The launch of our very first collection!
How time flies!
It has been nearly 2 months since we launched our first collection at the beautiful Black Swan Studios, in collaboration with the abstract painter Sarah Jane Allen.
We are in full Christmas prep mode at the studio (is it too early to mention the dreaded C word ...?) so taking a welcome break to look back on a fantastic event, where I met so many new clients, made new friends and celebrated with many old ones. (See a very pleased, very tired and probably a little bit tipsy me in the picture above!)
I met Sarah-Jane the first time I had a stand at Flea at Vinegar Yard, a little artisan and antique market just beneath The Shard. A true modern multi-hyphenate creative, interior designer by day and abstract painter by night, she was working with the owner of the beautiful listed building, designing the interiors for a future private member club.
She was planning her first exhibition, Atelomania, to showcase her textural paintings and making the most of the vast exhibition space before the building work got properly underway. The interior designer in her fell in love with my colourful textile designs (her words, not mine!) and she asked if I wanted to collaborate with her.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first saw the space - a vast white exhibition area that most artists could only dream of, with a bar, courtyard, all nestled behind one of my favourite places in the world - the bright orange and pink Fashion and Textile Museum on Bermondsey street in South East London.
After a length set-up with the inevitable few accidental setbacks (the walls were taking down halfway through setting up to sort out and electrical issue), and receiving several large crates of wine, it was party time!
It was such a joy to curate a real physical space, filling it with all my colourful cushions, bold art prints and tropical accessories.
I got to play around with a large area with a sunken ceiling, creating the first Leila Vibert-Stokes apartment, recreating the collection photoshoot I had done back in June. Deep blue walls, those wonderful turquoise chairs, plants, prints and much more all set up as an explosion of colourful tropical joy! Having shot the collection in my small studio it was such a treat to have such a large space to play with, an actual room to style how I wanted with more room than I knew what to do with…
Thank you so much to everyone who made this event so special.
