This season we have created a beautiful spongeware design, White Bryony. Below we share the story behind the pattern and its creative development.
“The gist is that I have always felt love and fascination for hedges- they are such a pleasing visual mix; I can picture William Morris and his lifelong friend Edward Burne Jones tramping the Oxfordshire lanes around Kelmscott and stopping to admire the glories of the hedges as they ate blackberries and argued about art, love and politics.”
- Emma
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White Bryony is one of a collection of new patterns that celebrate the glorious beauty of Britain's countryside hedges. These secret, wild habitats teem with life and are so vital to the health of the environment. As summer rolls on watch as they become a symphony of colour, threaded through hips, haws and berries vying for the attention of the hungry birds who descend, sometimes in joyful crowds, for the feasting.
We always look at what is real and want our designs to be as recognisable and true to the subject matter as possible. To depict White Bryony, which grows in long garlands with lobed leaves and whispy tight corkscrew tendrils, our design studio set about reading, sketching, creating sponges and testing colours. Our palettes are kept tight and considered mindfully - for purity of design and to ensure cohesion with previous collections. We found complimentary greens, pinks and oranges for the Bryony and natural tones for the Whitethroat.
After working up a pattern, we think about how to bring it to life across the different shapes planned into a collection, looking at how we differentiate applications, colours, and scale.
Celebrating the glorious beauty of Britain's countryside hedges - White Bryony weaves in seamlessly with your other pieces from Bramble and Elderberry.
Shop HedgerowEnjoy building a hedgerow collection with all manner of mixing and matching opportunities.
Photo of books:
Martin, W. K., & Kent, D. H. (1969). The concise British flora in colour. Ebury Press.
Barklem, J. (1999). The Four Seasons of Brambly Hedge. Harper Collins.
Grant Watson, E.L. &, Tunnicliffe, C. F. (1960).What To Look For In Autumn. A Ladybird Nature Book. Wills and Hepworth.
