Last week, on a gloriously sunny London morning, we were treated to a fascinating talk by the founder and designer of Nine Muses Textiles, Tigger Hall.

Coming all the way from Sydney, Tigger visited the Fabric Collective Showroom to present her new fabric designs ahead of London Design Week, mesmerising the audience with stories about the inspiration behind her collection and the process by which she takes the designs from inspiration to finished product. 

For those unlucky enough to have missed it, we’ve compiled some gems from Tigger’s talks here.

From Botanical Paintings to Botanical Fabric Designs 

When moving house, Tigger stumbled upon a folio of botanical paintings that she completed a long time ago - some as long as twenty years ago! Falling in love with them all over again, she decided to turn the paintings into fabric designs. Experimenting with colours, repeats and scale, Tigger developed the paintings, transforming them into designs that celebrate the beauty of the natural world and that enable people to bring this beauty into their interior spaces. 

Finding The Perfect Printing Process 

When deciding on materials and a printing process for the manufacturing of the Nine Muses Textiles designs, it was crucial to Tigger that the painterly look of the original artworks was translated in the printing. After some trial and error, Tigger decided on a digital printing process, using a Japanese printing machine that uses steaming as part of the process, a technique that helps the natural inks to really sink into the gorgeous Libeco linen – the perfect canvas for these designs. It is because of this carefully chosen printing technique, that the unique hand details and brushstrokes are maintained in the final designs – some of which even feature the original pencil lines!

Global Influences & Inspiration

From India and Istanbul to Burma and Japan, there is hardly a corner of the globe that Tigger has not found inspiration for her designs. Listening to Tigger talk about her inspirations is like taking a journey around the world – and the first stop was Istanbul. An important place of inspiration for this collection, Tigger told us about her love for Istanbul and specifically, a treasure that she found on one of her trips there: a sample book. Dating back to the 1880s, the small exercise book was filled with little fabric swatches – all of which were extraordinary in just how modern they were. These designs became an inspiration for many of the fabrics in Tigger’s collection.

Another stop on Tigger’s journey of inspiration was the V&A in London where she found herself inspired by the sleeves of one of the Japanese kimonos on display at the exhibition. The sleeves were crafted using the Boro technique which involves fabrics being patched and stitched together to extend their life cycle.

If you want to read more about Tigger’s design process and the inspiration behind her collection, click here to read her Designer Diaries interview.