Ercol emerged in the post war era with a passion for creating furniture that was both well-designed and well-made.
Nearly 70 years later the brand’s design icons are still as stylish today as they were in the 1950s and its long-lasting reputation for creating pieces that stand the test of time is what sets it apart from other modern day furniture makers.
A staple part of the Heal’s offering, ercol embodies everything that we love about good design: expert craftsmanship, quality materials, and a beautiful mid-century aesthetic that captures the optimism that Britain felt about its design potential at the time.
We’ve picked five of our most beloved ercol furniture designs that we think cement ercol as one of the true furniture greats. Each piece boasts superb quality, a rich history, and ultimately, a beautiful design.
The Butterfly Chair
Starting out with a true icon, the Butterfly chair takes its name from its expertly sculpted back that is reminiscent of the insect’s wings. Elegant curves are paired with smartly tapered legs and, despite being designed in the late 1950s, it exemplifies a contemporary design that is almost Scandinavian in its simplicity. The Butterfly chair is made using Lucien Ercolani’s perfected technique of steam bending wood into elegant shapes.
Back in the day, the method marked a milestone in the development of furniture making and highlighted Ercolani’s instinct of knowing how to bring out the intrinsic qualities of wood in terms of colour, texture and grain.
Why do we love it?
The Butterfly chair is a true design classic, becoming more sought after as the years go by. Its design, comfort and craftsmanship ensure it's a piece that can be passed down for generations to come.
Originals Butterfly Chair by Ercol, £535
The Ercol Originals Loveseat
Next on our list is the ercol Originals Love Seat - a large, outward shaped elm seat, moulded for comfort. In 1943 Lucian Ercolani was asked by the Board of Trade to adapt the classic Windsor chair into a production friendly design.
Drawing upon his Scandinavian and Bauhaus influences, he developed the Windsor collection which combined traditional English settle and the Windsor chair aesthetic.
An instantly recognisable ercol creation, the Love Seat features turned spindles, splayed legs and an organic shape to form an enlarged version of the famous ercol Windsor chair.
Why do we love it?
A truly versatile piece, it looks just as at home around a country kitchen table as it does in sleek, contemporary homes.
The Originals Love Seat by Ercol, £800
The Romana Extending Dining Table
This simple ercol dining table has all the hallmarks of a piece well-designed and well-made, and not only is it a practical addition for homes short on space but its curved edge detailing and slim legs are easy on the eye. In a time when small space living is becoming a reality for more of us, clever design becomes more important than ever.
The Romana has a hidden contraption that boasts an extra panel creating a functional piece for modern dining spaces. Simply pull on one end of the table and the other will follow suit. A leaf is stored inside the mechanism which opens up and links the table together in seamless fashion.
Why do we love it?
This ercol dining table is one of those rare designs that never dates or shows its age ensuring stylish practicality for years to come.
The Romana Extending Dining Table, £1,860
The Treviso Desk by Matthew Hilton for Ercol
Ercol’s continued desire to develop design well into the 21st century saw the commissioning of Matthew Hilton who reinterpreted a number of classics using his take on contemporary design.
Out of this partnership came the Treviso desk, a perfect blend of mid-century and contemporary design creating a modern day classic that has great form and function. The desk provides a deceivingly large amount of work space despite its slender shape and a hole at the back allows for computer or laptop wires to be neatly slotted through, bringing this mid-century design into the modern age.
Why do we love it?
Known for his clever material choices, Hilton made the desk available in walnut to offer a contrast to the pale wood that is typically used for ercol designs. However key features such as splayed legs and clean lines are maintained for an unmistakably ercol look.
The Treviso Desk by Mathew Hilton for Ercol, £1,490
The Ercol Originals Room Divider
More of a bookcase than a traditional room divider, it can be turned into a colourful focal point in a room or kept minimal with handpicked ornaments and decorations.
Another perfect ercol design for space tight homes, the design is great for saving on lateral space by venturing upwards rather than outwards with plenty of display area.
Why we love it?
Trademark ercol details including spindle bars, hammer shaft joints and smooth carpentry along the solid elm and beech surfaces make it a classic piece that outlives interior design trends.
The Originals Room Divider by Ercol, £2,350
To explore our collection of ercol furniture further, visit one of our stores or see the full range online.
[ INSPIRATION ]
Behind the design
From design studio to architectural masterpiece to gallery, Isokon is one the most treasured examples of modernism in Britain.
In curating the Heal’s 100 exhibition, Director of the Isokon Gallery Trust Magnus Englund has uncovered the close bonds between the design group and Heal’s that together tell a fascinating story of the development of British design in the 20th century.
Founded in 1929, Isokon aimed to bring the new ‘international style’ of modernist design that was emerging across Europe to British homes. Run by Jack and Molly Pritchard, the design studio was initially set up as an architectural practice but subsequently found more fortune in making furniture with recent emigré and former Bauhaus director Walter Gropius becoming the Controller of Design in 1935.
Gropius in turn drafted in former colleague Marcel Breuer to design for the studio whose iconic Isokon Long Chair (1935), alongside the Isokon Penguin Donkey by Egon Riss (1935), were both sold at Heal’s.
Isokon Long Chair by Marcel Breuer (1935).
Original Isokon catalogue circa 1930s. While Isokon had its own showroom within the Lawn Road flats (scroll down to read more about the Isokon building), one of the main exponents for its ground-breaking style was Heal’s.
A firm believer in modernist design, the store's director Ambrose Heal held a series of ‘Modern Tendencies’ exhibitions within the stores Mansard Gallery to showcase this daring new furniture including the work of Marcel Breuer in a show entitled ‘Contemporary Furniture by Seven Architects’.
For more information on the link between the Bauhaus and Heal’s read our blog Art Into Industry – The Bauhaus at Heal’s.
On the close bond between Isokon and Heal’s, Magnus Englund explains: “When researching the Isokon and the Pritchard family, I soon got to learn that the major outlet for Isokon furniture during the 1930s had been Heal’s, and that Jack Pritchard frequently corresponded with both Christopher and Anthony Heal, not just about business but also on personal matters.”
HEAL’S 100: Isokon Penguin Donkey Mk I (1935)
“Jack Pritchard, the founder of the Isokon furniture company, knew Allen Lane, creator of Penguin Books and decided to create a piece to hold the publishing house’s paperback books. Designer Egon Riss was an Austrian-Jewish émigré who fled to England and lived in the landmark Isokon building...
The plywood for the original Mk I design came from Estonia and, when the country was invaded during the second World War, work on it ceased and it never made it into production. It was revived in the 1960s with a second, different iteration before the Mk I was produced again in the 1980s.”
Advertisement for the Lawn Road Flats circa 1930s.
The Isokon building on opening day in 1934. The crowning achievement of the project was the Isokon building, at the time labelled by its masterminds Jack and Molly Pritchard as ‘an experiment in new ways of urban living’.
Designed by eminent British architect Wells Coates and completed in 1934, the Lawn Road flats were the first in Britain to be built chiefly using reinforced concrete with the bright white, ocean-liner design standing in stark contrast to the leafy suburban surroundings of North London at the time.
Alongside aforementioned designers Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, other notable residents included Agatha Christie plus the architectural critic J.M. Richards, who later wrote that the building was ‘more like the machine a-habiter than anything Le Corbusier ever designed’ in reference to the modernist architects infamous quote that ‘a house is a machine for living in.’
Entrance to the Isokon Gallery.
Marcel Breuer's Isokon Long Chair (1935) and Egon Riss's Isokon Penguin Donkey (1935) set against a backdrop shot of the Isokon penthouse where Magnus Englund is a resident. One of the earliest examples of modernist urban housing in Britain, over time the Isokon building fell into a sorry state of disrepair following years of neglect.
That is until an exemplary restoration by Avanti Architects in 2004 helped restore the block to its former glory, leading to the award of Grade I listing from English Heritage and the opening of the Isokon Gallery to commemorate the historic role both the building and design studio played in 20th-century design.
On the foundation of the gallery, Magnus Englund recently explained to Heal's: “The Isokon Gallery Trust and museum was set up in 2014 with the purpose of telling the remarkable story of the Grade I listed Isokon building from 1934. I’m a trustee of the museum and also a lucky resident of the Isokon penthouse, home for five decades to Isokon founders Jack and Molly Pritchard.”
To discover more of the fascinating design stories from our Heal’s 100 exhibition, visit our Tottenham Court Road store from 8th May – 11th June, or shop a selected edit of design icons online now.
Distilling over a century of iconic design into just one hundred pieces is no small order.
Yet, that is exactly what Magnus Englund, Founding Director of Skandium and Director of the Isokon Gallery Trust, has managed for our Heal’s 100 exhibition. A celebration of great design that has helped shape our time, the Heal’s 100 is a season-long showcase of the most iconic pieces sold at Heal’s over the past century.
Curated by furniture and interiors expert, Magnus Englund, this fascinating and informative edit brings together one hundred design icons to highlight not only the stories behind each piece but the role Heal’s has played in shaping contemporary design in Britain.
From 8th May - 11th June, the Heal’s building on Tottenham Court Road will play host to an exhibition of one hundred hand-picked designs ranging all the way from archive and antique pieces to future heirlooms from our contemporary collections (many of which will be available to buy, take home and cherish for years to come).
Alongside this fascinating display, there will also be copies of the limited edition Heal’s 100 book, which tells the history behind each iconic design and features a foreword by the show’s curator Magnus Englund.
When it comes to iconic design, Magnus is something of an authority. Having set up his first store in Stockholm in the early nineties, which, ironically, sold British menswear, he moved to London in 1995 before founding the Scandinavian interiors specialists Skandium at the close of the century.
His love of classic design is by no means limited to Nordic pieces as demonstrated by his role as Director at the Isokon Gallery Trust, a Grade I listed building and a modernist masterpiece in which he also happens to live.
The building, gallery and Isokon design studio have long had ties with Heal’s, dating all the way back to our former director Ambrose Heal in the 1930s, and it was this link that brought about Magnus’ custodianship of Heal’s 100.
With his extensive knowledge and passion for British design heritage, who better to curate the project and bring over a century of retail innovation to life. To learn more about how Magnus set about selecting those one hundred pieces we paid a visit to his penthouse apartment, a modernist mecca if ever we have seen one - watch the full interview here.
“We used several approaches for the research of Heal’s 100 one of which was to have a dialogue within the buying team at Heal’s to find out what had sold well today and in more recent times. Then we also visited the Heal’s archive, which has been held by the V&A since the 1980s at Blythe house, a huge building near Olympia exhibition centre that was originally built in 1899 as the headquarters of the Post office savings Bank...
That was one of the greatest days in my life, going through all those documents, drawings and folders to see who they communicated with and which designers and manufacturers they were in touch with around the world. But the most amazing experience was to visit Oliver Heal, the last Heal family member running the company, in the historical house that his grandfather, Sir Ambrose heal, had bought in the 1910s. His home is filled with furniture and objects that were sold at Heal’s, and he generously laid out documents relating to both Scandinavian modern design and Isokon.”
Magnus’s enthusiasm for great design is infectious and we are sure visitors to Heal’s 100 will find themselves fascinated by the history of this collection. If there’s one thing you are sure to take away from the exhibition, it’s that this story is still being written with many of the designs on show featured as part of Heal’s current collections.
As Magnus comments, “one of the beautiful things about Heal’s is that it looks to its British heritage through things like Heal’s Discovers. So a lot of the makers and craftspeople of today have an opportunity to show their products at Heal’s and some of those we have included in the collection. Hopefully, they will be future classics in days to come.”
To experience the Heal’s 100 in full, visit our Tottenham Court Road store from 8th May - 11th June, or shop a selected edit of design icons online now.
Bringing the Midas touch to unwanted furniture, Goldfinger Factory is an innovative social enterprise that provides a platform for designers, makers and education on all things craft.
For our Heal’s Modern Craft Market: Made in London, they bring their award-winning West London workshop to our flagship store with a host of beautifully crafted and unique pieces for you to take home and be loved once more. Of course, like Heal’s, the Goldfinger Factory is much more than simply a furniture store.
To really get a feel for what they are all about one must pay a visit to their West London showroom and café, both of which are housed within the ever so chic Trellick Tower in Kensal Town alongside their workshops and academy.
A modernist monolith, Trellick Tower has gone from a carbuncle on London’s landscape to being seen as an icon of the postwar era whose spacious flats, conveniently situated in Ladbroke Grove, are now much sought after.
The building is the work of Hungarian-born architect Ernö Goldfinger, whose other masterpiece includes the National Trust owned 2 Willow Road (one local resident who went by the name of Ian Fleming had such a dislike to Goldfinger’s modernist style that he named one James Bond’s arch nemesis after the architect).
Finished in 1972, Trellick Tower is a 31 story housing block designed in the Brutalist style and is based on Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower in Poplar, which was built a few years earlier in 1967. The building epitomises the post-war trend for high-rise living as a solution to London’s housing shortage at the time, however, by the time it was completed the utopian vision had turned sour with the public proving increasingly hostile to such futuristic architecture.
Added to this, rising crime levels and neglect to the upkeep of the building saw it fall into a severe state of disrepair. Thankfully, as property prices began to rise in the eighties and nineties so to did the fortunes of Trellick Tower, which eventually received the Grade II listed status it deserved in 1998.
Multicoloured furniture by Rasha El-Sady
The Goldfinger Factory not only takes its name from the iconic architect but is also inspired by the story of Trellick Tower in the way it gives new life to neglected pieces of design. Upcycling is at the heart of everything (the studio motto is turning ‘waste into gold’) with a showroom packed full of one-off pieces plus a bespoke service with furniture made from your choice of entirely reclaimed materials or a combination of old and new.
Believing that ‘waste is just a resource in the wrong hands,’ each design is made in-house using waste materials collected from London’s numerous landfill and construction sites or from sustainable FSC registered sources when required.
Besides the stunning designs on show, what makes the Goldfinger Factory really special is the way in which it uses craft as a means to improve people's lives. Through the learning academy and makers workshops (both of which are buried away underneath the building), the social enterprise is able to provide skills training that is aimed at helping local people gain or return to employment as well as offer designers, makers and craftspeople a platform to develop and sell bespoke furniture and interiors.
All profits from the sale of the furniture are reinvested back into the scheme meaning that every piece purchased from the Goldfinger Factory is helping to make a difference.
Clocks by Ben Wadhams of Fellow Designs Situated on the ground level of the building on Golborne Road, next door to the showroom you will find a bustling café, which is not only a great place to grab a coffee and a snack but also acts as a ‘food incubation’ platform that supports local food entrepreneurs and chefs.
Curated by chef Bain-Marie, the ever-changing line-up offers a wide range of culinary delights with current pop-up Panella serving mouthwatering Sicilian street food.
In return, that month's restauranteurs offer their services to events in aid of the local community such as the People's Kitchen - a monthly feast made from surplus food collected from local bakeries and markets. You can even get involved in making the food and all donations to the meal go to local charity Mary’s meals. Now that’s what we call comfort food!
Upcycled necklace workshop with Goldfinger Factory
Designed by Catherine Stolarski, the Goldfinger Factory’s Offcut necklaces were created as a way of minimising waste in the workshop, melding a minimalist design and a commitment to thoughtful consumption. In this workshop, you will learn the techniques to make your own unique necklace to add to your jewellery collection.
We at Heal's believe that the sweet smell of success starts at home, so it's no surprise that we have fallen for the beautiful scents of Soapsmith.
A must-have for an elegant bathroom, we are delighted to feature the London based business as part of our Heal's Modern Craft Market: Made in London and even more so to sit down with founder Samantha Jameson to discuss the art of crafting luxury soaps and scents.
Did you have aspirations to become a craftsperson from a young age?
Nope, I just wanted to do anything that made me happy and smile. Before Soapsmith, I did a completely unrelated degree in Liverpool studying Business Studies and went on to work in the corporate world organising events.
I made soaps, bath and body products as a hobby and gave them out as gifts for family and friends. Thankfully they realised the love I put into them so they went down well and I ended up gaining a mini cult-like following.
I later did a three month course in soap making, where I studied every soap related chemistry book I could get my eager hands on, learning my craft the old school way. It was then I realised I didn’t want to do something just for a pay cheque. I wanted to gain true enjoyment, which I have found through Soapsmith.
What is it about the medium of soap making that you love work in that you love?
Soap making is really an art. Getting the soap blend at the perfect pouring temperature and consistency is a real skill that's akin to baking cakes! With soap making you are always learning new techniques.
I started making soap 14 years ago but only made it a full time job four years ago, so it's taken me quite a few years to master the technique. I am proud to say that I can now feel any bar of soap and know exactly the process it was made in.
At what point did you feel that the whole concept for Soapsmith was coming together?
The first piece I made that really made me happy was the Marble Arch Soap. It was created to resemble a piece of black marble, little specks and all, and it is pretty close in resemblance in my opinion. The second I must mention is the Body Butter Melt, it is made with such care to create a fluffy air like texture and always gets rave reviews!
What inspires you to create your handcrafted scents?
London is an inspiration as are holiday destinations such as Bergen in Norway, Poland and Italy. I admire people like Sharmadean Reid who is a massive supporter of women in business and is one of the very rare people that actually helps and cares.
She is not a maker as such, more a designer and has an amazing company called WAH NAILS - she put nail art on the map. Anyway, her work ethic and kindness continues to inspire myself and the whole team at Soapsmith HQ.
“Soap making is really an art. Getting the soap blend at the perfect pouring temperature and consistency is a real skill that’s akin to baking cakes!”
Tell us about your studio where the magic happens.
Our studio is set in a former clock factory in North London. We have a large mezzanine level which allows us to get a birds eye view of part of the unit and there is a massive stainless steel table which allows up to ten people to work around it, each doing a specific task.
As our products are made by hand we have various pieces of equipment around the unit including huge oils tanks, wrenches to lift the moulds, cutters for cutting the soaps and our moulds into which we pour the soap. We even have cement mixers for some of our products! We have another area just for curing the soaps, with racks and racks of hand cut pieces waiting to be packed into their little boxes.
Lastly we have a packing section for all the stockists and online orders we get. Every day there are boxes of Soapsmith products ‘scent from London’ waiting to be collected by our couriers.
What is it about living and working in London that inspires you?
London is quite literally the world's melting pot and it is filled with many sights and sounds from Cranes to Cathedrals. Every single day something happens that inspires us here, be it the scent of the moss on the pavement, which I nearly slip over on, or the daffodils as I walk across Lloyds Park.
I recommend for sure Wildcard Brewery at Ravenswood Industrial Estate in Walthamstow, Mother’s Ruin Gin Palace and Gods Own Junkyard, a neon wonder, again at Ravenswood Industrial Estate! Can you tell I love Walthamstow and Ravenswood Estate? The William Morris Bar on Forest road also does cracking jerk chicken meal.
“As our products are made by hand we have various pieces of equipment around the unit…we even have cement mixers for some of our products!”
Tell us a bit about the workshop you will be running as part of the Heal’s Modern Craft Market.
We will be holding a bath soak making workshop. Our bath soaks win awards due to the ingredients, methods of manufacture and scents we use and in this workshop we will discuss the benefits of Epsom salts, oatmeal powder and a few of the other ingredients we use.
Each person at the workshop will get a chance to make their own bath soak, take home samples of our soaps and other new products not yet launched, so you will make a Soapsmith bath soak and leave with a whole lot more!
Finally, what does the future hold for Soapsmith?
We are working at the moment with a cool Coffee Roasting company called Perky Blenders, for whom we have produced the most amazing coffee scrub using their beans. We love working with likeminded companies so feel free to get in touch with our soaps and us!
Much like her prints, Caitlin Hinshelwood's approach to her craft is a multi-layered process that reveals ever greater levels of detail and complexity the closer you get to it.
Oh, and did we mention that her playful screen printed textiles provide the perfect accessory for both your wardrobe and interior design? Part of Heal's Modern Craft Market: Made in London, we have long been admirers of Caitlin's colourful scarfs, flags and fabric designs, so when she invited us over to have a nosey around her bustling Bermondsey studio to see the some of the pieces that will be on display being hand printed, we jumped at the chance.
Of course, it's only fair that we share such an experience with all you design devotees out there and for those who wish to the see the process plus meet Caitlin in person make sure to head to the Made in London launch party at our flagship store.
Did you have aspirations to become a designer from a young age?
When I was younger I wanted to be David Attenborough. But I’ve always liked getting my hands dirty and creating stuff, so it makes sense that I became a designer. I studied Printed Textiles at the University of Brighton and have been designing and screen-printing ever since I graduated.
However, I’ve had many other weird and wonderful jobs along the way to support myself in doing that. I currently work part-time as a lecturer in Printed Textiles at Winchester School of Art, which is a very inspiring job to do alongside being a designer and maker.
What’s the first piece you designed that you were truly proud of?
I guess my graduate collection was the first time I think I’d really understood design so that’s probably the most significant moment but not necessarily the proudest. You always go off things and strive to do things better.
I felt truly proud of the large-scale flags I produced last year as I’d really pushed myself with those and they combine lots of ideas and techniques I’d been honing for many years. There’s also one on display as part of the Heal’s Modern Craft Market.
How long has it taken you to learn and develop your screen printing skills?
I learnt the foundation of my skills at university but if I hadn’t kept screen-printing in the 10 years since then I wouldn’t have refined them as I have now. My understanding of the processes I use has grown so much in those years.
I mainly use a complex printing process called colour discharge printing which can be very unpredictable and variable so I’ve had to keep doing it all this time to get anything near decent.
Can you pinpoint what it is about the medium of screen printing that you love?
Screen printing is a surprisingly long-winded and laborious process, which I’m not sure everyone always understands. However, the moment when you actually start printing and putting colours down and the piece starts coming together is always so exciting.
Colour is one of the most important parts of my practice and I absolutely love playing with it in the print room and pushing the combinations I use. It’s the moment your black and white screen artwork finally comes to life!
“When I was younger I wanted to be David Attenborough. But I’ve always liked getting my hands dirty and creating stuff, so it makes sense that I became a designer.”
Which designers and makers most inspire your work?
I tend not to look too much to other designers and makers, that’s not to say I don’t admire the work of others, it’s just that my inspirations come from elsewhere. I always admire the things that feel like a real labour of love, often work by unknown makers who were just producing things for the love of making or decoration or necessity.
In another life, I think I would have been a weaver as I have an endless admiration for woven textiles. I think the studio Rare Thread, a collective of incredible weavers, are producing some very beautiful and exciting fabrics.
Tell us a bit about your studio and the where you produce your work.
I recently moved to a new studio space in Stoke Newington and I love it there. I have my own little mezzanine floor with all my books, research and materials around me, and it just feels like a great place to be tucked away to create. It also has multiple windows, which has been an exciting step up in the world.
I do all the screen printing at Printall Studios, a workshop in Bermondsey, which is an open-access space. I’ve been printing there for a really long time and have built up a network of other printers that provides a great sense of community and support.
What’s an average day in your studio like?
Every day is different to the next depending on what I am working on and which space I am working in. Time in my design studio tends to be much more quiet and calm, working ideas out, drawing, doing artwork whilst listening to music.
A day in the print workshop is very long and tiring and I barely stop to sit down all day, but that’s the place where ideas start to be transformed. I dye and wash out all the fabrics at home so that again is another kind of working day, one where I try not to get distracted by the garden or the cat. It’s good to have that contrast.
Talk us through the process for creating your scarfs.
An idea for a new piece usually emerges from discovering something at a museum, in a book, or while travelling. It might be one particular thing or a culmination of lots of different threads. I’ll usually have an idea about what it will become in terms of end product, which will determine the scale, choice of fabric and layout of the piece.
For my new collection of scarfs, for example, inspiration came from a visit to the Museum of English Rural Life, which was then followed by me flicking through my books and pulling ideas together. Then I’ll draw out the design quite roughly, always starting with the border design, then adding the central motifs and finally filling in decoration.
After this I’ll work out how many colours I want and plot out which imagery will be which colour, mapping it out on the drawing, that way I can check the balance of colour across the piece. Once this has been decided I’ll paint out each layer in black on drafting film for exposing my screens.
“I love playing with colour in the print room and pushing the combinations I use. It’s the moment your screen artwork finally comes to life!”
With my scarves I hand dye the fabric in batches, if I’m printing a run of 10, I’ll choose 10 different colours for the backgrounds. My choice is pretty arbitrary, I’ll nearly always throw in a few colours that I don’t like or think will be challenging to test myself.
Similarly, when I’m at the workshop, the colour choices are entirely instinctive and I have no real set plan, just adding to each layer with combinations I think will work or be interesting.
Once all the layers are printed and dried you have to steam the fabric to fix the colours and make the colours react. The process I use means that during the steaming process, a chemical in the print paste will bleach out the base colour replacing it with the colour of the paste.
This can be a totally magical process transforming what looked really dull into something glowing and vibrant or it can be a total disappointment when it doesn’t work or the colours do something completely unexpected in the steamer.
Finally, each piece has to be washed out in hot and cold water to further fix the colour and wash off the paste. At that stage I am ready to hand them over to be finished by my seamstress.
What is it about living and working in London that inspires you?
London isn’t an easy city to live or work in but sometimes it’s that challenge that can push you with your work to try harder and to move things forward. It’s also inspiring to be around so many of my talented and creative friends and have so much access to amazing museums, cinema, dance, music, etc.
Are there any hidden gems in the capital that you always recommend to friends?
Brixi, a shop in Brixton market, because it feels like so many other shops carry exactly the same stock and never take a chance on interesting designers and products whereas Emy stocks way more unusual stuff and it all feels really personal, which I love even if it’s not all to my taste.
Fenton House in Hampstead also has a really beautiful orchard and kitchen garden - I used to volunteer there so it has a special place in my heart. I live off Green Lanes in Haringey where I can buy pretty much every type of herb, spice, vegetable, pastry, and dumpling I desire. Yasar Halim is an amazing bakery where you feel as if you are in another country. In fact, on a sunny day Green Lanes can feel like you are on holiday.
Beyond the Heal's Modern Craft Market, what does the future hold for Caitlin Hinshelwood?
I have a solo exhibition opening at Cecil Sharp House in September so that’s my main project at the moment. It’s really exciting to be working with the English Folk Dance and Song Society archives alongside material at the People’s History Museum in Manchester as it touches on so many areas of interest for me.
I’ll be producing eleven large-scale textile banners to hang in their public spaces. It’s going to be my most ambitious project to date so I am full of excitement and trepidation.
HEAL'S DISCOVERS
HEAL'S DISCOVERS
Ed Heritage
As part of this season’s Heal’s Discovers initiative, we’re delighted to introduce Ed Heritage, an award-winning UK-based designer whose signature style of clean geometry and playful details is reflected in the beautiful lamp he created.
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