MY LIGHT BULB MOMENT

Textile designer Harriet Wallace-Jones

HarrieT WaLLace-Jones, 52, is co-founder of textiles label Wallace sewell, best known for its scarves and for designing seat fabric for London Underground and the crossrail trains. Harriet is married and lives in Dorset with a daughter, 12, and son, ten. EMMA SEWELL and I met while studying textiles at art school in London, but only really became friends during our MA at the Royal College of Art. We both wanted to work in a mill as textile designers, but when we left in 1990 it was during a recession and there were no jobs. So we decided to share a studio just for the camaraderie.

In 1992, we were offered a stand at Chelsea Crafts Fair. We wondered, what can we do together? What are our strengths? My light bulb moment came when I realised we could do scarves.

I designed silk designs with big bold asymmetric blocks; Emma’s were beautiful wool crepes. Nobody could tell who made what.

A buyer from Barneys in New York put in an order. Six months later she returned to ask about our next season. In the end our accountant said: ‘Why don’t you become a partnership? It’d be simpler for the books.’ So we did.

Nine years ago, I moved here from London, so now we design individually. But we’re so in tune we often pick the same colours

We were given a tight four-colour palette when asked to design for the Underground. But for the interim Crossrail, we selected the colours. A shed visible on the route was a beautiful grey-green that ended up in the design. It’s lovely people are sitting on our textiles.

Recently a friend of Emma’s daughter said: ‘Why doesn’t someone design seat covers for the Tube?’ And she was able to say proudly: ‘Actually, my mum has.’

WaLLace seWeLL: 25 Years of British Textile Design, Fashion and Textile Museum ftmlondon.org