Image: Bed hangings and bolster cushion: Rumi – Vine by Yasmin Hayat for Soane BritainEstablished in 1997, Soane is celebrating 25 years of British craftsmanship. The company champions excellence and supports some of the finest craftsmen and makers working in the UK today.
Image: Curtains: Papyrus Stripe – Porphyry. Dining chairs: The Dryad® Rattan Apis Dining Chair. The delicate, irregular texture of this fabric recalls the nature of ancient papyrus, which was painstakingly made from soaked, pressed and burnished strips of the papyrus plant. The pale hues of the broad stripes suggest colours faded over the centuries. The colour ‘porphyry’ derives from the pinkish-red stone mined in the Egyptian desert and widely used in ancient sculpture. The Dryad® Rattan Apis Dining Chair shown here in Natural Rattan with cushions upholstered in Rumi – Gold by Yasmin Hayat for Soane Britain. Based on an original by the renowned English rattan workshop Dryad, this elegant dining chair, named for the Egyptian bull god Apis, is available in Soane’s standard rattan finishes.In 2003 Lulu Lytle, director of Soane, was searching for a UK based weaver of rattan and discovered Angraves, a family business making rattan furniture since 1912. Soane collaborated with Angraves for eight years, but unfortunately, in 2010 Angraves went into administration. Soane borrowed the money to buy the machinery and raw materials and revive the workshop. It now creates a range of its own rattan designs, adaptations of antiques and bespoke pieces for special orders.
Image: Curtains: Leopard Palm – Gold. Desk: The Dryad® Rattan Leighton Desk. Table lamp: The Argo Flexi Table Light – with Pyramid Shade. Cultivated in Egypt for millennia, the iconic form of the date palm, encased within a damask-like lattice, lies at the heart of this vivid design. The immediate inspiration was a gaufrage velvet fabric glimpsed in the ball scene from Visconti’s 1963 film The Leopard. The cotton, viscose and flax mix of the weave gives a rich shimmer to the fabric, which is suitable for upholstery, curtains or paper backed fabric walling. The Dryad® Rattan Leighton Desk, part of the Dryad Leighton collection has the same clean-lined frame as the Leighton Table, but with a top in plain timber rather than woven rattan, allowing it to function for work or study. Based on an antique original by the renowned English workshop Dryad, the table is available in Soanes’s standard rattan finishes. The Argo Flexi Table Light, a practical yet glamorous table lamp is part of the Argo lighting collection and uses twisted brass to emulate the look of rope. Useful and unobtrusive, the lamp is made by skilled Essex engineers, with a brass circular base with switch, reeded rope column and flexible arm with shade. It is offered in a choice of metal finishes and a metal or porcelain shade.Soane also has taken ownership of a Dorset chair-making workshop creating hand-made chairs by implementing traditional techniques of 18th century master chair makers.
Specialist metal workers engineer, cast and fabricate original lighting designs. An example is the Owl Lantern, which is entirely made by hand in a Sheffield workshop.
Expert cabinetmakers in Suffolk, screen printers in Kent: exceptional blacksmiths, upholsterers, weavers and masters in patination – no stone is left unturned to discover and employ craftsmen across the UK. They are, ‘The makers who make us’; skilled creators of impeccable hand-crafted furniture, lighting, fabrics and wallpapers produced in Britain.
Soane’s newly launched Egyptomania collection celebrates the ancient dynasties and more recent Egyptian culture, which has fascinated Lulu Lytle for decades. Lulu studied Egypytology and Ancient History at University College London and has an enduring passion for the architecture and design of the region.
Image: Curtains: Papyrus Stripe – Porphyry. Antique rattan daybed. The delicate, irregular texture of this fabric recalls the nature of ancient papyrus, which was painstakingly made from soaked, pressed and burnished strips of the papyrus plant. The pale hues of the broad stripes suggest colours faded over the centuries. The colour ‘porphyry’ derives from the pinkish-red stone mined in the Egyptian desert and widely used in ancient sculpture. The Antique rattan daybed, pictured middle, is upholstered in Soane’s Woven Symi – Sienna. Symi is based on an antique Greek embroidery in Lulu’s collection. Initially launched as a hand screen printed textile, the original antique has been revisited and faithfully reinterpreted as a weave. Woven using cotton, viscose and flax the design beautifully conveys the age of the original piece and its wonderful lustre.Soane’s conglomerate of skilled makers produce this new range of beautiful lighting, furniture and fabric designs, along with tiles and jesmonite appearing for the first time in the Egyptomania collection.
Image: Curtains: Rumi – Eau de Nil by Yasmin Hayat for Soane Britain. Side table: The Malik Table. Antique rattan daybed. The Malik Table has a cut-out design inspired by a motif in a 19th century Egyptian tent panel, the eight-sided ‘Malik’ table is steeped in the tradition of Islamic arts – the name means ‘king’ in Arabic. The table is available in Soane’s standard painted finishes and hand finished with a yellow gold line along the intricate cut-out edge. The Antique rattan daybed is upholstered in: Filigree Flower – Gilt – Stone Linen. The Leaves and flowers dance as if in water on this romantic print, recall the mood and imagery of Egyptian tomb paintings. Its immediate inspiration, however, was an 18th-century Ottoman sash embroidered with gilt thread, which gives the fabric its name. The ‘gilt’ colourway is designed to suggest the glimmering hues of the thread.Soane‘s commitment to the best of British manufacturing has led to a renaissance in the production of hand-crafted furniture, lighting, fabrics and wallpapers made entirely in the UK. The company is a showcase for some of the finest craftsmen: blacksmiths, cabinet-makers, saddlers, ceramicists, rattan weavers, screen-printers, upholsterers. Soane invests in its workshops and in the future of traditional crafts, and it has created an apprenticeship programme in its rattan workrooms. Every design is made in Britain.
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