Our showroom and studio on Bathwick Hill will be open as usual throughout the week leading up to Christmas, closing for the Christmas break on Friday 23rd at 4pm.
We look forward to hearing all your festive news as well as your New Year’s resolutions when we re-open as normal on Tuesday 3rd January!
Wishing all our customers a very merry Christmas and a happy 2017, from all the team at W&L x
A big thank you to Amy for suggesting we get involved with this year’s Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day!
For more information on today’s national fundraising day, please click here. Donations from everyone involved here at are on their way to this incredible charity.
We’re always on the look out for that something a bit different so we were really excited to come across Faïencerie Georges on our latest sourcing trip to Paris.
The company was founded in 1898 in Nevers, a region of France renowned for its traditional manufacture of earthenware going back to the sixteenth century. Four generations on, the company is still in family hands and the methods have barely changed. The modelling process uses traditional tools and is followed by two sequences of drying, then by the first firing at 1050°C. Once the enamelling process has taken place, the decoration is applied to the raw glaze by hand drawing. Finally, each item is fired for a second time, this time at at 980°C. Each piece is unique and always marked by the famous two green nodes; the historic emblem of the pottery and that of Ateliers d’Art de France.
What has changed over the generations is the subject matter. This takes its inspiration from photographs taken by members of the family; often in the form of unusual subjects but those recognisable to us all – think bridges, pylons, and factories. One of our favourites is Crane, currently on display in our studio window. The next in the series will follow early next year.
Abby Hyder has been been very busy since winning this year’s W&L Showcase award. Most recently, Abby has just completed the second of her murals at No.15 Great Pulteney, in conjunction with W&L and featuring her signature monkey illustrations.
So on that note, and with Christmas just round the corner, what better opportunity to show you “Monkey’s First Snowfall”, our Christmas card image for this year, designed by Abby.
Looking forward to the next stage of mentoring with Abby in 2017!
The wonderful Friends of Sydney Gardens are holding their annual bulb planting day this Sunday, 20th November, and they’d love your help. To add to the generous donations of local residents, we’ve also donated 200 allium bulbs so there’s plenty to get planting!
Planting starts at 10am and tools are provided from the Gardener’s Lodge at the main entrance to the gardens. Hope to see you there!
It’s been an absolute pleasure working alongside Bath Spa University again, and this time with No.15 Great Pulteney, Bath’s new boutique townhouse hotel.
We were recently invited by the university to brief their third year textile design students on their latest project. With No.15 due to open soon, featuring a handful of rooms designed by our studio, this was the perfect opportunity for the students the chance to take a live commercial brief. The theme of the brief, like that of the hotel is “Curiosity” and we got a chance to see the initial concepts yesterday. There were some great ideas and we’re really looking forward to see them taking form over the coming weeks. Even more excited to hopefully see some of the completed products in situ at this exciting new venture!
We’re very pleased to welcome Laura and Beth to the W&L team. Both have just started at W&L as showroom assistants, allowing Amy to spend more time as design assistant to our growing interiors team. Do pop in when you have a chance to say hi!
A huge thank you to all those of you who so kindly donated your time or hard-earned money to our Big Tidy at Bristol’s Hop Skip and Jump respite centre over the weekend. Thanks to you, over the two days we were able to restore the outdoor play spaces back to their former glory whilst providing a large shed to store the centre’s bikes and scooters, bark chippings for the play areas and extra toys for the children to enjoy.
We’d also like to thank the wealth of companies who donated plants, planters, paints, compost, time as well as food for all the kind volunteers – Genus Plant Sourcing, Iota Garden and Home, Davies of Bath, West Kington Nurseries, Bathford Nurseries, Tesco Bathwick Hill and Chew Valley Trees.
We’d couldn’t have done any of this without you and are now on the case to make sure that the space continues to offer a safe, supported environment for years to come for children with disabilities throughout the region.
This year, our chosen community charity is Hop, Skip and Jump.
Providing care for children and young adults, Hop, Skip and Jump’s Bristol centre offers a variety of indoor and outdoor activities to engage children with disabilities and special educational needs. Children are able to experience a sense of space and freedom to help build self-confidence, social skills and self-esteem, while parents and carers receive some much-needed respite; time to rest, spend time with their other children, or simply go for a coffee with friends. Their simple vision is to prevent family collapse, to encourage and promote the development of children with disabilities and special needs, and, most importantly, to provide the highest quality respite care for those who need it most.
As you might imagine, funding for this vital service is limited and as such, the charity is unable to maintain the outdoor play areas as much as they’d like. Without the funds for a regular gardener, the space has become overgrown and unloved. Grasses and nettles are starting to take over, furniture and play equipment are starting to rot, and toys are rusting in the absence of storage facilities. The sensory garden and vegetable beds have also died back, while shrubs and trees have become so large that it’s difficult to keep an eye on the children whilst they’re playing.
So, we need your help!
Our team will be on site on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th August to get our hands dirty and give the garden a much-needed tidy. But we can’t do it on our own – we need volunteers to help with painting, clearing, tidying and planting. No experience required – just as much time as you can give on either (or both) of those days!
Food will be provided on both days, and we’ll be there from 8am. Even if you can manage an hour or two, we’d love to see you.
If you can’t be there on the day, you can still help. From now until the big day, we’ll be approaching local companies that might be able to provide tools, vital materials and equipment such as raised vegetable beds, paint, compost, plants and play equipment. Our wish list for Hop, Skip and Jump is large, so please do let us know if you know of any local businesses that might be able to help out.
Alternatively, any donation to the project would of course be invaluable! Not only will this help us buy vital equipment for the centre, it will also help fund a regular garden maintenance visit to make sure the kids can keep on enjoying the outside space afterwards. To donate, please visit crowdfunding.justgiving.com/HSJBristol
You can find out more at hopskipandjump.org.uk
We’re very pleased to announce this year’s winner of Showcase in conjunction with Bath Spa University.
Abby Hyder has just finished her final year in Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors at the university, specialising in printed textiles. We were hugely impressed by Abby’s subject matter, her excellent eye for colour and versatility across fabric and paper.
The team at W&L is really looking forward to working with Abby to help her achieve her career goals over the next 12 months. As well as plans for showcasing Abby’s work, we will be working with marketing and industry specialists to help nurture this huge talent.
Check in for further updates over the coming months, and you can find out more on Abby’s WordPress site.
