Gayle Warwick
Gayle Warwick fine linen is a family business which began in 1998 at Gayle?s kitchen table in her home in London with an old hand embroidered tablecloth. Inspired by the lasting quality of the craftsmanship, the linen collection began. The range consists of fabrics for bedding and dining, using an international network of artists, paying attention to detail, from the weaving of the organic yarns, to the pencil drawings that start each design, and the hand-stitching of the designs, they take the time to do it right.
The first goal is to make something beautiful, taking inspiration from art, architecture, an English country garden, the colours of Jaipur, the jewellery gallery in the V&A Museum, a brooch in a Piero della Francesca painting, they cast their net wide and many ideas come from their travels in Europe and across the world. Starting with a pencil drawing, the design process is a slow, low tech approach, producing a unique finished product.
They work closely with craftsmen to define their standards of quality and they have a global network of artisans from Vietnam, India, Italy, Thailand and Belgium. They have worked with the same embroiderers in Vietnam for 20 years and have developed custom fabrics and colours with their Italian and Thai weavers through trial and error over many years.
When the company started, organic cotton was not easily available so they wove their own percale and sateen, striving to make their items feel like grandmother's linen, very crisp but also soft. Their linen is varied, pure white from Ireland, yarn-dyed from Italy and light from Belgium. They add new shades each year and it takes time to find the best weavers, the effort making all the difference.
