Oscar Wilde once said, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery".
20 years ago, when our founder first designed our signature bed linen, there was no other bed linen on the market using grosgrain ribbon trim.
Since then, its popularity may have grown, and we've been spotting some good imitations over the years, but we're proud to say we are still the original and the best.
Grosgrain ribbon isn't just used for its aesthetic purposes, it's used for a number of different purposes. Yes, it's a lovely understated way of getting some colour into your bed linen without it being too 'in your face', but it also has some other uses.
Our founder, Stephanie, took inspiration from Savile Row when first deciding to use grosgrain ribbon on her bed linen. For generations, tailors have been using it for its strengthening purposes to bind hems of jacket cuffs, pockets and collars, enjoying its durability and resistance to fraying.
A particular characteristic of grosgrain ribbon is that the thicker weft doesn't 'curl', and so exerts an even pressure when used with malleable materials such as cotton. This enables us to use meticulously neat, small stitching around our seams - an all important detail if you want your bed linen to last for years and years to come. It might take longer to make, and our seamstresses might take longer to learn how to work with it, but it's worth it. It takes a long time to learn how to neatly fold the corners of the grosgrain and still retain the same even width of ribbon along all the edges.
We lucky to work with a dedicated team in Portugal who have been making our bed linen for many years to our very high standards, and that's one of the reasons we're still the best on the market.
When she designed the signature look, Stephanie chose to use a subtle width of grosgrain, and only in a number of core neutral colours. Already working with a number of interior designers, it was clear they didn't want bright, bold patterns for their bed linen. They loved our understatedly elegant designs and colours, as they would blend beautifully into their carefully crafted bedroom designs. Alongside the knowledge that the feel of the fabrics are second to none, it's a marriage made in heaven.
We're thrilled to be working with those designers all these years later, and through word of mouth or a quick feel of a sample, we've been able to grow our client base steadily over the years.
So choose the original and the best, and enjoy your linen for years to come.