Textiles at The Shop Floor Project: Samantha Allen, Bonbi Forest, Holly Berry, Angela Thurston and Emily Mackey

A visit to The Shop Floor Project: no winter holiday (this is the moment when you imgine that it is snowing, rather than the constant rain and / or high wind) is complete without a visit to my favourite store, to see new designer-makers peices. They have some fabulous textiles in stock:

These are gorgeousLSamantha Allan silk printed cushions, seaweed intertwinned with beach finds, cassette tape (how very C20th) and fishing line

scarves by Bonbi Forest - these are new since I last visited. They are 100% viscose, printed with environmentally friendly inks. Beautiful designs - pictured here are the horses and birds designs

woven cashmere and merino Holly Berry shawl and printed wool scarves from Angela Thurston

 

And cushions by Emily Mackey

The Shop Floor Project - bags by Swarm

One of my most favourite destinations for a spree is The Shop Floor Project in Ulverston - last blogged about here. Denise and Samantha Allan have a fine selection of unique and special pieces by designer-makers, mainly from Britain, some from lands afar. The most recent addition to their carefully curated collection are bags from Swarm, an Amsterdam-based designer-maker who takes vintage oil paintings from flea markets and turns them into bags. While it's unlikely that you'll be lucky enough to snag an undiscovered Van Gogh, you can be assured of having a bag that is one of a kind and a piece of wearable art. This is eco-fashion at its finest.

The bags have shopper-style handles, and a removable long strap to go cross-body when you need both hands free for other things. I have long prattled on about the importance of having both types of handles to any bag designer who will listen - if you care about this sort of thing as much as I do, check out handbags designed by Mimi as she 

Bag by Swarm - made from vintage oil paintings from Dutch and Belgian flea markets. You can read more about Swarm here.

More Swarm bag-art - with Holly Berry Morse Code cashmere love blanket above left, and Emily Mackey cushion

A few other goodies: digitally printed scarves by Angela Thurston

clutch bags by Dolapo James

Treasures from The Shop Floor Project

An Easter weekend spree to The Shop Floor Project to take a look at some of their treasures and to have a chat with Sam who, along with Denise, has created one of the finest selections of good things by British designer-makers that I have come across.

Textiles - scarves by Angela Thurston

 Textiles - aprons by Original Little Bird

 Textiles - cushions by Maxemilia

 Textiles - wraps and shawls by De Mont & Wright Studios

 Textiles - cushions by Tamasyn Gambell

 Textiles - birds by Abigail Brown

 Textiles - cushions by Selvage and Maxemilia

 Textiles - Selvage fairisle shawl

 Ceramics - by Fliff Carr

Screen printed poster - Alice Pattullo