ViSITINg tHe LAUra AShLEY ARchivE

As you can see from my last post (I know it was AGES ago) I love Laura Ashley. This love has is all the fault of my mother who ever since the LA company was young has loved the brand and its chintzy, Victorianna prints. This August I was lucky enough to get the chance to go and visit the Laura Ashley archive at their London headquarters. It was such a privilege as it is a private archive and special permission had to be asked for my visit. I arrived at 10am and was met by the lovely current archivist who took me under her wing for the day and let me hang out in the archive which she joked was the cupboard under the stairs. It was in fact a small room under some stairs but packed full of treasures and a bit over whelming for the Laura Ashley enthusiast. I was expecting only to have a few hours max to have my nosey at the LA treats but Angela said she could give me most of the day and she spent quite a few hours talking to me about the company, the prints, Laura herself and archiving, which I have become increasingly interested in. The information and opinions she gave me were really insightful and gave me invaluable information that will be brilliant for my dissertation research. I was then allowed loose in the archive, that is apparently just starting to be collated into some sort of order now, she told me. It has taken them around 14 years to collate all the artefact's which until the archives (there is a bigger one in Wales) were set up had been stored in cardboard boxes, exposed to the elements. A lot of great stuff had to be thrown out she told me, as it was mouldy and ruined. I was then gave me tour of the system, showing me where the marketing, hand painted designs, inspirations and final prints were kept. She also showed me some of the 1st Ashley-Moutney tea towel and head scarf designs that are extremely rare and were printed by Bernard Ashley on their kitchen table, in the 1950s. I tried then to make some sense of what I wanted to see and pulled out some key things to look at but I feel I missed so much in my excitement. You could probably spend days in there being inspired by all the nic nacs. It was strange to see painted art work of designs that I actually remember from my childhood. At one point I got far too excited by the fact that I was holding in my hand the original painted design of the fabric that my old curtains had been made out of. But my favourite part was the fabric swatch cabinet! It was just full of pattern and if there is one thing I love its pattern. Hundreds of different swatches from decades of Laura Ashley prints, mostly 1970s and 1980s, when they were in their prime. It was the ultimate treasure trove for any fabric lover and I had to be dragged away to go for lunch in the company canteen. After lunch the archivist took me to meet some of the designers and took me on a tour of the CAD suits. It was great to get to chat to some members of the design team and get a feel of what it is like to work for Laura Ashley LTD today. They told me about the hectic deadlines, the headache of colour matching and the miracle that is the digital printer and I left insanely jealous of their jobs.

Visiting the Laura Ashley archive is by far one of the best experiences I have had. They were really welcoming and willing to talk about what they did and the company as a whole. All the information from I got that day from chatting to staff is far too much to fit into this post, so you'll just have to wait until I have collated it all for my dissertation. I am so glad I got the opportunity to visit this summer as it has given me so much food for thought when thinking about both my design and dissertation work for this final year. It was a once in a life time experience and one I’ll never forget. I only wish my mum, her number one fan, had been allowed to share it with me! She will just have to make do with the photos.

Here are a few!

 

LoVING LAuRA AShleY

Over the last few weeks I have rekindled my love for Laura Ashley. I have been firing facts I have learned about Laura at everyone and about how she built up her business, from printing tea towels in the kitchen of her small flat to an international retail empire. I have begun reading the biography 'A Life By Design' by Anne Sebba, which gives us an insight into the woman behind the brand. 

 I didn't know until recently that neither Laura nor her husband Bernard were originally designers. Before her children were born Laura was a secretary in the handicrafts department at the headquarters of the National Federation of Women's Institutes, where she fitted right in, indulging her love of knitting and dressmaking at every opportunity. It was joked that the WI woman was Laura's alter ego, she regularly attended courses and workshops and her eyes were opened to the art of patch work by an exhibition at the V&A. It was around this time that her husband Bernard (who worked for the Investment trust) got on board and together they built their 1st silk screen so Laura could print fabrics for her quilts. In the early days it was really Bernard who learnt all about printing and eagerly put it into practice producing simple, graphic head scarfs and table mats. The scarfs became such a success because of the subsequent release of the film "Roman Holiday", which sported chic Italian girls wearing head scarfs with style. Laura took their wares to John Lewis on Oxford street who agreed to stock them. Within hours they had sold out. This was the beginning of the Laura Ashley story!

After this Laura took a back seat to bring up their young children and Bernard built up the printing business. A point that I found particularly interesting was that when Bernard began printing Victorian inspired tea towels he thought that this domestic product should have a woman's signature on it. "Thus was his fate sealed. On some of the towels a printed copy of Laura Ashley's signature even formed part of the design." The Laura Ashley brand was born!

The process of how a normal woman called Laura became "Laura Ashley" the brand and global chain that defined a generation, is really informative when doing research for my Design In the Market Module. For my make believe business plan I intend to set up a textiles brand along the same lines Laura Ashley and more recently Cath Kidston. They both epitomise their business, personify their product and have created a lifestyle. I think creating a lifestyle to aspire to as well as a unique product is a lot to do with their success. Also a canny knowledge of trend forecasting and sticking to their niche and unique selling point, something that I need to establish so as not to become just another chintzy textile brand. I need something new, unique and brave. This is what Laura Ashley wanted to achieve and did achieve when she began her journey in 1953! 

I think the book "A Life By Design" will continue to be helpful to my module research.