A Grounding in Craft

I graduated from Chelsea College of Art and joined Sanderson, one of Britain's most venerable fabric houses, where I was given a thorough grounding in traditional design methods — hand-drawing, colourway building, the patient discipline of repeat — while also learning the emerging CAD techniques that were just beginning to transform the industry. That combination, of respecting the old ways while embracing new tools, has shaped how I work ever since.

Morris & Co.

In 2011, alongside my role as Senior Designer at Sanderson, I was appointed Head Designer of Morris & Co., reinterpreting and updating some of William Morris's most famous designs, as well as creating new work inspired by his legacy.

"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. 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."

Over the years I've also produced many of Sanderson's best-selling designs, and as a freelance designer I've created fabrics and wallpapers for Zoffany, Cole & Son, Schumacher and GP & J Baker, as well as developing textiles for House & Garden Top 100 interior designers Salvesen Graham.

A Collection of My Own

With that history and experience behind me, I made the decision to produce my own collection — reworking centuries-old, globally inspired designs that I consider the most usable and essential, while giving them a subtly 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. Symbolically, these designs reflect the importance of integrating different societies and cultures — very much in the spirit of William Morris."

Rooted in Nature

I grew up in the countryside, surrounded by beautiful gardens and a veritable menagerie of pets and farm animals, and that love and knowledge of nature runs through my meticulously drawn, botanical-style designs. I'm equally at home, though, with a highly textured, painterly technique — and I love moving between the two.

A Family Collaboration

With advice from my interior designer brother, Toby Alleyne-Gee of Phoebus Interiors, I've put together a series of attractively coordinated designs across a range of scales and patterns, built to work equally well used individually or together.

Craftsmanship in Every Thread

The collection includes 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; and two large-scale Indian palampore motifs. Every design is available as both fabric and wallpaper, and every one can be custom coloured to suit your project.

I'm always happy to work to commission, providing unique, bespoke designs for interior designers and fabric companies alike.

The Story Behind My Logo

The logo you see across my collection is a design I created from the motifs of my own pargetting — the traditional English craft of decorative plasterwork once used to embellish the timber-framed houses of East Anglia and the Home Counties. I worked a resting stag, surrounded by medieval, stylised plant motifs, freehand into the wet lime render.

It took days of patient, freehand modelling — building up the plaster in layers, coaxing the antlers and leaves out of the surface a little at a time, with no room to undo a mark once it was made. It is, in many ways, exactly the same discipline that goes into every fabric repeat and colourway I design: slow, careful, done by hand, and better for it.

"I wanted my logo to be more than a pretty motif. It's drawn from a piece of my own home, made with the same patience and craftsmanship I put into everything I design — a reminder that beauty, whether in a wall or a length of cloth, is worth taking the time to do properly."

I chose a stag at rest, rather than in flight, quite deliberately. Surrounded by its stylised plants, undisturbed and at peace, it's exactly how I want a home to feel — and everything this collection is about: a love of nature, a respect for traditional craft, and a belief that a well-made home, from its plasterwork to its curtains, is one of life's great pleasures.