Artist Info
Wallace Sewell
Wallace Sewell
UK based British design studio, Wallace Sewell, was established by Harriet Wallace-Jones and Emma Sewell after graduating from both Central Saint Martins (1988) and The Royal College of Art in 1990. Their diverse portfolio includes scarves for the Tate museums as well as moquette fabric designs for Transport for London’s underground seating.
When exhibiting for the first time in 1992, their pieces created much enthusiasm and interest, particularly from Barney’s, New York, who placed an order for scarves. This proved instrumental in kick starting the Wallace Sewell brand. Barneys are still buying today and Wallace Sewell now supply over 200 stockists in 20 countries. They have worked with various boutique hotels, designing and producing bespoke bedspreads and more recently have been invited to be guest designers for an international retail brand. Working from their studio in London and their Dorset outpost, this progressive design duo pioneers excellence and originality within their woven products.
Combining innovation with practical solutions, Wallace Sewell is known for their use of colour, structure and yarn in surprising geometric formats. Inspired by paintings, they create individual contemporary fabrics with strikingly bold, asymmetric blocks and stripes of varying scales, which bring together a plethora of elements within one piece.
Strongly influenced by the Bauhaus for its aesthetic and design ideology, Wallace Sewell strives to unite craft and manufacturing, embracing traditional techniques.
The initial design process begins on handlooms in the London and Dorset studios. Production then takes place in a family run mill, fusing tradition with state of the art technology, allowing flexibility in order to weave a variety of qualities from small batches to larger quantities. Fabric is then washed and pressed at the finishers to give the cloth a luxurious handle. Since Wallace Sewell’s launch, Emma and Harriet are proud to have always worked in the UK, embracing the British Textile Industry for its wealth of expertise and production excellence.
