing to come up with fresh ideas.”

For Rainey, nature is a constant source of inspiration, as well as “architecture, fashion graphic arts — any of the arts,” she said.

• What people don’t know about my job: “We come up with the names of the colors and the designs,” she said.

It can be a challenge to come up with a name that will be descriptive but won’t duplicate a name for another Shaw Industries product.

• What keeps me going: “The feedback [from sales reps], knowing I’m helping them with their jobs,” she said. “I love design, and every day here is different.”

• Preparation needed for this job: “You need a degree in graphic arts, interior design or textile design,” Rainey said.

And you have to love art and have good color sense and presentation skills. “I have to sell it” to corporate management and prospective clients, she said.

Working for a large corporation also means being a team player and having a positive attitude, she added.

Rainey has a bachelor’s degree in vocational home economics education from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., and a master’s degree in interior design from Oklahoma State University.

In Georgia, an interior designer must be licensed by the state. The license must be renewed and requires continuing education courses. Rainey has kept up her registration, although it isn’t necessary in her job.

She also is a member of national design organizations.

- By Karl W. Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.

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