ALLOTTED PLEASURES
Artist Lottie Day draws inspiration from her father’s vegetable plot to create distinctive hand-printed textiles
Artist Lottie Day draws inspiration from her father’s vegetable plot in north Norfolk to create distinctive hand-printed textiles
Ihe autumnal sun glows amber in the sky above Hindolveston Allotments in north Norfolk, as artist Lottie Day helps her father, Adrian, gather ripe courgettes with their bell-like yellow flowers. “It’s full of beautiful things to draw that are rich in colour,” says Lottie of the small but prolific site of 15-20 plots, where the vibrant palette and characterful outlines of her father’s produce provide limitless inspiration for her screenprinted textile products. “It’s also a lovely place to hang out,” she continues, while doing some quick sketches, as Adrian tends his six vegetable beds, interspersed with fruit trees, berry bushes and sweetly scented verbena. Close by, a few other plot-holders work in companionable silence – the only sounds are the mewing of buzzards overhead and the fluttering of bird scarers in the breeze.
Back at her brick and timber-clad studio – a converted garage at her parents’ home on the other side of Hindolveston, overlooking a cottage garden cultivated by her mother, Sue – Lottie will spend a few days perfecting her fine-line drawings of vegetables, or other rural finds, perhaps later returning to the allotment with her printing inks to match the colours more accurately in full daylight. These illustrations from life form the basis of the designs she screen-prints by hand onto an array of cotton and linen items from napkins to double deckchairs.
The idea for Lottie’s most popular range, the Allotment collection – featuring a purple turnip, a swede and a parsnip – was initially conceived as a Christmas gift for her father, reflecting his love of growing. “I just started printing a few tea towels and tried selling them in the run-up to Christmas,” recalls Lottie, who was running a gallery in Norwich at the
time. “Before I knew it, people were asking for more and more. I don’t think Dad ever got his present!” Not that Adrian (who is a retired headteacher, as is Sue) minds: “I feel honoured,” he says of having his vegetables immortalised in this way.
After growing up in Hindolveston, Lottie had her first taste of screen-printing while studying contemporary crafts at Falmouth University. Soon after graduation, and still living in Cornwall, she enjoyed success selling her own line of hand-printed deckchairs: “A beachwear company wanted to order thousands of them, but I just didn’t have the capital to invest at the time, so I decided to leave Cornwall and make a bit of money in order to start again,” she explains. Lottie returned home to Norfolk and found herself working in a pub for a year. By chance, an opportunity arose in 2010, via the pub landlord, of running her own gallery in the historic Assembly House in Norwich. As the enterprise, specialising in screen prints, linocuts and local craft, became more established, Lottie found she had more time to invest in her own print-making.
Following the enthusiastic response to her Allotment tea towels in 2014 (“People are passionate about their own gardens,” Lottie says), she went on to sell at local craft fairs, where they went down equally well. Interaction with the public and fellow traders helped her define how she wanted her brand to take shape: “It’s important to me that everything is handmade and, where possible, sourced from the UK.”
The printing process is time-consuming and meticulous but it’s a hands-on craft she loves. “I like how physical it is, and it’s very satisfying to print the same image over and over again,” she says, adding that she delights in any imperfections, as they show it’s unique. “I like the misregistration, where you see a bit of white fabric underneath or some colour going over the outline – that print is never going to be the same as the one before or the one after.”
Over time, her range has expanded to include other sights on the allotment, such as wild Norfolk hares, vivid dahlias and spring vegetables (among them baby carrots and radishes). Another line features delicate bird feathers and eggs – some drawn from life and others from an antique pocket field
guide owned by her grandmother. A lobster and lemon motif was inspired by regular visits to the nearby fishing town of Cromer with her partner Sam Leonard (whom she met at university). “I spend a lot of time in Cromer, going for sea swims when the sun’s out,” Lottie says.
Since starting, she has gone on to produce aprons, shopping bags, lampshades, mugs and double deckchairs, which she sews onto a hardwood frame. “They’re for sitting on while you watch your vegetables grow,” Lottie says. But her best-selling items are her cotton napkins, attractively presented in a recycled cardboard box of six, and tied up with string. Printed in batches of 40, each set takes two to three days to complete.
Winning the Editor’s Choice award for her stand at the Country Living Fair in 2015 proved to be a real boost for Lottie: “As well as receiving the award, the feedback from visitors to the Fair was great,” she says. “We had lots of interest from all sorts of people afterwards – it’s helped no end.” That same year, she produced an exclusive range for Anthropologie and also began selling with Not on the High Street. Through her online presence and via social media, her work has attracted customers from North America, Europe and Asia.
As the business took off, Lottie began to wind down her involvement in the gallery, focusing on her own brand full time. Sam also came on board, leaving his previous job in marketing in 2016, to work on her website, social media and photography. During her recent maternity leave following the arrival of their daughter, Raphaela, he acted as CEO. “It’s quite a family affair,” laughs Lottie, whose brother, Laurie, an architectural model maker, contributes with advice on branding. Her parents, meanwhile, help with childcare and have supported her interest in art and nature since childhood. “Adrian’s always encouraged Lottie to look at the minutiae of things,” Sue says.
During Lottie’s weekly visits to the allotment, she might help out with the digging, planting, watering and harvesting, but her father is equally happy for her just to look around or do some sketching. As Adrian grows different and unusual vegetables every year (black and yellow French beans are a current favourite), there’s no danger of her running out of ideas for future collections. Her Berry range, based on his gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries, is her most recent variation on the allotment theme. “I think the images are a good reminder of the pleasure we can all experience through gardening,” Adrian says.
In future Lottie might experiment with producing fabric for soft furnishings, but the plan is to expand the enterprise in the organic way it has flourished so far. “I’ve never written a business plan or had a loan – we do one thing and that pays for the next, and I like that,” she says. “There’s no pressure.” Such an approach allows her to concentrate on the things she loves doing most: drawing and printing. “All I ever really wanted to do was be in a little studio in the middle of the countryside making things,” Lottie says – a dream that makes sense to us.