Anyone looking for a sense of freedom in an ‘always on’, increasingly digital world should down tools and head directly to Cornwall. Here, the untamed seas are both calming and stirring: it’s not difficult to see how the landscape here has always attracted free spirits, from buccaneers to surfers, writers and painters.
I certainly feel an affinity with this southernmost part of England, flanked by the Atlantic and the Channel. I’ve explored beaches, coves and bays; some wild, rugged and dotted with wind-whipped surfers and others more postcard-pretty with quaint cottages in ice-cream hues hugging hidden bays. And I’ve wandered inland where fields and forests swell and roll with the smell of wild garlic after an April shower, or newly-cut summer straw. In the warmer months, when the freshness of spring drifts into the heat of high summer, vistas of greens laden with wildflowers unspool to meet the ocean.
Cornwall is the inspiration for my latest fabric collection. I wanted to capture all of it: bracing hikes up hills and along weathered clifftops, to the crashing of waves below; discovering a cove in which to set up camp for the afternoon; feasting on a picnic of crab sandwiches and local cider; splashing in the shallows until dusk, pebbles underfoot and feeling the sun dry salt to bare skin. These are all small slices of heaven for me.
The Cornwall Collection borrows from snapshots like these, as well the shades from sands and shells and skylines of its namesake. All of the new fabrics are named after my favourite places in Cornwall and all (bar one) are completely versatile and great choices for both curtains and upholstery.
We have two new linens – the Polperro, in Pebble and Shell colourways, and their sister, the Polperro in Sand, which is a little lighter (think loose drapery rather than curtains or covers). Then, there’s a fresh cotton stripe named after one of Cornwall’s most idyllic towns, St Ives, home to so many artists seduced by the softness of the light – and of course, Tate St Ives, in Mint and Vanilla.
We also have two new wools. The first is the Lamorna in Moss and Stone shades. This fabric is named after the small pebble cove nestled in the dip of a deep green valley on the south coast and where Welsh poet Dylan Thomas once lived.
The second is the Zennor in Clay and Lichen. Zennor is a wildly beautiful village perched on the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic and famed for being the backdrop to the folktale about a mysterious mermaid. Cornish mythology is by turns romantic and mystical: I love how such stories have been woven deeply into the landscape and atmosphere.
There’s nowhere quite like Cornwall and I wanted both the rugged beauty and the perfectly picturesque to meet in this collection.
