Homegirl London pays homage to Basil & Ford. This is the husband and wife team of Matthew and Lucy Glen. They set up their business in May 2013 to bring you a stunning selection of art prints, home wares and stationery.
They certainly have a passion for all things handcrafted. Every single thing is designed and screen printed by them in their very own studio. Absolutely everything is 100% handmade in Great Britain. They make prints you’d want to hang, tea towels you’d want to dry your hands on and cards you’d want to send. They also offer a design service for bespoke commissions – from prints through to branding. I caught up with this enterprising couple to find out more …
Q: Why call the company Basil & Ford?
A: We wanted to have a company name that sounds established and intriguing, which harks back to a bygone era. We also wanted the name to represent the two of us indirectly, as we are the foundation of the business. So after many discussions, we ended up at Basil & Ford, which actually represents the two places we were born many a moon ago. Basil = Basildon (That’s right Matt’s an Essex boy, born and raised). Ford = Stamford (Where Luce grew up and where her Mum and Dad still live and where our family and business are based).
Q: Tell me about your design backgrounds.
A: We both attended an art foundation course at Loughborough university where we explored all avenues of art and design. From there we both moved to Leeds where Matt studied Graphic Design at Leeds University focussing on pure graphic design and Lucy studied Graphic Art and Design at Leeds Met focussing on photography, screen printing and letterpress. We both moved to London and started careers in the creative industry, which ended with Matt as a Senior Graphic Designer at the top pharmaceutical advertising agency and Lucy as an Account Director in a boutique design agency.
Basil & Ford The Music Sounds Better Print
Q: How did you meet?
A: We met at Loughborough University 12 years ago when we both attended the art foundation course. We were in the same halls and met on day one and then fast forward 12 years and we are married with a little baby girl and a new business.
Q: Why set up your business?
A: We wanted to change our lives and move out of London before our baby arrived. We had always had the dream of starting up a creative company and using the traditional printing technique of screen printing. When we realised we were expecting a baby it seemed as good a time as any and we made the plunge and up rooted out of London and back to the country side. We took our combined skill sets and love of all things handmade and set up Basil & Ford, with the hope to expand over time and offer lessons and workshops to teach and encourage others to master the art of screen printing.
Basil & Ford Full English Tea Towel
Basil & Ford Mixed Biscuits Tea Towel
Q: Where are you based and why?
A: We are based in Stamford in Lincolnshire where Lucy grew up, recently stated as the best place to live in Britain in the Sunday Times. Here we have the space for all our equipment in our studio at the back of a barn / garage, the fresh air for our little lady and countryside for inspiration. It has been a big change from Clapham Junction and our lives in the city but has been a great success and we haven’t looked back.
Q: How many people work at your company?
A: At the moment there are just the two of us and we design, make and sell everything ourselves on offer at Basil & Ford. We don’t outsource any of our printing as feel the personal handmade aspect is a big part of what we offer.
Q: Describe your design style.
A: We like to create a range of designs that all look very different so that we cater for many tastes. We also like to keep things different so we stay fresh and excited by all our products. Matt is the main designer and he has a very strong graphic design background and this shows in our products. Lucy is inspired by a more country chic style and is an avid fan of using her sewing machine so this is also a style that gets incorporated into our work.
Q: Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
A: We are inspired by vintage designs that use strong typography and illustrations. We often spend our weekends trawling charity shops, antique markets and car boot sales looking for inspiration from a bygone era. On the flip side, Matt is also inspired by strong graphic design that uses simple lines and colour palettes. Our tastes do differ at times and we don’t always agree so if one doesn’t like an idea we move on and revisit the concept later with a fresh pair of eyes. We continue to grow our offer every week with new designs and concepts taking shape daily with current projects including rustic cushion designs and wedding stationery sets.
Q: Tell me about your products.
A: We have created a series of tongue twister prints that look fabulous when displayed all together.
Basil & Ford Peter Piper Tongue Twister Print
We have also created four different packs of notelet writing sets that cover off all the different messages that one would want to send.
Basil & Ford Notelet Writing Set
Basil & Ford Thank You Notelets
We are big fans of maps so have a range of map based prints. We offer bespoke map prints that pin point a location with a personalised message. Many of our lovely customers buy these as a series of prints.
Basil & Ford Personalised You are Here Print
Q: What’s your fascination with typography?
A: I love typography, choosing the right typeface for a project can make or break a piece. I can literally spend hours choosing the right one for the right project. The key to a successful piece of communication especially graphic communication is a hierarchy and the choice of the right fonts and weights in the right place is essential to the success of that piece of communication. Choose the wrong font, the intended audience might not react and your communication is lost
Q: Tell me about your bespoke service.
A: We offer a bespoke service that ranges from commission prints through to branding and wedding collateral. With over seven years in the design industry, we are fully equipped to offer a full range of design and project management from creating a start-up brand and full marketing suite through to wedding stationery and all the trimmings. When it comes to bespoke commissions for home wares then the simple fact is – if it’s flat then we can print on it so any design can be created and turned into art prints, cushions, wooden signs – you name it and we can achieve it for you.
Basil & Ford Personalised This Day Forth Wedding Print
Basil & Ford Personalised To Have and to Hold Wedding Print
Q: Which creative person / company do you admire and why?
A: Olly Moss has forever been a complete inspiration to me as a designer and creative thinker. His ability to see things from a completely different angle time and time again is truly mind blowing. He is the only designer that continually makes me go ‘blooming heck I wish I had done that.’
Q: What’s the best thing about owning your own business?
A: We have both come from creative backgrounds so setting up Basil & Ford has given us the opportunity to harness our love of design and create products that we love and would love to hang on our own walls, dry our hands with and cards to send in the post. We have a five-week old baby girl so having our own company gives us the freedom to work around Matilda’s very busy schedule!
Q: What one piece of advice would you pass on to someone wanting to set up their own business?
A: Now is as good a time as any! We waited and kept putting off the idea of setting up Basil &Ford thinking that we should wait till we are more financially stable or when we could afford to do it in London. The fact is that you should strike while the iron is hot (our iron was the imminent arrival of a little nipper so we left it rather late!) and while you are still really excited and driven by the ideas swirling around in your head. You can always test the market and work in the evenings and weekends and use websites to initially sell your products before you leave your job and go full time. Our other advice is to get an accountant because the business side of setting up a company can get rather complicated and best to do it properly from the beginning. Lastly – just enjoy it as if you do something you love every day you will never feel like you have to go to work.
Q: What new and exciting projects have you got planned?
A: We are currently working on a range of fabric designs ready to start bringing Lucy’s sewing skills into play to hand-make cushions, makeup bags, and other delightful products. There is also a wonderful selection of wooden products about to launch from quirky signs through to letter and name blocks. We have a lot of new prints up our sleeves too.
You can buy the products from Basil and Ford. Credits: text by Homegirl London, images courtesy of Basil & Ford, special thanks to Matthew and Lucy Glen.
