TIME TRAVELLERS

St Jude’s design collective is going back to its roots, with the release of two of English painter and illustrator Edward Bawden’s original, detailed designs

Founded by husbandand-wife team Simon and Angie (pictured) Lewin in 2005, the St Jude’s of today has grown organically into a true collective, with artists such as Emily Sutton, Mark Hearld, Jonny Hannah and Ed Kluz in its fold. As Simon explains, though all of their works are unique, one of the strong unifying threads is Edward Bawden’s influence in his delightful depictions of daily life, both in the city and the countryside. Lewin wagers that if you asked any of the collective for their top ten creative inspirations, the artist and illustrator would pop up on every list.

The brand’s admiration for the 20th century’s greatest artists-turneddesigners led it to become an engine, in that same vein, for a new generation – Emily Sutton won the ELLE Decoration British Design Award for her whimsical ‘Curiosity Shop’ fabric in 2011, and Mark Hearld won in 2012 for his wallpaper design ‘Harvest Hare’ – but it made sense that the next step be, well, backward. Last year, the brand launched ‘St Jude’s Studio Archive’, the Lewins’ first foray into reprinting the work of their heroes. They worked with artist Chloe Cheese on the production of her mother, Sheila Robinson’s ‘Monkeys and Birds’ (centre) – a wallpaper she had printed in her home in Great Bardfield, Essex.

The next natural move was to reproduce the work of Edward Bawden, also from Great Bardfield. This September, St Jude’s will launch ‘Seaweed’ (top), with three other designs, including ‘Tree and Cow’ ( bottom), launching in 2018. They all perfectly capture the simple beauty of the British countryside (stjudesfabrics.co.uk).