ABOUT ALISON GEE
Alison Gee has almost thirty years of experience in the world of textiles. After graduating from Chelsea College of Arts, she joined Sanderson, where she was given a thorough grounding in the venerable fabric house’s traditional method, while also assimilating the emerging CAD techniques.
In addition to her role as Senior Designer at Sanderson, in 2011 Alison was appointed Head Designer of Morris & Co. – a Sanderson group company – reinterpreting and updating some of Morris’s most famous works as well as creating new designs inspired by the past.
“I was very honoured to reinterpret the work of one of the world’s greatest textile designers, and I loved learning about his life, philosophy and ideals,” she says. “In 2016, I was thrilled to be invited by the Victoria and Albert Museum to give a talk about the process of updating his designs for the present. Morris continues to influence my work and inspire me to this day.” Alison has also produced many of Sanderson’s best-selling designs over the years. As a freelance designer, she has created fabrics and wallpapers for Zoffany, Cole & Son, Schumacher, and GP & J Baker, as well as developing textiles for House and Garden Top 100 interior designers Salvesen Graham.
With this historical knowledge and experience under her belt, Alison has now taken the decision to produce her own collection, reworking centuries-old, globally inspired designs that she considers the most usable and essential, while giving them a slightly contemporary twist. “Bearing in mind my belief that great respect for what every society has to offer is the way forward and can only enrich our lives, I have incorporated influences from the best of many cultures into my collection,” Alison explains. “Symbolically, then, these designs reflect the importance of integrating different societies and cultures – very much in the spirit of William Morris.”
Alison grew up in the country surrounded by beautiful gardens and a veritable menagerie of pets and farm animals, and her love and knowledge of nature are apparent in her meticulously drawn, botanical-style designs. However, she is equally at home with a highly textured, painterly technique. With advice from her interior designer brother, Toby Alleyne-Gee of Phoebus Interiors, Alison has put together a series of attractively coordinated designs in a range of scales and patterns that work equally well whether used individually or together.
These timeless classics include a Fortuny-style damask, itself inspired by the Venice of Tiepolo and Veronese; a small-scale Indian motif originally produced in the 13th century for the Egyptian market; a coordinate based on 18th-century French bookend papers; an exquisitely detailed, intricate paisley; a charmingly decorative tonal stripe; as well as two stunning, large-scale Indian palampore motifs. All designs are available as both fabrics and wallpapers, and can be custom coloured.
Alison will happily work to commission, providing unique, bespoke designs for interior designers as well as fabric companies.