As many of you will be aware already thanks to the #showtime hashtag, this week Gainsborough launched its new collection – Renaissance – designed and curated by established and widely-respected designer, Karen Beauchamp. For Karen, this undertaking involved ‘excavating the archive’, as she puts it, which is precisely what her talk was about on the opening day of LuxuryMade, at Olympia, where Gainsborough has been exhibiting in the Upper Pillar Hall.
Karen was Creative Director of Cole and Son wallpapering company for many years and has been a driving force in the interiors world, with a particular focus on craft and retaining traditional techniques and knowledge. Having trained as an architect, Karen has an incredible eye for colour and an innate understanding of interior spaces. With previous experience working with large archives, Karen began the collection with Gainsborough earlier last year, with a very open brief to create a ‘core’ signature collection. This collection had to answer the unasked question from Gainsborough’s clients and the needs of the Interior Design world, whilst staying true to Gainsborough as a company; Karen therefore used Gainsborough’s extensive archive as her starting point, and every design in the collection has its roots in that archive. Karen adapted many of the designs that she discovered like the Shelley Stripe that originated from a very old rough wool sample, into something indisputably, fresh and new… words that perhaps have not been commonly associated with Gainsborough in recent years.
With a main body of larger scale designs and a separate smaller collection of stripes and ginghams, the Renaissance collection retains the stunning historical signature damasks and brocades, in on-trend colours, whilst losing nothing of the quality Gainsborough prides itself on. As so wonderfully illustrated by the upholstered furniture, courtesy of George Smith, combining the fabrics in a quirky way transforms the collection into an edgy and very modern aesthetic, attracting a whole new host of potential designers. And the collection appeals equally to valued longstanding clients of Gainsborough, who can continue to utilize the collection and the company archive for their historically-correct designs, still woven on our 1930s Hattersley Jacquard Looms.
The new collection went live on the Gainsborough website this week in place of Gainsborough’s previous featured ranges. For more information on pricing or sample enquiries, please contact the sales team on sales@gainsborough.co.uk. All fabrics are available to purchase by the metre.