From Britain with Love

I’ve always been interested in textiles... even as a little girl I spent afternoons with my granny’s button collection or patiently learning how to knit (pretty unsuccessfully). It was a natural choice to study it at school and then university, and from there I went to work in a textile mill and then a big fabric house in London. Having done the city living bit, I was yearning for the country and so home I went to do what I had talked about from about the age of fifteen. It’s been a long old slog, but I’ve learned so much and love everything that each new day brings!

I work from home, most of the time at the kitchen table (much to everyone’s annoyance). But I do have the use of a big barn-come-studio where I can sew and design without interruption. What I can’t do myself, I insist on using local firms with eco ethics. Everything we do is made in England and I’m not going to change that, despite lots of people telling me to ‘go to China’. It’s something that I strongly believe in.

No, not really. I draw and design everything myself. I use a firm in Lincolnshire to print my fabric who also make up some bits, and I make up all the rest of the products myself. I outsource my mugs and lampshades and am in the process of finding local people to help me keep up with demand. I just couldn’t survive without my wonderful Bernina sewing machine or my overlocker!

That’s a tricky – my products tend to be quite seasonal, so my hot water bottles are more popular when it’s cold (obviously) and the napkins sell better when it’s warm and sunny. I’ve learned that you just can’t really predict retail patterns! However, our new Holly range which will be available at the end of the month will, I anticipate, prove very popular for Christmas (well fingers crossed!). We've also recently joined forces with Quincy Lampshades based in Bristol to produce our new lampshade range which has just been launched.

Putting my ideas into fruition. I love customer feedback and I’m never short of ideas about what to do next. Our jam making kits didn’t quite make it in time for this season sadly, but we’ll ready for next year! I love working for myself too... being able to design, produce and sell something that comes entirely from you is incredibly satisfying.

I feel passionately about supporting local businesses which is why absolutely everything we stock is made here in sunny Blighty! Our fabric comes from a variety of places, mostly the UK, and the rest I've chosen for their eco-credentials, such as our organic cottons which come from India. I truly believe that we used to have such strong textile skills in this country, but they seem to have all but disappeared which is a real shame. Bring them back, that’s what I say!

I recently registered for the Liberty Best of British Open Designers Call, then forgot all about it until three days before. I quickly put a pack together, joined the queue at 7.45am and waited for hours to be seen by the panel of buyers, and ....they loved my stuff! Whether they place an order or not doesn’t really matter to me. Just knowing that they really liked my work gave me a huge incentive to keep going!

Everywhere we can, and we’re always looking for more places! I spent the first year doing at least a fair a week just trying to get my name out there, but it was never my long term goal. Now, we’re all about online sales and stockists. I’m a bit of an IT-phobe and ventured into the world of twitter only because I was intrigued and ‘everyone was doing it’. It has paid off dividends though, because not only have I got some cyber buddies (never thought I’d say that in all my days) but I even have a stockist in New York as a result!

There are so many talented people out there it’s hard to name any or all. I love quirky, and I also love practical... and also people with ethics. I truly believe that we need to bring manufacture back to the UK... we used to have so many talented and skilled people here and it seems such a shame that everything is now made in the Far East. We also need to look after our environment for future generations and ‘doing our bit’ makes sense to me, so I was pleased to add the 'British made' string to my bow.

Absolutely! From an early age, I remember my mother boycotting French apples "when we’ve got our own which are just as delicious" and reminding me that asparagus in November was not seasonal, local or as tasty! We had a fabulous butcher which was the only place we'd get our meat from - it was local and delicious and I was distraught when he had to retire. I later discovered that he was working part-time at a local farm shop, so needless to say I now go there for all my meat shopping - often coming out with great sacks of his amazing sausages and prize-winning Fernie Pies!

Norfolk. I used to holiday there every year as I was growing up and it holds very special memories for me. I love the light, the open skies, the people, and just feel so completely at ease there. If I had to live anywhere else, I’d be heading in that direction!

Eek, well that’s a tricky question as I’m forever in trouble for ‘still working’ late into the night, so I’m consciously trying to improve that work/life balance. I’ve recently taken up horseriding again which gets me out in the fresh air, which is why I wanted to leave London in the first place. I love warm fires, a glass of wine and a jigsaw puzzle, and I love walking too, but I'm always distracted by the next thing on my 'to do' list..... I think I need to get a dog!