Sneek peak at my new range of bed linen for The Secret Linen Store
I have to admit, I’m giddy with excitement at the thought of launching my first ever product range. It’s a major career high to be able to see my design on the virtual shop shelf. So much love and thought has gone into designing this range, so before I share the finished product here is a little sneek-peek at the design process.
First of all it’s really important to me who I collaborate with, that I also love their brand and everything they stand for. So when Secret Linen Store approached me back in 20017, I leapt at the chance. I was already a loyal customer of their super smashing bed linen, having it on my bed and Arthur’s so it is has been well and truly road tested by me. What stands out for me is gorgeous quality at a sensible price and sourced from established factories in Portugual. AND IT FEELS SO GOOD!
Meeting Molly Freshwater from Secret Linen was a delight. She has worked in the linen sector all her career and knows her onions- so she encouraged me every step of the way to be courageous in the designs. Not that I needed any encouragement!
First of all we worked on pulling together a colour palette. I spent a few hours getting inspired by using Pinterest to pull together a colour and design inspiration board, which is such a fantastic tool to collate design references. You can view it here. Next this was edited down into a colour board and style board that would be the springboard for the three linen ranges we were to design- but also kept as the bedrock of the design process. It’s something I would come pack to when we came to style the shoot.
Next up Molly worked with her factories in Portugual to work up a series of design samples using the colour palette we had agreed on. I just loved the way the 100% linens soaked up the colour and looked so incredibly intense and satisfying. Next I was keen to have a stripe within the collection. I always use a stripe in my decorating schemes, I find it a really good basic pattern on which to layer more pattern and colour. I went with a wide blue and white Breton style stripe in the end. I have an unhealthy collection of Breton tops that I ear all year round, so I like the idea of producing a bed linen range which would be just as classic and timeless yet easy to update. For my final range, I wanted to add a little embellishment. It is widely known that I do love a little tassle and a pom pom so the team worked really hard on how to incorporate this into the range and accessories. It’s a little something unexpected which is an essential element to my designs.
Fabric swatches to consider from the factory
With the fabrics agreed, and swatches approved we had a short wait for the factory to make up the samples for the photoshoot. Meanwhile I worked on some mood boards for the shoot which would take place in Plough Studios, North London. Pulling a board together in a non-digital way is a great way to help edit your ideas. I used magazine tears and printed off images from Pinterest to get the look I was after. It was also going to be a valuable reference to keep us on track while styling up the shoot.
Mood board for the 100% linen range
Mood board for the Stripe range
Mood board for the pom pom range
The bed linen range launches exclusively on the Secret Linen Store site next week on the 10th May, and I cannot WAIT to share it with you and find out what you think. So subscribe to my news letter, at the foot of this page, for the exclusive reveal!
