London Craft Week sparked plenty of inspiration and was a chance for everyone to embrace creativity. I was invited to speak at a talk and cocktail evening hosted by Chelsea Textiles about ‘A Passion for Craft’.

Taking place at their beautiful Pimlico Road showroom, we focused on the distinct link between fashion and interior design, exploring how we can make our homes as individual as our clothes. It was a pleasure to speak alongside Chelsea Textiles’ design director Jenny Simpson, textile artist Clio Peppiatt and dressmaker Caroline Smiley who owns her own store in Tetbury. We discussed taking inspiration from historic embroidery and how this is reflected in our work today.

Hearing the story behind Maria Sibylla Merian‘s vibrant dress was such a treat, with its exquisite embroidery of botanical designs.

Caroline Smiley made special jackets using my Chelsea Textiles fabrics, which were elegantly displayed using our signature Firmdale mannequins. Clio Peppiatt made a wonderful waistcoat adorned with a moon crescent broach and tassel trim. We couldn’t resist trying it on, along with her black, glitzy ‘Louis Dress’. The alluring bead work shimmered in the light.

Chelsea Textiles’ fabrics are exquisite and not a scrap was wasted. Offcuts from Caroline’s jackets were used to make some limited edition versions of our Patchwork Toys. All for the celebration of craft!

This special edition Willow Bear is called ‘Tree of Wisdom’ after the fabric he was made from. Available now from Shop Kit Kemp, he’s excited to join a loving home soon.

We even salvaged some of our ‘Mythical Creatures’ fabric to use as a special Perspex tray insert.

It was certainly one of my favourite events of the year. It was wonderful to discover and admire so many beautiful fabrics and be surrounded by friends and like-minded people. Thank you to everyone who came and stay tuned for more exciting craft events.