Inspired by botanical motifs borrowed from historic collection speaks to Britain’s enduring
historic and modern works of art, Soane’s Autumn enduring fascination with flowers.
Designed in collaboration with the needlework artist Viola Shackleton, Violas is Soane’s first printed velvet. The fabric’s plush indigo pile is strewn with jewel-toned violas – their highly saturated colours making the design particularly versatile. The floral forms are inspired by Viola’s preparatory drawings for her embroidered artworks, while the exuberant, almost abstract size of the blooms mirror the long floating stitches of her large-scale botanical needleworks. Printed in Lancaster, England, the design retains all the characteristics of Violas’ original artwork.
Named for the famously lavish outdoor balls held in nineteenth century Paris’ Jardin Mabille, Mabille’s jacquard-woven kaleidoscope of flamboyant daisies on a rich blue ground is translated from an unusual Napoleon III-era French carpet in Soane’s textile archive. A bold, playful design, it has an exceptionally large vertical repeat measuring more than 3 metres. The lengthy process required to achieve the exact structure and weight of this fabric necessitates the use of a highly specialised loom, the only one of its kind, operated by a team of exceptional weavers in the English county of Suffolk.
An ancient symbol of the miracle of spring and the abundance of harvest, the luscious bunches of grapes that pattern ‘Bibiana’ take inspiration from a nineteenth century silk appliqué in Soane’s textile archive.
Caption
‘Sweetpea’
the charming simplicity of ‘Burdur Leaf’, printed in five versatile colourways, is adapted from a finely woven eighteenth century Turkish silk.
Burdur Leaf - ChestnutLinen
Burdur Leaf - Lacquer RedLinen
Burdur Leaf - IndigoLinen
Burdur Leaf - MirageLinen
Burdur Leaf - Sorolla RedLinen
Offering a garden full of colours to choose from, the collection is beautifully paired with the soft neutrals of ‘Byzantium’, a reversible textured weave inspired by a nineteenth century hand-quilted Ottoman robe.
- IvoryWeave
- SepiaWeave
- OleasterWeave
- Sky BlueWeave
‘Fretwork’ is a muted yet characterful wallpaper inspired by the quatrefoil fretwork designs found in ancient Coptic architecture.
Botanical motifs and natural forms also punctuate Soane’s new furniture date, the designs demonstrate the skills of the very best makers in Britain Soane apart. Made by artists, engineers, patinators and rattan weavers,
furniture and lighting designs. The most technically challenging collection to Britain and epitomise the cross-collaboration between craftspeople that sets weavers, new lighting designs include wall, floor and ceiling lights.
The exaggerated, seamless silhouette of the ‘Garland Hanging Light’ speaks to decorative garlands traditionally associated with celebration. Given the complexity of the manufacturing processes, whether made from metal alone or metal meticulously wrapped in rattan, this ceiling light truly is the show pony of the new lighting collection.
The organic form of the ‘Fungi Wall Light’ is hand-poured in jesmonite by artist Sophie Coryndon, cast from an antique tree fungus, which was in Soane’s early collections. Due to the retirement of the octogenarian artist who painted the lights for many years, the design was discontinued until Soane could find another artist to do justice to the original.
This boldly scaled floor light has an elegant, curved arm, reminiscent of the curlew’s slender beak. Taking inspiration from a Swedish design in Soane’s collection dating from the 1930s, it is made by skilled engineers in East Sussex, England, and finished in Soane’s own patination workshop
A pair of favourite chairs re-join the collection, refined to ensure maximum comfort. ‘The Rattan Loggia Armchair’ is more relaxed and generously proportioned than its siblings while the ‘Blower Chair’ has elegant turned legs and a fluted back, traditionally upholstered in Somerset using natural materials.
THE SANTO SOSPIR WILLOW SOFA
Named after the renowned Villa Santo Sospir on the Cote d’Azur, with interiors famously decorated by Madeleine Castaing and ‘tattooed’ by Jean Cocteau, this generously proportioned sofa takes inspiration from an original design source by Castaing in 1949 and recently re-commissioned by the Villa to be made in Soane’s workshops. The sofa is Soane’s first willow design, with the material chosen for its sustainable properties and local supply chain. So local that second generation willow weaver Eddie Glew cultivates and harvests rods himself, just a stone’s throw from his studio in Staffordshire, England. Much faster growing than timber, willow can be harvested annually and is noteworthy for its carbon sequestration.
This edition in willow is pioneering in its mixing of rattan and willow. The rattan cane frame supports an intricately woven, double-staked diamond latticework back in willow.
