Taylor Triano, owner of Commonwild Flag Co is anything but common. The native Kansas Citian and University of Kansas textile design graduate is an entrepreneur, an artist, a seamstress, a nostalgic. She specializes in custom flag creations and one-of-a-kind private commissions.
And though Commonwild Flag Co is a one-woman shop, Triano is not a one-trick pony.
Taylor explains her product, “the word ‘flag’ gets thrown around a lot, but what I do is essentially art on a wall. Often times, it is in flag form, but it can also be a beautiful piece to hang anywhere.” There are so many options for textile art, according to Triano: a wall hanging for a nursery with the baby’s name, customized pennants, a special piece to be framed, a flag for your boat, or a banner for your wedding.
“My main medium is fiber, meaning I work primarily with fabric in some form or another. However, design is a big part of what I do.” She has also been hired to paint logos on window fronts, construct interior wall murals and adorn outdoor awnings.
What started out as a favor for a friend has turned Commonwild Flag Co into a thriving business. Taylor says, “Commonwild was more or less just an accidental snowball resulting from a friend asking if I could make some sort of a flag for his restaurant to cover one of the TVs. I was not new to the medium, but it was a new avenue, and I found myself really drawn to the project.”
Taylor enjoys the learning and challenges that come with custom projects. When designing double sided signs for the outside corner of the newly renovated Hotel Kansas City, she strategically added rows of grommets to allow for airflow. She also had to engineer a design that would highlight the hotel, the restaurant inside, and the downstairs bar. The heavyweight weatherproof banners were then hand constructed and hand painted.
While examples of Taylor’s work can be found all over Kansas City, her handiwork also stretches to other major cities nationwide.
A recent project took her to the brand-new UBS Arena in New York, which is the home of the New York Islanders NHL team. She was hired to make 245 feet of vintage style pennants to be strung up in Belmont Hall, a sports bar within the arena. The pennants were all hand dyed, hand cut, sewn and strung. With a quick turnaround time, she made the pennants and then flew to New York to do the installation just in time for the grand opening in November 2021.
This was not Taylor’s first commission for a national sports team. She was recruited by a local design firm to execute a 10’ x 8’ historical replica of the 1876 American Centennial flag to be framed for the Chicago Clubs office building in the newly revamped Wrigley Field.
“Not only was this the largest piece I have done to date, but it also required a lot of studying to achieve the era specific fabric and look/feel of genuine distress. It was a learning challenge from start to finish. I shipped it off and three years later finally went to see it in person. I could not believe I made that; it was a proud moment,” she says of the Cubs’ project.
“I specialize in and love to lean into recreating old artifacts or creating pieces that are meant to look older, like they’ve been somewhere and tell a story.” Taylor adds character to those pieces through distress and “vintage’izing” methods.
Commonwild Flag Co work can also be found closer to home. “I was given full creative freedom to design a new flag to represent the City of Lake Lotawana,” says Taylor. The large 10’ x 5’ piece is hung inside the City Hall.
Taylor says the response was so great that she had a manufacturer recreate her design on nylon flags to be hung outside the City Hall and are available to anyone who wants to order one. “This was the first time I realized I had that option, and, in the future, I can use this as a way to have my flag designs reproduced for more people to enjoy.”
The Lotawana flag has been a gateway for Taylor’s interest in additional lake products, as flags are such an integral part of boating. Having grown up with summers spent in the Ozarks, Taylor affirms her love for lake life is strong. She has several custom flags for boats in her portfolio and is interested in the idea of designing dock flags.
If you would like to see more Commonwild Flag Co designs, visit the Instagram page or website at commonwildflagco.com. To contact Taylor for information, she can be reached via email at taylor@commonwild.com.