Meet the Maker - The Hampstead Smock Company

Bilal at work

Meet the Maker - The Hampstead Smock Company

I studied Fashion & Textile Design at St Martin’s School of Art in the 1980’s, I specialised in Interiors & Soft Furnishings and have worked all over the world doing this job.  My products are accessories for the home.  I’ve always worn an artists smock to work in, this was inspired by my mother who wore one around the house looking after 6 children.

 My favourite product is my ‘Smock’, although all the products I will be bringing to sell at ‘Homeworks’ give me great pleasure.

I truly find inspiration from within, I can walk into a home or space and immediately know how I’d enhance it with beautiful products, soft furnishings, lighting.  I frequent museums, we have so much wonderful free art to see in London, I go to new exhibitions and I often walk through London where I was told as a child by my father to look up and see the architecture around us, we can miss so much and so all of this inspires me.

The Hampstead Smock Company will be at Homeworks on 8th December

Sally Hampson

Weaver Sally Hampson is passionate about pure British wool and sheep breeds such as Shetland, Welsh Black Mountain and Jacob and has spent time with shepherds in the Cheviot Hills on the Scottish border:

This wild and rugged landscape is an important part of what inspires her weaving and this is evident in her blankets, wraps and scarves – Sally is always close to the colours and textures of natural materials and the simplest way of combining them together: 

The Connemara Banket or the Family Blanket as Sally calls it, was a wool blanket her parents brought over from Ireland when they came to settle in London. The blanket became a very special object, almost like another family member and it was well used for picnics and holidays.

Being the weaver in the family, Sally inherited this precious heirloom from her parents. She decided to replicate it, counting the threads of the faded check and softening the colours slightly to reflect the surrounding landscape along the Connemara shore line, with pools of water and light against the peaty, heathery earth:

These simple aesthetics continue to influence Sally’s artistic career, from working in the theatre on costumes and sets, to travelling to Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya, to work with artisan weavers, potters and basket makers.

Sally Hampson will be back at Homeworks on both Sunday 3 & 10 December.

Longstaff Longstaff

London brand Longstaff Longstaff has brought together a beautiful collection of silk loungewear using fresh and original, hand painted prints. Designer and founder Sophie Barnard has an aesthetic that is freshly feminine and elegant and her brand has an artisan feel with a commitment to British craftsmanship and luxury finishes:

This is their first year at Homeworks and the print-led collection includes chemises, camisoles and shorts, pyjamas, tunics and a unique wrap around robe. The fabric is printed in Worcestershire and the garments are made in one of London’s premiere production studios:

Homeworks will be one of the first places to see new lines ready for Christmas – including men’s pocket squares and silk bound notebooks and silk sleep masks. These are made in India by a family firm who specialise in using offcuts – bringing sustainability to the front of our minds:

The hero of the loungewear collection is the kimono robe- it is effortlessly glamorous but we have fallen for our note book too. They look beautiful but feel beautiful too:

Sophie is hugely influenced by the decorative arts- particularly folk embroidery so the V&A is a fantastic resource and inspiration.

Come and see Sophie on Sunday 10 December.