I recently visited Ulverston and The Shop Floor Project. I was as fascinated by the shop, situated on the central Market Street, as I was the captivating, quirky website. The site is presented as a shop front, and the looking and shopping experience is fun and intriguing as you click on each category to reveal creatively presented and unique products. The Project was founded by mother and daughter duo, Denise and Samantha Allan. Both professional artists and curators, they see the Project as ‘a series of curated spaces filled with objects that fulfill their main criteria; that the object is worthy of keeping and passing down through generations – be it…
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Textile treasure troves in London
Since I moved to London (3 months ago!) I’ve been exploring the rich variety of fabric shops, haberdashers and bead shops, searching for materials for my jewellery making, as well as shops selling unique and innovative craft creations of London makers. Here are a few of my favourites so far: The Cloth House just off Oxford Street is one of many fabric shops in the trendy and creative Soho. This one has to be my favourite, mainly because of its carefully chosen selection of Indian hand block-printed fabrics from Rajasthan and Gujarat, as well as its vintage kantha quilts, gorgeous high quality silks, linens and embroidered fabrics. I recognised some of…
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Indian block-printed textiles in the English countryside
The long jubilee weekend was the first that I’ve spent outside of London since I moved down just over a month ago. While I’m sure the river pageant and all the jubilee events in London were very exciting, escaping the crowds for some countryside air was much more appealing to me. So, along with a group of friends, I went camping to Cirencester in the Cotswolds. The campsite was chosen by my friend Laura, and as chance would have it, without Laura knowing, the owner of the campsite (on an organic farm no less – http://www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk/), also owns…
