Practice, Process and Place

There is something inspiringly authentic and honest about unsung creative folk who just quietly get on with their own thing. Often hidden from view, every summer the artists, designers and makers in my local area open their doors to the public for the annual Warwickshire Open Studios event. I’ve been along to a few events in previous years and so when I heard about a project photographer Fiona Murray has been working on to document the process, practice and creative spaces of some of the people involved I arranged to meet up with her over tea and cake to find out more.

Mid-century inspired lighting by Bert Frank

One of the things I love most about blogging here at Design Hunter is that I sometimes have the privilege of being able to share new design work before it’s been featured elsewhere. Robbie Llewellyn of Bert Frank recently got in touch to introduce their newly launched mid-century inspired lighting range. Designed in opposition to today’s throwaway culture and ‘built to last’ the range is manufactured in the UK and available in a range of different custom colours and finishes.

Here’s what Robbie had to tell me about the collection…

Print & Wool: an interview with Jane Walker of Bailey Hills

Jane Walker is a textile designer who is currently pushing the boundaries of what’s possible when it comes to digital printing onto wool cloth.

The daughter of an architect, Jane worked for many years as an interior designer before retraining in printed textiles. After graduating from Loughborough University with a first class honours degree in 2010 she established Bailey Hills, producing bespoke and limited edition printed interior furnishings and fabrics using British made woollen and worsten cloth. It’s a company whose creation and development has its roots not only in Jane’s previous career as an interior designer, but also in her family background – her great-great grandfather founded a spinning and weaving company producing woollen and worsted cloth at Bingley in West Yorkshire in 1863. Bailey Hills takes its name from what is said to be the name of the earliest settlement at Bingley and an area of the town where her family lived.