+34FOXFORD Design Consultant Helen McAlinden shares with us the design process, inspiration, and her favourite collections.
Having spent the past two decades working as design consultant with FOXFORD, textile designer Helen McAlinden works to keep the contemporary lifestyle brand’s centuries-old heritage intact in every stitch.
She shares with us the intricate design process, from sources of inspiration to the culmination of her favourite collections.mill sits on the banks of the River Moy in Mayo, Ireland. In collaboration with the community and creative partners, the team have been manufacturing the finest wool throws and blankets for over 130 years, as well as sourcing the highest quality bed linen, homeware, food and a selection of clothing from suppliers and designers.
Twenty years ago, textile designer Helen McAlinden was recommended by Enterprise Ireland to FOXFORD’s managing director Joe Queenan to help develop product ranges.
“FOXFORD is one of the oldest working mills in the country with a fantastic history in producing woven products,” Helen tells us. “The collaboration has worked brilliantly. ” Helen was given the opportunity to introduce a new product area at FOXFORD: bedlinen. A natural progression from the throws and blankets that FOXFORD were renowned for, the range has become a beloved staple of many Irish homes for its high quality, beautiful designs and durability.
When it comes to approaching the beginning stages of designing a collection, for Helen, everything starts with colour.
“Once the colour has been chosen, this dictates the design,” she says. “From there I develop mood boards for different stories within the collection. ” The softest bedlinen made with the finest materials, FOXFORD’s latest collection features new patterns that can be mixed and matched with styles from previous years. The subtlety of this season’s new Maeve, Poppy and Willow designs work wonderfully with the contemporary cottage core aesthetic.
“Nacre Linen is my favourite,” Helen tells us. “I absolutely love the colour and it suits my own personal minimalist style. ” “At the heart of this collection is the continued exploration of linen, one of the world’s most sustainable products,” Helen elaborates.
“One of our new designs is a blend of 50% linen and 50% Tencel in a beautiful warm ochre stripe which has architectural simplicity. We have also introduced a plain Nacre 100% linen, a washed fabric which is softer for sleeping. These products are simple, subtle designs which are luxurious and timeless.
” In their exploration of the use of natural linen more, Helen opted for washed linen or the new mixed Tencel product, which is softer and enhances the quality without compromising its sustainable credentials.
“With regard to cotton, we only use high-quality combed cotton, which we select from established manufacturers in Portugal,” she says. “There is often a lot of emphasis on thread count, but the quality of the cotton used is more important than the thread count.
” Working closely with the weavers at FOXFORD to see what designs will work in wool in order to complement the bedlinen, the team take inspiration from existing FOXFORD pieces in order to build collections where pieces will work together over the years.
“Bedlinen is generally in more subtle, muted colours, so with the woven products we can be bolder and introduce stronger accents to brighten up the bedroom or living room. ” Helen describes bedlinen as a wardrobe for your bed.
“We want customers to build up a quality collection over the years where they can mix and match products from different seasons. ” Working with a FOXFORD palette to ensure pieces complement each other, change is gradual.
“If we introduce a new colour, we may drop another older one, and the designs and colours will gradually develop together over the years, keeping them cohesive. ” A very exciting recent step for FOXFORD has been the addition of their matching sleepwear collection, which was a natural progression for the lifestyle brand.
“We wanted to create more products from the same quality fabric that we were using for the bedlinen,” Helen says. “Customers demand better sleepwear and loungewear now, so it’s great to be able to provide them with the same high-quality fabric as the bedlinen. ”
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