Our inspiration comes from a love of colour, form and line. In our work, we blend these elements into unique and fresh combinations.

We live in a busy city and appreciate all that nature has to offer in this urban setting, using the coexistence of the natural and the urban landscape to inspire our designs. Both the modern and the old inspire and inform our work. From our observations we create designs that are sophisticated and naive at the same time.

An enjoyable preliminary step in our design process is the sourcing of materials and ideas. Collections have a great appeal for us. We take photos wherever we go, often of seemingly quite mundane things. Charity shops can be a treasure trove for us. We are excited by old hand embroidered table linens or handkerchiefs, small items of exquisitely painted china, samples of old haberdashery still in their original packaging and well thumbed books. We also look to the past for inspiration for our colour palettes, and different decorative and illustrative styles. Fortunately for us this means regularly visiting museums and galleries, as well as browsing through beautifully illustrated design journals and books!

As we studied and worked together it became clear that we both have different skills and it is the combination of our talents that underpins the uniqueness of our work. Barbara specialises in weave and has the constructional expertise whilst Helen specialises in print. We enjoy collaborating on all aspects of our designs i.e. colour palettes, form, and illustrative style and find this highly rewarding. We have been friends for many years and our strong friendship enriches our design process.

Recycling is imaginatively integrated into our contemporary design practice by weaving with discarded materials for example, old comics, magazines, outdated maps or calendars, and plastic carrier bags. As people are becoming increasingly aware of the need to consider the environmental impact of their activities and choices, we feel that this aspect of our work is of major significance to much of our audience.

We currently produce a range of items for sale and for exhibition. The traditional craft of weaving is combined with our screen or digitally printed fabrics in our Urban Garden and Vintage Rave collections. We have also worked on several fascinating and challenging commissions, most recently with the Derby Museum and Art Gallery and for Balvenie. We maintain a high level of craftsmanship and afford great attention to the detail in the design, construction and finishing of our work. This involves dyeing our own fabrics and trimmings and designing our own woven tapes. Our work is all individually made as unique pieces, limited editions or as part of a small batch production.

We studied at Derby University and embarked on our new and exciting career as textile designers together soon after graduating in 2005. Having exhibited widely across the U.K including Origin 2007, we are now looking forward to extending both our design and product ranges and to reaching a wider audience.

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