Leaders In Innovation

Duette^® Honeycomb Shades

The first cellular shade

Introduced in 1985

The Backstory

Duette^® Honeycomb Shades were the brainchild of Wendell Colson, Vice President of Research and Development at Hunter Douglas. But the creation of Duette shades began long before Colson had even heard of us.

Back in the mid-70s, Colson was a college grad with an architecture degree. And like many young adults during that time, he didn’t aspire to work for a corporation. “It was much cooler to do something counter-corporate. I certainly felt that way—so I bought an old house in Virginia, renovated it, sold it, made some money, and then bought a run-down Victorian house in Boston.”

Colson moved into the house, which had south-facing single and double pane windows, while he renovated it.

Not only did Colson have drafty windows—this was also the time of the 1970s energy crisis—which made the idea of energy-efficient window coverings even more opportune.

Always an entrepreneur, Colson went to work in his attic, designing a product and putting together equipment to make it. He fabricated a machine out of wood, with a motorcycle transmission and electric drills parts, and built the first model of a honeycomb shade using Mylar and cardboard stiffeners.

That was in 1977.

In the following 8 years, Colson and his honeycomb shades took a circuitous route from his Boston attic to Broomfield, Colorado. There, he ended up at Hunter Douglas. Recognizing the need for such an innovative product, we acquired his company and technology in March 1985—and launched the product as Duette Honeycomb Shades.

From the onset, Duette shades were a huge success. Colson continued to invent—and in the 1990s, he turned to developing wall insulation using honeycomb material instead of fiberglass. He focused on creating a multi-layered Duette, which in turn, became Duette Architella^®, providing even greater insulation than Duette shades.

Superior Energy Efficiency

Duette and Duette Architella shades are the most energy-efficient shades available—and both have received AERC ratings for interior window coverings. (Hunter Douglas was the first company to receive such ratings for window coverings.) The Duette and Duette Architella shade collections also have the most eligible products available for the Federal Energy Tax Credit.

Outstanding Design

Not only does the shade itself boast an outstanding design, but the manual control options do, as well. Both the LiteRise^® system and UltraGlide^® wand are ergonomically designed for a comfortable control that’s easy to use, feels good in your hand, and looks good, too.

Beautiful Fabrics

We evolved Colson’s original Mylar concept to create Duette shades that are as beautiful as they are functional, with fabric options using premium, globally sourced woven materials and simulated woven fabrics with lots of texture, naturals fibers and yarn—all available in a wide range of colors.

Color Coordination

We offer a full range of colors to complement any design aesthetic, with color-coordinated products in 34 colors. Meaning, if you order a green Duette shade, it will come with a color-matched green headrail and color-matched green handle. We mix our own custom colors from scratch in Colorado for printing our honeycomb fabrics, based on the latest color trends.

Award-Winning Smart Control

The Consumer Technology Association awarded PowerView^® Automation, which is available on Duette shades, automated shade product of the year in 2023. The PowerView Pebble^® remote won a 2023 IF Design Award—one of the most prestigious design awards in the world.