JR Artisan Spotlight

Caroline Inchyra

Founder and Creative Director

 

 

Describe your work in 5 words or less:

 Archive-inspired printed linens

 

What inspires you?

Happily, I have never had a problem in knowing what’s coming next.  I don’t think about it too much and then suddenly something will leap out at me.  It’s often a chance find.  I have worked up designs from old woven tablecloths to scraps from antique patchworks to old pieces of china and, of course, my antique fabric collection.  I’ve been collecting textiles for as long as I can remember and these documents make their way into the collection when the moment is right.

 

 

How did you get your start in the industry:

Like many creative endeavours it was completely by accident. I happened to meet the owner of the last commercial linen mill in Scotland at a dinner and mentioned that I would love to produce new ‘old’ linens.  I’ve always adored the look and feel of old linens – the handle is so soft and the depth of colour that comes about through the dye being pushed into the weave with use – but of course, they are not as strong as a new fabric, so I wanted to try and replicate the look and feel of old linen but with the strength of new.  Angus pointed me in a few directions and it turned out to be the beginning of quite a mission and a massive learning curve.  It took years to really hone our system, but it was worth persevering, and I am so proud of the beautiful linens that we now produce.  

 

 

 

Describe your studio/workspace:

My personal workspace is slightly chaotic – I constantly mean to have a studio that is immaculate but it seems that just isn’t me!   I’m surrounded by cork boards covered in scraps of fabric and photographs.  I can’t show you the boards right now as they are covered in things that might make it into the next collection – we work pretty much a year in advance so, having just launched the new Briar Collection, we’re now starting to pull things together for the next launch. Inchyra operates from the lower ground floor of our house – it’s wonderful having such a short commute but the other side of that is that it can be quite difficult to leave work behind. 

Because we print to order we don’t have huge storage issues and my hope is that we will be able to run from home for some time yet.  While it is organised chaos on the design side, I am obsessed with systems on the production side and, over the years, we have developed a very tight and efficient production system which means that we know at any one time exactly where every piece of fabric is down to the last few inches.

 

 

What’s makes your brand stand out from the rest:

I think it is the quality of the fabrics and the aesthetic – I am constantly hearing how wonderful our linens are to work with which is very gratifying.  And on the aesthetic side, if people like what I like they will love the collection.  I think my look is what I would call ‘relaxed traditional’: traditionally based but with a colour palette that brings it up to date and a softness and relaxed feel that comes from the pure linen. 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you experimenting with any new techniques, mediums, colors, or aesthetics?

I don’t intentionally move in any particular direction.  Something has to appeal to me and also work well within the existing collection.  I generally try and picture a specific room when I’m designing a collection – this year’s Briar Collection for example was designed with an attic bedroom in mind.  One thing I do love doing is taking a woven or embroidered design and translating it into a print – it has been very satisfying doing this.  Beauclerc Stripe and Wherwell are two of these and I have another in mind for the next collection.