{"id":6176,"date":"2025-07-29T07:40:28","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T07:40:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vanessaarbuthnott.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6176"},"modified":"2025-07-29T07:40:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T07:40:28","slug":"the-story-behind-our-latest-wild-garden-fabric-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanessaarbuthnott.co.uk\/blog\/the-story-behind-our-latest-wild-garden-fabric-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story Behind Our Latest Wild Garden Fabric Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Looking to spruce up your space with the addition of some colourful floral-inspired textiles? Our <\/span>Wild Garden fabric collection<\/span><\/a> is a joyful celebration of nature\u2019s quiet abundance, inviting you to bring the delicate beauty of native wildflowers and pollinator-friendly plants into your home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s blog, we\u2019re delighted to share the inspiration and creative journey behind our collection, along with some thoughtful styling tips to help you make the most of these contemporary botanical print fabrics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Inspired by a walk in the wild<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Our whimsical Wild Garden fabric collection draws inspiration from Britain\u2019s untamed flora. Vanessa has always had a deep love of nature, and was inspired to create the collection following a walk with her young grandson. During this walk, they spotted the first honeybees of the season who were searching for nectar from a hawthorn blossom. \u201cThese are moments of amazement and wonder that I\u2019ve tried to capture in my four new designs: Sunflower, Fine, Foliage, Berries & Leaves, and Dotty Check,\u201d Vanessa explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each print in the collection gives a gentle nod to wildlife and the importance of biodiversity, depicting plants that offer food for birds, nectar for bees and butterflies, and shelter for small creatures. More on that below\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

From sketch to screen<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Vanessa took a very hands-on approach when designing this collection. She stepped away from the office and into her home studio (really a table in her sitting room!), where her inspiration came to life with scissors, lino blocks, potatoes, and whatever other materials she could get her hands on. The design element for this collection took around two months, followed by another month of scanning the artwork into the computer, adjusting scale and repeats, and preparing the final files for silk screen making.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Fine Foliage, one of the standout botanical print fabrics in the collection, Vanessa gathered ferns, bracken, hornbeam, and wild grasses on a walk around Coniston Water in Cumbria. Rather than sketching them, she pressed and scanned them directly into a computer to create an ethereal, large-scale repeat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sunflower and Sunflower Detail designs were based on a Victorian ceramic tile depicting these cheerful blooms and created using lino cuts. Meanwhile, Dotty Check is inspired by Vanessa\u2019s daughter Rose\u2019s gouache grid paintings. As Rose recalls: \u201cI would paint checks for days on end, exploring the limitless possibilities of colour combinations. And then Mum proposed turning one of these checks into a fabric!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A closer look at the designs and colourways<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Our Wild Garden fabric collection consists of four distinctive designs in a total of 24 colourways. The collection centres on the following colours:<\/span><\/p>\n