I’m not sure where exactly I first stumbled across Susie Watson Designs, but the more I see their products and understand them the more I love them! Susie Watson Designs creates and sells all sorts of amazing homeware products from pottery to furniture, paints to fabrics and an array of other things. Its all beautiful but what I particularly love are her fabrics which are all handmade in India. The attention to detail is astonishing and once you understand that all of the embroidery is stitched by human rather than on a big industrial machine and all the patterns are lovingly screen-printed by hand it makes you realise what a piece of art every item is.

They are beautiful and relaxed and all just a teeny bit different as is the nature of handmade products. The hand stitching on the cushions could almost be framed and hung on the wall. Sequins are glued by hand to wall hangings and the trimmings that can be added to curtains and cushions are simply delicious!

Having attended a talk by Susie Watson herself recently in the Arlesford store it was interesting to learn that her early years started in an art gallery. Where she learnt to appreciate that art could be incorporated in a more varied way than just hanging it on the wall. Her pottery and candles together with table clothes can create a centre piece for our daily ritual at the dinner table and her fabrics, cushions, paints and wallpapers create a palette for the way we live our daily lives within our homes!

She tends to create her designs mostly when she is in India (fabrics) or Sri Lanka (pottery) at the studios, working alongside a team of incredibly talented artists that have in many cases had to bring back old traditions within their craft to be able to produce the designs that Susie creates. This is a company that regards fair-trade with the utmost importance ensuring that products are produced at a price which is considered to be fair to both the manufacturers and their customers. Susie looks to nature for her inspiration and more recently her designs reflect how India & Sri Lanka have influenced her with bolder colours.

I think I am so fortunate to have grown up in the countryside in Cornwall. The fresh air, the rolling hills, the changing seasons in the UK are magical, and although I have now done my fair share of city living I’m always drawn back to the countryside. It is relaxing, restores the soul and nourishes the heart. Whether I’m in the country for a day or a week I find it refreshing. I am so lucky that my family home is still in Cornwall so I can escape and relax whenever I have a chance or have a free moment (which of course is never enough).

And so it is that my taste for interiors can be wide and varied, what I think is stunning in a city home may not work at all for a house in the country and vice versa. A Victorian house won’t necessarily suit what would work in a seaside cottage. Thank goodness we have such an array and style of fabrics and home furnishings to choose from.

I have recently found out that I will soon have a new project in Salcombe to work on. A property that has totally deteriorated over the years and now needs an awful lot of structural work to be done on it. It is very exciting and I can’t wait to get cracking and although designing the interiors are still a long way off it makes me excited and relishing the prospect of how this house will look.

With a view looking out to the countryside I know I will need to incorporate all what I think about when I think of home, the green of the rolling hills, the blues of the sea, the earthy tones of the sloshy mud on my wellies and all of the gorgeous earthy tones in-between. I instantly know who I will turn to for inspiration and fabrics and that is Susie Watson Design.

Her collections would be perfect for the Salcombe house and as luck should have it she has a shop in Salcombe too! I look forward to using some of her classic, calming designs within this interior and also delving into her gorgeous children collection for the kids room. So you might have to wait a while but watch this space to see how the Salcombe house turns out!

Please check out Susie Watson Designs products at www.susiewatsondesigns.co.uk, I hope you like them as much as I do.

photo credits: Susie Watson Designs & Anna Wilson