Susie Hetherington

As a graphic designer by trade, I always had an interest in repeat patterns... they occasionally crept into the day job when designing a brand identity or packaging concept. As a keen illustrator, detail and decoration have been recurring themes throughout my career, and flora and fauna has been a constant source of inspiration. However, it took the change of pace to life, brought about by having children and spending more time away from the screen, to discover what I wanted to do with these interests.

From newly-filled sketchbooks I soon progressed to block printing, on a steep but exciting learning curve that got me well and truly hooked. I now constantly gather inspiration from the stunning landscape I live in, and gradually distill what I come across into hand-drawn patterns, which I then will often carve into lino, then print onto fabric. 

In 2015 I took five of my designs to a UK based digital printer in order to develop a print-to-order collection in unlimited meterage, and launched my debut 'Littleworth' collection, all based on my original handprinted designs.

In September 2016 I followed on with the 'Curiosity' Collection; five new designs; two from my original lino blocks and three from my hand drawn sketches. My work continues to celebrate the little details of the natural world, and these collections take you on my journey of observation as I go about day-to-day life.

My designs live and breathe in a world shared with three small children... so life can be a little crazy and my work has to be fluent and flexible. But please bear with me as I am also very committed to good service. And if a toddler helped decide a final colourway, who are we to argue? They can be very decisive!

Most of the fabrics in my collection are inspired by the nature just beyond my doorstep, as I'm very lucky that doorstep is in the heart of the Cotswolds. Slap bang in the middle of National Trust common land, with views to die for and cows grazing freely, it is a remarkable place to live. I can find inspiration in every season and at every scale; from vast woodland to the formation of a leaf... so walks with me can be very stop/start, as I gather photos as I go. 

I draw directly from nature, (or more often, from photos I take of nature on my phone)... sketching the little details that have caught my eye. Sometimes bits and pieces from my sketchbooks end up on screen, where I play around with how they might repeat, but mostly I do things the old fashioned way; cutting my sketches up into tiles and rearranging their sequence to form the repeat.