It was only a matter of time before Rebecca and my attention turned towards food. A huge part of our friendship and working time together revolves around our shared love of finding new recipes and restaurants. What started off as an idea for some new products and repeat prints grew into something much more involved, a joyful look at food and in the end something I hold very closely to memories of my wonderful mother who sadly passed away last year.
The idea for for Once Upon a Feast had come from Rebecca during our walks in Wales when I visited. Rebecca could identify all of the food we could pick in the hedgerow, food I usually would have walked past. I was struck by how her children loved finding the ripe blackberries and trying greens with incredible names like hairy bittercress (its very refreshing and tasty) that we sampled on our walks. Originally we hadn't planned to create a full reversible collection and the initial artwork started off as individual drawings that we were going to use for bibs and nightwear. As I developed some initial illustrations we got more and more excited about the theme and I became quite obsessed with drawing food themed hats for the woodland creatures.
Below are some of my original drawings which would become the motifs for our new clothing, baby accessories and tableware. I took inspiration from our walks in Wales and the edible food we passed and picked as well as things like peas growing whose pods could make sweet beds for sleeping shrews. This collection worked in reverse; whereas we usually create repeat prints from the main day to night design, this collection followed on from the initial repeat prints we designed.
In our reversible muslin cloth below, once I had painted the figures sitting around the mushroom (see above) we then placed them on a nighttime blue hand painted background and included the peas in the pod motif in the corners.
The cross shape above includes edible foods such as dandelion, strawberries and elderflower. Amongst the plants you'll find doves in a shoe (I always love to incorporate a shoe when I can), a rabbit with a cup cake hat and sleeping harvest mice. The motif became the foundation of the repeat pattern for our 'Hedgerow Cross' tablecloth (below).
Feeling inspired to transform the repeat prints into a full collection, the impetus developed further to foster a deeper connection with food; whether you grew up in a rural area or a city like me (where you can pick dandelions and berries) and joining up the dots between how textiles, like food, should be able to return to the soil. I saw my role as the illustrator to try to make the joining of dots together as fun as possible, using the evocative feelings around midnight feasts as a vehicle for that. It was a process that felt full of joy and allowed me to revisit all the memories I had. As with so much of childhood it was the planning of the midnight feast, the fun of doing something mischievous but so innocent that I remembered more than anything l had eaten.
Rebecca had the great idea of making the dayside artwork an aerial trompe l'oeil view of a table set for afternoon tea, which kids could enjoy in the same way they love playing serving tea. It's interesting to think of that act as the way children mimic a grownup world and an extension of that is having the freedom to choose what they want to eat for their midnight feasts and at what time (things that are usually prescribed to them).
The table features food that you can pick here in the UK, including camomile tea, sorrel to go with your egg sandwiches and violet cakes. I wanted to give a hint of what was to come on the nighttime side so the crockery and cutlery features some of the wildlife you discover on the other side including a swan, foxes and rabbits.
The nighttime side of the design became a playground of ideas for me and I loved imagining the fantasy cakes piled high. We discussed how a midnight feast was more about the dreaming up of it then the actual feast which a) never really happened at midnight and b) was usually a cheese sandwich with some crisps or whatever you could forage in the kitchen for yourself. For me the cakes represent imagination with no limits and I included a tower of jam sandwiches as a nod to the more humble reality of most children's efforts.
After completing the design my mother has since sadly passed away and the collection for me has become connected to her in a lovely way. I had thought of drawing the chandelier made of 'Liquorice Allsorts' and sweets as an ode to her when she was still alive as she had such a sweet tooth. The daughter of a butcher brought up in Australia, she loved food (especially steak, the buttery flaky pastry of palmiers from a french patisserie and was never without a packet of polos in her handbag). She always set the most incredible tables with vintage crockery, flowers and candles lighting up her delicious food. She is the reason I love nothing more then hosting a dinner party.
As we usually name all of the characters after children, Rebecca suggested I name the beautiful sleeping Swan after Glenice my mother. I didn't draw the swan as her but she's wearing a necklace just like she would have (possibly one she made herself) and she loved nothing better than an afternoon nap. In the end it all feels like I subconsciously drew the swan as her and it will always feel like she's in that scene of happy abundance.