A geometric design taken from a small watercolour study found within Gertrude Jekyll’s sketchbook. Though better known for her botanically-inspired paintings, this little tessellating pattern indicates the breadth of Jekyll’s fascination with design. The date of the original is unknown but falls within the period 1866 -1911. This design works beautifully on its own as an upholstery fabric, or as a foil to one of the other Jekyll designs in this collection. Available in 10 colourways, on a natural toned ground.
RHS 2023
In partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
Our second fabric collection created in partnership with the RHS draws once again on the archives of the RHS Lindley Collections. This time, our inspiration focuses on two women artists in the field of horticulture, Gertrude Jekyll and Caroline Maria Applebee, celebrating the enduring appeal of their artistic achievements.
Caroline Maria Applebee Collage
Printed in Lancashire on a viscose linen union.
Created from a series of watercolour studies of British native and other exotic plants by botanical artist Caroline Maria Applebee, who was born c.1787. The daughter of an Essex rector and a graduate of St John’s College Oxford, Applebee lived most of her life in Colchester where she was a prominent member of the local Horticultural Society. She died in 1854, leaving three books of flower paintings to her niece. The RHS bought more than 300 of Applebee’s drawings, the earliest dated 1808 and the last from 1852: a collection which represents a fascinating fragment of social and horticultural history.
Gertrude Jekyll Trailing Vine
Printed in Lancashire on a viscose linen union.
A floral design for wallpaper is the inspiration for this patterned fabric. Painted in watercolour by Jekyll in 1875, the charming trailing vine pattern has a fresh feel and a soft elegance which translates superbly well to fabric. The fluid design creates an almost stripe-like pattern down the fabric length. It has echoes of the Arts and Crafts movement, with which Jekyll had close ties. A monotone print, available in 10 colourways, on a natural toned ground. From Gertrude Jekyll, ‘Designs for Carving' scrapbook.
Gertrude Jekyll Small Trailing Vine
Printed in Lancashire on a viscose linen union.
A companion to the larger trailing vine design, and based on the same wallpaper pattern painted by Jekyll in 1875. This version plays with scale, creating a more diminutive design and reverses the print of the original. The same 10 beautiful colours are chosen to ground the print, revealing the design in the natural tone of the base cloth.
"A seed grows to the enduring happiness that the love of gardening gives."
Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll Ornamental
Printed in Lancashire on a viscose linen union.
A simple sketch by Gertrude Jekyll of a decorative architectural detail featuring Rococo busts and swags, lodged within the scrapbook and dated 1866, forms the basis of this sweeping design. The original graphite pencil tracing has been mirrored and repeated across the fabric, and colourised in a manner reminiscent of a watercolour painting, in one of 10 hues on a natural linen base. The resulting design has a romantic feel, not unlike a Toile de Jouy.
Gertrude Jekyll Meadow Flower
Printed in Lancashire on a viscose linen union.
A charming botanical design, reminiscent of a cornflower. One of two fabric designs based on an undated ink drawing of a plant from Gertrude Jekyll’s ‘Designs for Carvings’ scrapbook held within the RHS Lindley Collections. Jekyll’s graphical line drawing has been used simply but effectively in the manner of a woodblock print, creating a monotone repeating pattern across the natural toned base cloth. Available in 10 colourways.
Gertrude Jekyll Meadow Flower Reversed
Printed in Lancashire on a viscose linen union.
A charming botanical design, reminiscent of a cornflower, the second fabric created from Gertrude Jekyll’s ink drawing of a meadow plant is a reverse of the first. The design is revealed in the natural tone of the base cloth, against a printed coloured background. Available in 10 colourways.
Gertrude Jekyll Folklore
Printed in Lancashire on a viscose linen union.
Created from a design for a wallpaper pattern, found within Jekyll’s sketchbook, featuring tiny representations of mythical beasts. Akin to the Arts and Crafts style of pattern design, with which she was associated, the repeating design is playful and mercurial. Tumbling shapes nimbly traverse the fabric, with tiny details of the fantastical creatures emerging the closer you look. Monotone, in a palette of 10 colourways, with the design revealed against a coloured ground. The exact date of the composition is unknown.
A gardener's tale
An interview with Annabel Watts.
We recently had the opportunity to visit Munstead Wood, the former home of one of Britain's heroines of horticulture, Gertrude Jekyll and the designer-gardener at the heart of our second collaborative collection with the RHS.
We spoke with head gardener, Annabel Watts, about the woman who originally created this remarkable place and how Gertrude Jekyll continues to inspire lovers of gardens and culture alike.
® The Royal Horticultural Society. Trade marks of The Royal Horticultural Society (Registered Charity No 222879/SC038262)
used under licence from RHS Enterprises Limited.
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