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!