Sisters Rebeca (left) and Raquel (right) Raney grew up in Miami, Florida. Nowadays, Raquel still lives in Miami as a designer with her Boston terrier Feather and Rebeca is in New York City cuddling her two-week-old daughter Ray. When they’re not designing, creating art or pinning, the Raney sisters can be found watching movies, going out to eat, people watching, or searching for the perfect fabric or color. The Raney sisters’ creativity, fun spirits, and talented design skills have earned them over 1.3M Pinterest followers! We recently caught up with Raquel Raney to learn more about the Raneytown design aesthetic, their daily lives, and their success with Pinterest!
So Raquel, how did Raneytown get started? What inspired the brand?
I owned a successful design studio in Arizona but over time there was a natural transition and a change felt right, so my sister and I decided to collaborate making a new and exciting Raneytown! This summer we were together in Miami and the last time we were together was 10 years ago so it was great. My sister Rebeca already did art shows in New York called Raneytown but when we decided to start collaborating together it just organically molded into this amazing design brand.
Would you consider the two of you similar or different yet you complement one another?
I’m very tech and computer-savvy and my sister is very hands on so the two of us collaborating felt really organic. I do design and she does art. I tend to be a little too rigid and I like things organized and small. She sees it more from an artist’s perspective. She’ll be like, “I like the edges off a little let’s make it huge.” So she helps me see some other options and I help her with digital. It works well because I know her work aesthetic so well that it came really naturally to us.
When did you start using Pinterest and what drew you to make an account?
We started using Pinterest in 2011. It made so much sense to organize all of the “looking” we had been doing online. We were definitely in one of the first batches of users and I was obsessed right off of the bat. Before, I always had folders on my desktop filled with images like ‘chairs I want for my apartment.’ When Pinterest came around I was able to upload those onto boards and delete them off of my desktop. It felt great pinning my little heart out! I love having Pinterest to inspire my day-to-day and it’s nice that whenever I’m not feeling super creative, I can go on Pinterest and five minutes later I’m already feeling inspired!
Why do you like Pinterest?
Pinterest is a new way to start a collection. It can be pure inspiration or practical. Rebeca is renovating an apartment in a beautiful old school and constantly hunting for interesting images of interiors on Pinterest. It also replaces or satisfies a kind of rampant consumerism. Our Fashion board has so many extraordinary clothes but both of us tend to wear uniforms.
You have gained over 1.3M followers on Pinterest. Wow – Nice! So what makes your Pinterest unique?
Our Pinterest is quirky. We both have very specific tastes and a genuine sense of humor. We pin what we like. Rebeca can be on an interiors kick but always finds time to hunt for images to pin onto the On My Head board. I find elegant and practical design-related pins that inspire the Raneytown aesthetic. Our clients can look at our Pinterest and get a sense of our taste.
Tell us all about Raneytown! The designs on your site are really beautiful! Did you both go to design school?
We started Raneytown together. Rebeca is 3 years older than I and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2005. She continued her education with a masters from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and is constantly taking classes to further develop her skills in various mediums including jewelry, ceramics, fashion, etc.
I graduated with a Visual Communications degree from Arizona State University, one of the top 10 Design Schools. From my theory-based education comes my sensitivity for typography, color, and composition.
Tell us more about Raneytown’s Pinterest boards! What are your favorite boards to pin on and why?
Our boards get overloaded depending on what’s going on in our individual lives. If I’m working on a logo the typography board gets a boost. When Rebeca is shopping for bathroom tiles or sconces you’ll see a flood of that going on and then there are just the organic pins that happen naturally during our day to day browsing.
Do you post your own designs on Pinterest?
Pinterest brings daily readers to our inspirational blog and Raneytown shop. Pinterest is a natural and fun way to market our Raneytown aesthetic. We always hear from people we respect that they love our boards. We do post our own art and design throughout when relevant.
What are your plans for the future and anything new or upcoming for Raneytown?
As a collaborative process between two sisters with similar ideologies, but different backgrounds, we are able to bounce ideas off one another and take those concepts even further. Integrating art and design, we learn from each other’s point of views, and push one another’s boundaries.
Together, we are both very curious and love exploring new mediums. We are interested in making wallpaper, wrapping paper, textiles, tea towels… the options are really endless.
Want to connect with the Raney sisters?