Home
I love being at home. It was here, after a 20-year London-based career in kitten heels, high heels and handbags that I found the inspiration to launch my new collection Olivia Morris At Home. Here, I am surrounded by the things I love and this inspires me from day to day: colour, texture, paintings, photographs, books, treasures I’ve collected along the way with my husband and memories.
My home is my sanctuary and it multi-tasks as much as I do: raising the family, working from my home studio, socialising with friends and cocooning. The collection was conceived through necessity: the need for chic comfortable house shoes to cover all the above.
There’s a personal influence from my surroundings, the (Calamine) pink of my kitchen and living room inspired my branding. My first collection is abundant in interior-inspired details, frills and printed textiles, many vintage—from English chintz to mid-century Swedish, an obsession that started with a trip to Svensk Tenn in Stockholm, and a shipment of studio wallpaper that followed!
I think of my space and my collection as curated mix and match and our home is a playful combination of pieces, from turn-of-the-century, mid-century and modern details and this directly informs my creativity and helps me to look to the past for inspiration but appeal to a modern-day woman at home.
Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside
I live in St. Leonards-on-Sea. Our house is perched on top of a steep incline, so whether it’s a morning coffee in our window-seat at dawn or a cocktail on the balcony at dusk, I never tire of the sea view.
There’s a nostalgia to the down-at-heel glory of Hastings and St. Leonards that I adore: the seafront with its bingo halls and arcades, neon funfairs, trips on swan-shaped pedalos...
There’s been such a change in fortune to the town over the last 12 years. There’s now an abundance of excellent restaurants, antique furniture dealers (Sideshow Interiors, LCT Home, and The French Depot are some of my favourites) and independent boutiques including my favourite, Pearl & Queenie, which has an exquisite selection of vintage kimonos.
This renewed optimism for the town has attracted artists and designers, who have flocked here to take advantage of the fresh air and eclectic lifestyle. There’s now an incredible pool of female creative talent with whom I collaborate. I love to work locally.
Great Dixter House & Gardens
I’ve enjoyed a decade-long love affair with the very special gardens of Great Dixter, the home of the inspirational gardener and gardening writer Christopher Lloyd (1921–2006). Weekly educational trips with my children have allowed me access to the gardens through the seasons and to see the ever-changing landscape: the Long Border, the Sunken Garden, The Meadow
Friendships have been formed there: I met my talented friend Caroline, founder of Scribble and Daub, who’s scribbled beautiful illustrations of my collection. And garden designer Marc O’Neil, who has now designed our sloping seaside garden at home.
I don’t profess to know many Latin names, but I adore flowers, their form and their colour palette, and every piece in my collection is named after my favourite variety: daphne, blossom, poppy and lupin to name a few.
Scribble & Daub’s sketch of Olivia Morris’ Daphne House Mules
The V&A
The V&A has been a constant creative inspiration for me, which I have returned to from childhood and throughout my career. First visited as a child and then as a school girl, it has proved to me that to understand the future you must first be inspired by the past.
I constantly return to the Jewellery and Ceramics gallery, and the current Kimono Exhibition will be added to my list of favourite visits, a list that also includes the boldly curated Mary Quant (2019) and the stunning Vivienne Westwood (2004) exhibitions.
Further to these visits, I am about to study their archives for research into the history of House Shoes and Slippers to inform my product and tell a story to my clients. Maybe I’ll get a glimpse of my previous shoe life—my Olivia Morris Tattoo Boots are housed in the fashion archive.
The Link LonkOctober 16, 2020 at 06:44PM
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Olivia Morris Shares Her Inspirations - Vanity Fair
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High Heels
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