Homegirl London pays homage to Kate Farley. Kate’s collection celebrates British allotments and National Trust kitchen gardens with her ‘Plot to Plate’ collection so don’t be surprised when you find shovels, forks, cultery and abstract rows of vegetables adorning her wares. The range includes patterned wallpaper, 100% linen furnishing fabrics, cushions plus hand printed and stitched stationery notepads and contemporary greeting cards. Kate’s design style and patterns can be described as modernist, graphic and considered. Her work touches on the mid century modern era but with a contemporary twist. The colour palette features muted greys, blues and olives while her wallpaper is tempting in teal. I caught up with Kate Farley to find out more.
Furnishing Fabrics and Cushions
Meet Kate Farley
Kate graduated in Printed Textile Design from Leeds College of Art in the mid-nineties and then went on to complete an MA in Book Art at Camberwell College of Arts. From there she was involved in various art and design related activities. Some of these included – creating and exhibiting limited editions of artist’s books and prints, teaching book binding, undertaking public art commissions, lecturing and the list goes on. She’s certainly been a very busy lady and still teaches Textile Design part time at Birmingham City University which is where she’s based.
Kate Farley
So you might wonder how on earth Kate ever had time to design, make and market her own wares. She explains – “Having experienced so many facets of art and design it made sense to combine skills and experience to launch my own collection. While I was on maternity leave I created a ton of prints and patterns which I wanted to make into products. So I started off with a few hand printed cushions and some fabric which I sold at a solo show at Tinsmiths, a lovely interiors shop in Ledbury. With good sales and press attention I became more confident to outsource manufacturing, freeing me up to dedicate time to designing. Fast forward to now and although it’s just me on my own wearing many business hats I do enjoy making the decisions, setting the pace and standing by my principles.”
Kate Farley Collection
Kate explains where her fascination for allotments, kitchen gardens and National Trust homes comes from – “I was brought up in Norfolk in a family very used to growing our own food. We had space to grow lots of vegetables and a big fruit cage. Meal preparation often started with heading down the garden with a trug to pick the ingredients. As young children we had our chores; to tie up the raspberry canes or shell the beans. Now I have my own allotment in Birmingham which I use as inspiration for my work. Having a connection with the growing seasons, with the plants and colours, helps me to think creatively. Many of my design issues are addressed in my mind while working the soil, even if I get angry that the slugs have eaten the crops again! On a Saturday afternoon when most people go shopping in the city I ask myself ‘why?’ and head off to my patch of country. Time at the plot should be on free prescription!”
Contemporary Greeting Cards
As for her love of kitchen gardens, Kate reveals – “I’m sure most gardeners enjoy inspecting others’ plots. Other people’s kitchen gardens have informed my design work. Designs often become composite gardens with a bit of Calke Abbey garden, mixed in with Felbrigg, but I connect with each one, as I track and survey the rows of lettuces or carrots as I draw them.” As for the interest in National Trust homes, Kate reminisces – “As a family we’ve always visited these properties but it wasn’t until more recently, and with gardens as my subject have I really embraced the potential in each property. I would love my Plot to Plate products to complete the design cycle and become retail products at those properties with fabulous kitchen gardens.”
Contemporary Greeting Cards
Landscape is also an inspiration to Kate, she explains – “I’ve always been interested in landscape, and how we map it, representing three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional page. This is still very much part of my practical research. I explore elevations, perspective and the bird’s eye view and then challenging the subject in my drawings and prints. As a result of this I get to a pattern that I hope others wish to engage with.” Kate sums up her ‘Plot to Plate’ collection – “I wanted to communicate the journey from garden to dining table, via the kitchen. My inspiration comes from my own allotment and a number of National Trust kitchen gardens.”
Parterre Stationery Notebook
Let’s look at her products and their patterns. The tea towels are adorned with garden forks and spades in brassica green or purple. This design has been Screen printed onto linen union. Kate has also been inspired by the Chelsea salad servers from David Mellor cultery which also adorn tea towels in camouflage grey. If you’re not familiar with David Mellor, he’s a famous British designer who is famous for his cultery designs.
David Mellor Chelsea Salad Servers Tea Towels
The Plot to Plate fabric (below) is ideal for upholstery plus curtains and is made from 100% linen. There are three options available which are named XXVV, VVV and XO. That will seem odd until Kate explains – “XO stands for rows of cabbages in my allotment whereas the VVV stripe is rows of parsnips, carrots and onions. I’m not sure there’s much call for parsnips on curtains, but I’ve found a place for them!” You can buy readymade cushions featuring this design. These include a feather cushion pad and come in either a square (44cm) or oblong (48cm x 32cm) shape.
Furnishing Fabrics XXVV, VVV and XO
The hand stitched note books feature screen printed covers with a pattern called ‘Parterre’ which is inspired by formal gardens. It has 64 plain pages of high quality 100gsm white paper and is available in a neat little A5 size.
Parterre Stationery Notebook
The Hanbury wallpaper features a graphic pattern which was originally made as a lino print. It’s been inspired by the formal gardens and historical wallpaper from Hanbury Hall and the Gardens of the Worcestershire National Trust. As you may have noticed from Kate’s designs, she’s become more interested in historical and formal pattern structures. She tells me – “The Hanbury pattern was informed by the National Trust property of the same name in Worcestershire. It has fabulous formal ‘Parterre’ gardens and kitchen gardens too. I referred to one of the wallpapers in the house for the structure of the design and responded by employing lino printed motifs of the formal gardens to create the temporary design.”
Hanbury Wallpaper
Buy Kate Farley Products
You can buy Kate’s products from her website at www.katefarley.co.uk. She can also ship overseas if you email her in advance. All the products, aside from the notebooks, are manufactured by British companies using British materials where possible. To give you an idea about price points – wallpaper is £64 per roll, fabrics are £76 per metre, cushions are £68, tea towels £12, notebooks £10 and greeting cards are £12 for a set of 5.
Author: Homegirl London. Photographs and thanks: Kate Farley.
