If Liberty makes the prettiest cotton in the world, who makes the prettiest clothes? You do! For the first time we’re publishing our own book of inspirational home sewing projects. Designer Lucinda Ganderton has showcased some of our favourite Liberty Art Fabrics in this sumptuous how-to guide which is divided into three chapters – Essential, Organisation and Luxury. Highlights include shopping bags, elegant cushions, kimonos, bean bags and throws.
The Liberty Book of Home Sewing is due for release in October, but we’ve got a sneaky preview just for you, our lovely readers…
Watch as illustrator Kerry Lemon decorates our brand new beauty hall – adorning one wall with this stunning peacock design. Team Liberty have a great love of this exotic bird, and so, it would appear, do you. Peacock feathers are one of our oldest and best loved prints, and sales of Liberty peacock fabric in the 1920s broke trade records. Caesar, a more contemporary take on the classic pattern, was added to our Classic Tana Lawn range in 2007.
Last night we toasted the official launch of the Assouline Literary Lounge, a tranquil haven filled with the most beautifully presented tomes we’ve ever have the pleasure to gaze upon. The event was in honour of photographer Cecil Beaton, whose private scrapbooks and personal collections have been gathered together in a stunning hard back book, available now on our ground floor.
Back to the party, and Prosper Assouline himself had gloves at the ready to help guests, including our managing director Ed Burstell, leaf through some of the rarer titles on offer. We nibbled on delicious trays of canapés and sipped cocktails from the Bungalow 8 pop-up bar, which was assembled in the jewellery hall especially.
If you missed out on last nights joviality you may be tempted to try your hand at a little cocktail mixing of your own – here are last night’s tempting recipes…
Come in store now for our annual Arts & Crafts exhibition in association with Patch Rogers design. He’ll be showcasing some seriously beautiful antiques dating from 1850-1950 including furniture, lighting, textiles and other art objects relating to this iconic period. This year the Arts & Crafts show also coincides with the V&A’s exhibition The Cult of Beauty, an exploration of Aestheticism – an artistic movement whose members both inspired and created Arts & Crafts designs.
To celebrate the opening of this exciting display, Esme Whittaker, assistant curator of The Cult of Beauty, spoke to guests about the Aesthetic style, and the Movement’s connection to Liberty’s illustrious past. We thought we’d share our highlights with you…
“Aestheticism [was] an extraordinary artistic movement which sought to escape the ugliness and materialism of the Victorian era by creating a new kind of art and beauty…Avant-garde designers such as William Morris, E W Godwin and Christopher Dresser also adopted a new approach, and with an increased sensitivity to line and colour, created artistic furnishings which transformed the middle class home into the ‘house beautiful’.
Liberty exemplifies the collaboration between commerce and Aestheticism, by providing a single shop where customers could purchase everything necessary to create the house beautiful and dress artistically. After several years experience trading in scarves and other goods, Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened the Liberty shop on Regent Street in 1875. At first he specialised in imports from China, Japan, India and North Africa, and sold the exotic furnishings that were particularly popular among Aesthetic artists. Japanese artefacts provided a fresh source of inspiration, and many artists bought collections of Japanese objects to decorate their homes and act as props or costumes for their paintings.
With the opening of Liberty, these novel and exotic objects became available to the wider public. The V&A was an early Liberty customer, purchasing a kimono in 1891. Increasingly, Liberty supplemented these products with ones commissioned from British designers, and their work, marketed anonymously, became part of the Liberty style. in 1884 Liberty opened a dress department with the guidance of the Aesthetic designer E.W Godwin. It encouraged women to dress artistically, and wear loose fitting medieval inspired costumes that made them look as if they had just stepped out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting.”
Last night we gave our Facebook followers the chance to quiz scarf designer Richard Weston, who has featured prominently in BBC2′s Britain’s Next Big Thing. Weston’s striking scanned mineral prints were spotted at our Best of British Design Open Call last year, and his unique designs have gone on to become some of the most popular in the Liberty Scarf Hall…
Question:I love your scarf designs. What is your favourite part of the process?
Richard: My favourite part is discovering new designs in minerals as you have to scan a lot to find a good one! When I find one which looks like it will make a good design it’s very exciting.
Question: How many images do you currently have that are suitable for scarves? Are you still creating them?
Richard: I have around 3000 at the moment and yes I’m still creating but not as many as in the early stages as I’m a lot busier these days!
Question:Dear Professor. Where in the world would you like to travel to unearth unusual crystals?
Richard: Brazil is at the top of my list as they have the most minerals commercially available – it’s a big trade out there.
Question:Love your scarves, saw a Botswana agate the other day we have bets that we will see the design on one of your scarves.
Richard: I’ve got a few Botswana Agates so I’m sure you’ll see one pop up somewhere…
Question:When did you know you had “made it” in your career, what was that one moment that made you feel like you’d done it?
Richard: I’ve done lots of things in my career, but I really felt I was onto something very soon after I started scanning minerals and being accepted by Liberty was the confirmation I needed!
Question: I understand you are designing your own house and studio – will minerals or other natural materials play a part in the design?
Richard: LOTS! Minerals on fabric and in glass plus in over 30 metres of laser etched slate. See my Facebook page Weston for pictures.
Question:Love your nature inspired scarves. Do you think you might use other forms of nature for any future designs?
Richard: Yes I will! I’m combining mineral images with tree branching patterns at the moment and also looking at micro organisms particularly ones in the sea. Some of the designs should appear in Liberty in the coming months.
Question: Have you thought about branching out into clothing? For instance your prints would look fabulous on a silk shift dress.
Richard: Yes I have! I’m actively exploring this at the moment so watch this space…
Question:Any tips for the next Liberty Open Call? I’m signed up for the one in August and you seemed to have a really positive experience. Love the scarves by the way, it’s such a beautiful idea, I have collected crystals for a long time and it’s a really interesting twist to combine them with fashion.
Richard: My advice is BE PREPARED! You need ideas of costs and practical details and make sure you’re enthusiastic and believe in what you’re doing. Good luck!
