July 2026
NEW YORK NEW YORK
When I last wrote I was about to fly to New York for the installation of an Inchyra display for the John Rosselli NYC showroom, in a big display window in the foyer of the D&D Building. A whirlwind 48 hours in a stultifyingly hot New York followed as we built Scotland in the middle of Manhattan - fabric headboard hills, a river of linen cascading through it. It was strange and rather lovely to see the landscape of Scotland translated in this New York lobby.
It was a fascinating time to be in the city as they geared up for a triple celebration - Taylor Swift's wedding, the 250th anniversary, and a sudden, slightly bewildered discovery that America has a football team, care of the World Cup. Nobody could quite agree which one they were more excited about.
I had time to wander after the installation. It was fabulous to visit Chelsea Textiles' beautiful new showroom. At JAMES, I found the Teyssier collection installed and looking wonderful - always a pleasure to see a friend's work land well in a room like that. Then MoMA - I always try and visit when I'm in New York - before heading on to the airport, thoroughly worn out in the best way.
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HOMING IN ON LAUNCH
Back from America, we got to grips with a bedroom - specifically our daughter Ellie's, tucked into the attic at Inchyra - which we decorated entirely in the new Labeaume collection: fabric, wallpaper and lashings of trim. It gave us the perfect reason to welcome Abbie Melle back to Inchyra. Abbie first came last year to shoot for Jenny Rose Innes's wonderful book, The Nature of Decorating, and I loved her eye so much that I asked whether she'd shoot our next collection too. She's a remarkable interiors photographer - with a huge following, unsurprising for someone with an instinct for a room that I've rarely seen matched - so having her behind the camera for us again felt like a real privilege.
It was a week of happy chaos. As always there was an inevitable scramble to finish everything in time - curtains, a half tester, chairs and dressing table all to be covered or made - and my team were extraordinary. Wonderful Alison, who I am lucky enough to have making all our curtains and soft furnishings, worked flat out to get the room ready - and I am absolutely thrilled with the results. Always amazing to see everything come together.
And my lovely PR @whatleafloves - also Alison - came up to Scotland for the week too, partly to help with the setup and partly because a second pair of eyes is invaluable - she thinks about a shot in terms of press and story in a way I simply don't, which means we come away with a far more usable set of images. Because of course there isn't just one set of pictures to think about: there are shots for the website, for the collection lookbook, for the publications we send out, for social media and for press - each with its own angle and its own audience, and all of it needing to be shot right on the same day.
I did my bit for the chaos too. At the top of a ladder on my own, tweaking the half tester at the last minute, I fell - properly fell - landing badly enough to hit my head hard and acquire a bruise on my rear the size of a side plate. I was almost certainly slightly concussed for the shoot itself, which perhaps explains why I have no memory of several key decisions that day. More speed, less haste, as they say.
We don't usually release images of new collections before they launch but I am so thrilled with the results and Abbie's beautiful photos that I'm giving you a sneak peek.
We will be sending out sampling for Labeaume to all our Tier 1 trade clients in early September. If you would like information and are not yet a trade account holder please let us know.
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ON WATER
Scotland has had its own heatwave too, though nothing like the ferocity further south. Everything here is parched and brown in a way we rarely see - but there's a strange beauty to it. The fields have turned into rolling acres of long grass, waving gold where it would usually be green, and the estate has a slightly wild, unfamiliar look to it. I keep catching myself stopping to watch it move in the wind.
A couple of weeks ago we escaped to the west coast for two days to make the most of the fabulous sun. We took the boat out for the first time since last September - which tells you everything about how busy this year has been - and took her across to Scarba, then on to Jura on the Sunday.
Getting to our favourite beach means boating through the Gulf of Corryvreckan, the third largest natural whirlpool in the world and one of the most dangerous stretches of water in Britain (here's a video if you're interested). We only go through in a low wind and slack water but it never fails to fill me with awe - there's something extraordinary about being out on water that's eddying and alive like that.
And then, on the other side of it, the beach was entirely ours - golden sand, clear turquoise sea, that flat, still light you only get on the west coast. Not another soul on it, in the middle of July. Days like that make you pinch yourself.
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JANE, JENNY & ME
My mother, Jane, was 86 last weekend. She lives with us now. Her father, my grandfather, was a rather remarkable man called Hugh Pearson-Gee. He was unbelievably creative: one of the first DJs on Radio Luxembourg, an early childrens' television presenter - known to everyone as Uncle Gee - and he wrote children's books where the entire story was made into sets by hand to be shot as illustrations. In this first image he is making the pirate boat for the book 'Jane, Jenny & Me': my mother, Jenny the dog and Michael. Michael sent us these images on my mother's birthday. What a childhood it must have been!
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The month closed on a sadder note. We flew to Sweden for the funeral of a dear old friend, and said goodbye to him on the coast where he grew up, in the most beautiful sunshine - old friends and young together, a service pitched exactly right.
There's something so bittersweet about funerals, the way they gather people who haven't been in a room together for years, sometimes decades. Why does it so often take a loss to bring everyone back together? I came home thinking about that - grateful for the friendship, sorry it took a death to remind us all how much we'd missed each other.
I had never been to Scandinavia before. We stayed in Copenhagen for a night, eating the most incredible food at the renowned Kødbyens Fiskebar - go if you can for both the fish and the atmosphere - and then to Mölle on the coast. It is like a super stylish Cornwall. Loved the food, the colours, the architecture - a small snapshot in the images above. We determined to visit again under happier circumstances.
Enjoy the rest of your summer, wherever you are.
Much love
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