A simple story of a painting.

Sometimes it’s the simple pleasures of living in this beautiful county that bring a lingering smile, such as looking forward to the casual, yet dynamic blooming of the wild poppies in June. The impact can be just a single lost flower or the invasion of a whole field swathed in red.

 But usually it’s a graceful lacing of the field edges - red heads of delicate crepe paper petals bobbing in the breeze.

This June on a winding lane from Edgefield, near Holt, there was a particularly wonderful field of poppies - so inspiring I had to paint the view.

2020 saw the start of a whole new portfolio of paintings for artist Jac Scott.  Fluid Lands emerged through the lockdown as the artist was able to dedicate significant studio time to developing the new work with pigments and wax.  The Storm Collection was the initial response now followed by Linear Lands.

Each work is a unique response to local Norfolk sea and land scapes.

Inspiration - Linear Lands Collection

North Norfolk, with its big skies and undulating vistas, specialises in creating layered wide and sinuous bands of landscape.

There is a rhythmic poetry where the bands of interest stretch across the land forming stripes of colour, texture and form. This striping delineates and dissects the panorama leading to an inspiration that explodes across the canvas - broad strokes of emotion and energy captured in paint.

Technique - Encaustic Painting

The ancient method of encaustic art was practiced by the Greeks and Egyptians with 2000 year old examples still in existence. Wax and pigments are fused with heat which dries quickly capturing brush strokes, drips and textures. Encaustic art is an all consuming very physical practice.  One is seduced by the process of not just applying paint with a brush, palette knife or hands, but also the harnessing of heat to energise materials and move the liquids around. The fluidity of the process allows the materials to mix and metamorphose.

East View, Burnham Overy Staithe, Norfolk

The coastal path elevates the walker to view a wide vista of lines on the landscape where reeds, stream, bank, grass, hedge and sky form natural bands.

Phacelia, Hindolveston, Norfolk

Bands of wonder in a local meadow where phacelia forms a lacy border to rustling wheat, dwarfed by a row of Scots pines.

Phacelia is a wonder plant. It has beautiful scented purple flowers with dense fern-like foliage. It smothers weeds and has an extensive root system that improves soil structure  - it is often used as a green manure. It grows quickly showing blooms for 6-8 weeks - providing an excellent cut flower and one of the top flowers for bees and hoverflies.

Mick doesn’t like cushions. We only have 3! I have to fight to get a cushion in our home - the joy of two designers living together and curating a home together.

So when I design a cushion it has to be special, not just a little bit but full blown special, so that it earns its place in our home or our gallery. Every aspect is considered, every detail scrutinised and analysed for what it brings to the design - the same as for our lighting and furniture. 

So for the Raw Luxe Collection expect sumptuous cushions in antique and vintage fabrics, beautifully made by our professional seamstress, with a strong attention to detail.

Each cushion has our branded vegan leather label plus a washing instruction label inside. A British-made, hollow fibre cushion pad (filing complies with BS 5852 part 2) is included in the price.

Each of our cushions are unique designs making them worthy style contributors to your ever evolving home.

By the way they’re also great for snuggling up to.

Expect to discover a range of antique textiles including handwoven linens from France, fine English embroideries and cut work plus vintage cotton velvets. 

French Antique Linen

The frugal living conditions of the French peasants meant that many wove cloth on narrow looms in their own homes. These highly covetable cloths were often made into sheets with a join down the middle. Hemp was relatively easy to grow and turn into fibre, making it an obvious choice for country folk with little means. These antique linens are usually rough with a slub texture and have a variance in the tightness of the weave. 

Repeated washing will help break down the fibres to create a softer cloth and laundering also changes the dark beige colour to a softer creamy white.

Raw Luxe Collection

Our Raw Luxe products specialise in creating contemporary atmospheric interiors that exude a faded grandeur.   The Collection celebrates the tactile and sensuous qualities of old fabrics with their natural imperfections and worn narratives. We source antique and vintage textiles that capture a palpable sense of history in their weave and drape, then mix them to create new interfaces for interior accessories - thus making enduring and unique style statements.

All the creations in the Raw Luxe Collection are one-offs, we may be able to find and make something similar that happily partners another, but none will be exactly the same.

Each cushion is created from softly faded, vintage velvet that has been utopiaised to create an individual pattern on the front face. The velvet is 'framed' with a flange of French antique linen. The reverse is made of the same antique fabric with a deep envelope to contain the cushion pad.