Shortly after I gave birth to my first child, interior designers Turner Pocock contacted me about a commission for a Georgian country house project they were working on. Their client had requested some original wallpaper and fabric designs for the interiors and had apparently admired my existing designs. In the fog of early motherhood I was slightly reluctant to commit to the project but Bunny and Emma were patient and persevered and the two designs we now carry as part of our main collection, Mill Pond and Mill Oak, were the result.
Initial sketch and sampling for Mill Oak
Printing Mill Oak at the factory. Photography: Atelier Behm
The house in question sits in some very beautiful countryside and the owners wanted the fabrics and papers I was commissioned to design to reflect it’s bucolic surroundings. In the grounds there was a walled garden and a mill pond and beyond that a stage set backdrop of enormous oak trees. The brief was simple and I was largely left to my own devices. It was a wonderful way to work. Once the rough idea was agreed I worked the artwork up to a fully repeating design and then we worked closely together at the printing stage as the colours had to to fit to the designer’s scheme. After the house had been completed I recoloured the designs and they joined my permanent collection. (There is a House & Garden article about the Turner Pocock project here if you would like to read about it in greater detail. You will spot a smattering of some of my other designs throughout the house.)
The project for which the design was originally commissioned. Click on the image to read more.
Mill Oak, clearly, took its inspiration from those surrounding oak trees. When I am at the early stages of a design I will quite often look to illustrate a specific narrative and it is often a particular a piece of writing or story that will inspire the resulting design but the oak has a very strong, if less tangible, existing narrative all of its own. Its height, longevity, strength and prevalence across the British Isles have meant it’s long been inextricably woven throughout our folklore and history and the recognisable shape of its leaves and acorns lend itself beautifully to creating a pattern. The resulting design, I hope, celebrates this quintessential symbol of British heritage with a playful interwoven bower of branches, leaves and acorns. I wanted it to feel like lying on your back, in the summer, in the shade and gazing up into one of those beautiful old trees. A very obvious but hopefully successful attempt to bring the outside in.
Our Mill Oak paper Calamine left and Common Blue right