{ This Week in the Office }

After months of hard work, our latest collection has finally hit the shops! We are excited to bring you 'Patterned Landscapes' Inspired by the textures of Mali.

When deciding on a new place of inspiration for this collection, Imogen had initially thought Tahiti would be a great country to be inspired by, being warm and exotic, with a French connection that would follow on nicely from our Parisian Deco:Deco collection. But as we also had a strong African aesthetic running through the Parisian collection, somewhere in Africa seemed like a natural progression, and also an aesthetic flavour that seemed relevant currently.

The question was: where to go in Africa? After much discussion, we settled on Mali.

Mali is a landlocked country in North West Africa. Its northern borders reach far into the vast Saharan desert, a feature that really defines the country and its people.

Mali has a particularly rich history and fascinating culture, including a strong music tradition (apparently the Blues originated here), and some fantastic traditional art and craft for us to be inspired by – not to mention the astounding natural environment and mud brick architecture! 

Today, Mali is a country plagued by political and social unrest, however in better times Mali was an oasis of learning, trade and culture – and so we looked back to these times to inspire us.

In approaching this theme, we didn’t want to exactly replicate an African aesthetic – they do that so beautifully themselves. We made the collection our own by reinterpreting traditional Malian printing techniques, visual imagery and cultural traditions in a contemporary way, simplifying shapes and modernising the colour palette.

Patterned Landscapes is a brave mix of big bold abstract patterns and block colours, offset by little delicate patterns, organic textures and dusty muted colours – perfect for the warmer months.

Roll on summer!