From Inspiration To Design: The Story Behind our Moorland Trimmings Collection
August 1, 2024
For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about nature and our love for the Somerset landscape. When we founded the business, bringing the outside in to our homes was an important ethos alongside the desire to use sustainable and natural materials in my work.
For as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about nature and our love for the Somerset landscape. When I founded the business, bringing the outside in to our homes was an important ethos alongside the desire to use sustainable and natural materials in my designs, an ethos which remains at the heart of everything we do today.
My new Moorland collection of trimmings celebrates our love of natural materials, with the inspiration drawn from the diverse landscape around our home in Somerset.
The colour palette has been inspired by the natural flora and fauna found on the moorland and in the deep woodlands of Exmoor and the Quantocks, and the rock formations of coastal cliffs. Naming each of the trimmings from this beautiful and diverse landscape was an essential part of its storied heritage.
You will often find us walking amongst the myriad of footpaths that cross this land, often with camera in hand and sometimes empty handed, free to wander without interruption. Somerset is a landscape of heathland, deep wooded coombes, ancient woodlands, coast and farming, and bridleways weave their way throughout this land. It is not just inspiration that draws us out, but a feeling of being grounded in the simplicity of nature, regardless of weather, placing one foot in front of another, finding space and freedom in this beautiful landscape.
Our retreat from the hectic world of running our businesses. An intent to reconnect with the things we love in the world around us, and to embrace space. Quietness in every step, the sound of wind amongst the trees, interspersed with birdsong and the happy buzzing of insects. In autumn, the distance sound of red deer rutting, in Spring the sound of the skylark as it rises and falls from the moorland.
The smell of crisp pine in those first few breaths in the high woodlands, so fresh it stops us in our tracks, raising our face to the wind to inhale. These majestic grand old trees standing so tall, centuries of growth, stretching up to touch the sky, or so it seems. Ancient wooded valleys covered with fern and forest, as far as the eye can see, to the coastline beyond.
Banks of deep ferns cover the ground, deer runs of bare crumbled earth tearing through them, in long channels as they descend from the moorland above at the end of the day. The time of day when humans have returned to their homes, and nature takes its place back once more.
If you are fortunate to be on the very top of the Quantocks, on a clear day, it is possible to stand in one spot, slowly turning 360 degrees, where the views take your breath away. On one side you will see moorland, heather and our Quantock ponies, as far as the eye, turn slowly and the view changes to vast woodlands covering the hills in the distance, and then finally, the view will change again to show the coastline beyond, reaching out towards Wales and North Somerset, the former can be be seen on a clear sunny day.
A diversity of vistas without taking one step.
Helen Izzard is a Somerset based interior design studio, creating timeless, quietly elegant interiors. Our design philosophy is underpinned by our ethos of timelessness, quality, longevity, and craftsmanship. We are drawn to natural materials, which are inherently beautiful, practical and sustainable. Our speciality is bespoke curtains and blinds, using sustainable fabrics from UK independent fabric designers, alongside our Moorland Collection of Artisan British-Made Trimmings.
Conscious, Timeless Design & Colour Palette
Choosing classically timeless and understated trimming designs was a conscious design decision from me. The palette of colours takes its inspiration from the landscape, and so choosing the colours and tonal depths of each trimming design was incredibly important.
We started with a clear mission to avoid importing the new collection, and to only work with a UK design company. One of the important steps was trying to find a UK manufacturer who we could work with on a bespoke, smaller-scale production, to avoid mass production and waste, and to give me the space to create something unique and bespoke to us. A chance conversation with a colleague in the industry took us on a long journey to the North of England, and the start of our year long journey, meeting and working with a company steeped in history and a wealth of knowledge of their industry. Every trimming is entirely handmade in England, and meant we could select the finest yarns and colours, and design a collection I am incredibly proud of. Armed with a multitude of colour twists after our first meeting, we drove home, both excited and tired after a very long journey there and back in a day! Each colour twist had such subtle nuances of yarn and tone, and meant choosing the final colours was an incredibly hard decision to make.
Our Ammonite colourway evokes the backdrops of some of the beaches, layers of limestone, marl and black oil-rich shale, which forms the cliffs around the slate and shingle beaches.
Moorland Stone, earthy and reminiscent of cool stone or natural linen, tumbles from the sedimentary rocks on our beautiful moors and coastline. The wonderful river beds that weave their way across this landscape, fast tumbling rivers over boulders or gently babbling over stones..
Moorland Mist and Winter Moss evoke the colours of the sparse moorlands, with the soft mist, with hints of green, lingering in clumps over the deep green bracken on a winter morning.
Heather Pinks form the spring and summer months, of rich colours covering the highest points overlooking both coastline and forests. Dawn Mist, with hints of tea rose and subtle grey hues, inspired by the early Spring mists as dawn breaks and the sun starts to rise over the moors.
While autumn seeds lends a nod to the richly coloured seed heads, found along the banks of the rivers in autumn, scorched by sun and water.
Damselfly evokes the colours of the dragonflies and damselflies as they dart over the rivers, their earthy petrol blues in colour and vibrancy, as the sun catches their wings as they flit and dart.
With conscious design choices in mind, and in making the most of the beautiful yarns and textures, each of the trimmings has a mix of multi-tonal yarns, which add a sense of layering and incredible depth to both the colours and tones when they catch the light.
A Celebration of British Design & Craftsmanship
Designing the new trimmings collection was not just about trimmings. It was also an important focus on heritage and history too, underpinned by our ethos of craftsmanship, traditional design, sustainability and longevity. The collection takes it cue from my ethos of keeping heritage and workmanship at the forefront of our designs, by using traditional natural fibres such as wool and cotton, and using traditional craftsmanship from our British mills. This is something that I was determined to do and which I am now so proud to have achieved!
Working with a small company who creates beautiful trimmings for many of the well-known design houses, has been both incredible and humbling. Their knowledge of the industry, and their interpretation of the many ideas in my head, was instinctive. Every visit to the factory filled me with inspiration. Being drawn to natural materials that are inherently beautiful, we were able to select the finest natural cotton and wool yarns, to create a bespoke, hand-crafted collection of English trimmings that I feel add understated design, elegance and natural texture to our homes. My aim was to create a collection of trimmings that would stand the test of time, and something that I could build on.
I am very proud that our Moorland trimmings collection is entirely and exclusively handmade for us in the UK, using natural yarns. This is just the beginnings of the collection, with more to follow as the collection grows in both new designs and colours.
Watch this space…!
If you would like to see the complete collection, please click here for fan edge trims or onion tassel pom pom trims, or if you would love some help in designing your home or are interested in our interior design services in Somerset and the surrounding areas, please do contact me here.
I look forward to working with you.
