CHRISTMAS WRAPPED UP
There's certainly an art to gifting. No one explores the simple beauty, texture, pattern and household objects like our friends at Cambridge Imprint who designed a special pattern for us, ‘The Selvedge Stitch’. The pattern, available in red, grey and yellow, aims to conjure the glorious colours of natural dye and charm of hand stitching.
Image: Haberdashery boxes covered in 'Selvedge Stitch' paper
Artist Jane Powell tells us, “the original idea for the design came from an embroidery in one of my very favourite books, Swedish Embroidery by Eivor Fisher published in 1953. It is the second in a series of books about traditional embroidery from different countries by Anchor. The piece which caught our attention for this project was a very simple table mat which was embroidered with the fan of lines with dots on the end which we found particularly appealing. We chose this as the central motif to ‘play’ with for Stitch - the Selvedge project. The fan of lines in the original embroidery were threaded through and held in place by horizontal lines of backstitch, the dots were french knots.”
Image: Magazine box file
“The design developed as it was translated from stitch to pen and paper and from pen and paper to print. Screen printing has its own special qualities, possibilities, and restrictions. We hand paint our designs onto the screen to retain personality and liveliness in the final piece. We played through many versions of the design repeating elements in different ways and exploring colour possibilities before arriving at the final version.”
Image: Selvedge Stitch notebooks
Cambridge Imprint paper is printed in England on FSC paper of archiving quality, using vegetable oil-based inks that are kind to the environment. Each sheet is printed in one or two, hand-mixed inks on uncoated 90 gsm stock to create a high-quality matte paper with a hand-printed feel to it. Cambridge Imprint is a design partnership based in Cambridge, England. Creating a stylish range of artisanal products with patterned paper, the company is made up of painter Claerwen James, textile artist Jane Powell and ceramicist Ali Murphy, who each share an interest in pattern, texture and the beauty of household objects in everyday use. Their range of stationery and desk furniture includes handmade box files, portfolios, letter trays, notebooks, and cards. Everything has a lively hand-drawn feel, featuring joyful illustration and typography in beautiful colours.
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The 'Selvedge Stitch’ is available – in plenty of time for Christmas – as wrapping paper, a notebook, a magazine box file and a haberdashery box.
Buy Christmas essentials and many more Selvedge gifts here: Selvedge Goods