THE GREAT BRITISH MAKE OFF
More of us are buying goods made in the UK — and that bodes well in these stricken times
The ‘I’m Backing Britain’ campaign in the late 1960s was a resounding success. It started after five secretaries at a heating company volunteered to work an extra halfhour each day without pay to do their bit for the flagging economy.
Then, it morphed into a rallying cry to buy British goods, from food to cars. Something similar is surely needed now.
And, in fact, already there are signs that it is happening, especially in the world of interiors, with John Lewis reporting online searches for ‘made in the UK’ have tripled since the start of the year.
So here’s where to find some of the best interior design Britain has to offer, which will also help our economy get back on track.
GO DESIGNER
SOMERSET-BORN fashion designer Alice Temperley — a firm favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge — has launched an interiors range. All pieces in Temperley’s capsule collection are produced from archive prints.
The velvet and satin embroidered cushions and tablecloths are made in Somerset. Temperley’s home collection is available in its mayfair store, but will be on sale online at the end of the month. Cushions start from £145, tablecloths from £120, temperleylondon.com.
matthew Williamson has designed new jungle and leopard wallpaper prints for osborne & Little, which are made in Lancashire.
Williamson says they were created to ‘lift the spirits — a philosophy which has never felt more poignant than now’. Prices for the Daydreams collection start from £ 130, osborneandlittle.com.
ADD HISTORY
CHOOSE a floor from Ted Todd’s Cheshire workshops and you might find yourself stepping on boards where Winston Churchill once tread. The rare Finds collection includes reclaimed wood from the Liverpool Docks, and the War offices where Churchill worked.
Prices start from £59.94 per sq m, tedtodd.co.uk.
PERFECT POTTERY
Bone china is a must-have for afternoon tea. But it shouldn’t be kept for best, it’s excellent for everyday use, being the strongest and most durable ceramic dinnerware. Plus you can stick it in the dishwasher. Xavier has produced British fine bone china from its factory in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent for more than 130 years.
Designs are timeless, with a huge choice of colours. The Wilding Collection launching this month features drawings by the British artist David Urmston, detailing six creatures: the beaver, boar, wolf, lynx, white stork and auroch. Prices start at £36, xavierchina.com.
not far away in Derbyshire you’ll find the site where Denby pottery, founded in 1809, is still made today. The firm sources clay locally. A new collection — Impression — is launching this month. The range encourages mix and match, with pebblelike blues, charcoal, cream and pink. Prices from £5, denbypottery.com.
CHEER UP WALLS
BRITISH heritage at John Lewis is ingrained, especially when it comes to its own-brand wallpaper. Designs are printed in Loughborough on the same site made famous by William morris designs, and also across the border in Welshpool, mid-Wales. The modern Archive designs are inspired by a collection of textiles and wallpapers held in the J.L.P. heritage Centre. There are 31 new designs this season (from £35 a roll, johnlewis.com).
TURN UP THE HEAT
IF YOU’RE in the market for a new fireplace this winter, call on the expertise of renaissance London, an antiques restoration and reproduction specialist in Shoreditch, London. owen Pacey, the founder, and his team create new fireplaces based on antique designs.
his client list includes British celebrities Kate Winslet and Jeremy Irons. Prices from £1,400 at renaissancelondon.com.