Unique homeware Artists for every Style and Taste

From metalworkers to weavers, it’s worth investing in these timeless makers.

WORDS BY ALICE HOWARTH.

There are few things more special when it comes to interiors than having something that feels totally original. Dotting your home with a few bespoke objects can add points of interest and texture – and these days, it’s never been easier to seek out unique pieces.

Instagram has democratised interiors, allowing you to search for artisans from the palm of your hand; with it has come a renaissance of traditional craft. Online boutique stores like GlassetteThe Shop Floor Project and The New Craftsmen specialise in curating homeware artists and even the high street is now collaborating with traditional makers. More than ever, there is a focus on transparency too, with designers using sustainable, environmentally conscious materials to create timeless pieces.

From metalworkers in North Wales to quilters in Kent and domino paper printers in Paris, we’ve selected our pick of the best off-beat homeware artists to invest in now.

Oeuvres Sensibles

Managing to make embroidery minimalist, Sarah Espeute is the artist behind Oeuvres Sensibles (which translates to ‘sensitive works’). Her most recognisable tablecloths are stitched with whimsical, playful place settings and instantly make you want to gather loved ones for a long evening of feasting.

Table du Jardin, starting from £900.

Cutts & Sons

Jessie Cutts, of Cutts & Sons, works by the sea in Kent and creates patched and hand-quilted artworks using recycled and natural materials. She uses ancient techniques but produces work with a contemporary aesthetic – often vibrant and beautifully graphic.

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Sunset Blocks, £1200.

Gather

Phoebe Stubbs designs and creates the majestic handblown glassware for her own brand, Gather, in her Woolwich studio. Finding inspiration in colour memories and historical glassware, her first collection was a set of tableware designed like the glass and ceramics in Dutch Still Life paintings, but rendered in the colours of gummy sweets. Her current collection, ‘Miami’, riffs off a childhood family holiday to Florida: hot and bright colours are set off with pastels and block-like shapes.

Miami Jug in Bright Orange, £280.

Peter Rowland

Often, there’s no better reason to decorate your shelf or mantlepiece with something other than because it’s beautiful. In the workshop behind his cottage in the Worcestershire countryside, craftsman and ornithologist Peter Rowland creates hundreds of replica bird eggs from rare, common and extinct species. All are hand-made and painted and are the perfect way to create a cabinet of curiosities at home.

Curlew Museum Egg with Stand, £42.

Salig Studio

A little reminiscent of Helle Mardahl’s sweet-like glass objects, Salig Studio’s lamps look good enough to eat. Made from sheer glass in a variety of fantastical yet delicate colours, they may be functional lamps but they’re certainly works of art too.

Handblown glass base and silk lampshade, starting from £1450.

Jess Wheeler

Jess Wheeler is very much on the radar of interior insiders already, and her popularity is only likely to grow. The North Wales-based creative began working with metal, producing the likes of sconces and candelabras, but has recently started using plaster, brass and bronze casting in her work. Casting objects from life (some of which are grown in her garden), she uses a range of different techniques to create her homeware, including the ‘lost-wax’ technique to make her bronze wall lights, a 6,000-year-old method of metal casting.

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Cavolo Plaster Wall Lamp, £660.

Paris chez Antoinette Poisson

Vincent Farelly and Jean-Baptiste Martin are both co-founders and artistic directors of A Paris chez Antoinette Poisson. As both have backgrounds in restoration, the company’s aesthetic draws heavily on historical influence. Originally producing 18th century-inspired domino papers, the collection has since expanded into decorative objects, fabrics and wallpapers. The latter they create using a printing method not seen since the French Revolution.

Domino Paper 30A in ‘Indienne’, £46.50.

Willow with Roots

Jenny Crisp was basket weaving for 40 years before her daughter, Issy, joined forces with her and they launched Willow with Roots. Working on bespoke commissions as well as creating products for the home, everything – from woven lampshades to trays and laundry baskets – is handmade.

White Willow Coolie Lampshade, £125.

Cloth Collective

Cloth Collective was founded by Charlotte Lawson Johnston, who trained at New York School of Interior Design before launching her first fabric collection in London. After discovering her sensitivity to synthetic dyes while creating the original fabrics, she began to use natural dyes as an alternative and Cloth Collective was born. The rich, refined fabrics are dyed from seasonal British botanicals and are used for both interiors and clothing.

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Fabric, starting £192.97 per metre.

Parvum Opus

Parvum Opus derives its name from the Latin term for a small work by an artist, and it couldn’t be more apt. Based in Birmingham, Michigan, the company was started when the founder embarked on a study of traditional bookbinding and decorative arts history and the brand’s decorative aesthetic was born. Head here for all kinds of treasures: antique convex mirrors encircled by a selection of Italian plaster intaglio; obelisks covered in marbled paper and topped with a handpainted ball finial; and brightly mosaicked trays.

Obelisk No 10, £260.

Epoch Textiles

Epoch Textiles was founded in 2019 by Sophie Reeves. A woven textile maker, Reeves uses surplus wool to create her handwoven rugs using a floor loom in her Margate studio. The designs are retro yet contemporary, and have caught the eye of Liberty London and Glassette. She takes private commissions on top of her small batch of ready-to-buy pieces.

Blue Gingham Rug, £450.

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Cloth CollectiveCloth Collective

This story first appeared on harpersbazaar.com