melin tregwynt blankets at the Boundary Shoreditch

I hope you’ll enjoy these images from one of the hotels we’ve supplied. The Boundary, Redchurch Street, 2-4 Boundary Street, Shoreditch, London E2 7DD
Tel +44 (0)20 7729 1051    info@theboundary.co.uk

 

Located in a converted Victorian warehouse, Boundary opened last year and includes 3 restaurants and bars, 12 guest bedrooms, 5 suites, a bakery and a food store.

Each of the rooms has a different design that has been inspired by legendary designers or design movements that the owners admire.

  Our blankets in use

Boundary Rooftop includes a large bar with seating arranged around an open fireplace, a 48-seat grill restaurant and a garden. There are 360-degree views from Canary Wharf to the City’s Gherkin and Barbican to the rooftops and spires of East London. The space is replete with a large sail-like canopy, heating, festoon lighting and Welsh blankets from Melin Tregwynt

Boundary is a joint venture between Terence and Vicki Conran, in partnership with Peter Prescott.  http://www.theboundary.co.uk/

Interesting use of our upholstery fabric

Apologies for the long silence. It’s actually because we’ve been really busy and things have happened so fast that I couldn’t begin to get them written up as a blog. Excuses over lets get started.

Here’s another selection of interesting things that people have done with our fabric. Most of these are from Japan and unavailable from in the UK, but if do you see something you’d really love to have, send me a comment or a direct message and I’ll do the best to help.

These classic Herman Miller chairs originally designed by Charles Eames have been upholstered in our black/white roundcross fabric and I think they look fantastic. 

 

 A set of stacking vintage stools covered with our fabric from Japan 

  

As well as vintage chairs people have been using our upholstery cloth for modern designs. See these stools from SuSu a small company in Japan.

 

And finally some brilliant cushions from a company called Takaokaya again in Japan They take the fabric and use it in a totally original way, almost like Origami.

My first test posting direct from the new IPhone app

This is a test to see if my new IPhone app works and I can post entries direct from my mobile. This is a sample blanket we’re weaving for a client.

The mill under snow

After covering the rest of the country the snow finally hit Pembrokeshire. It’s always milder here and we’re always the last to get any snowfall but we did manage some over New Year’s Day. It’s still very cold and we haven’t completely thawed yet so we may find it difficult to get deliveries out next week.

Mandy and the dogs enjoying a very wintry Abermawr beach.

 

Visit by First Minister of Wales

Earlier this year First Minister Rhodri Morgan visited Melin Tregwynt which flew the flag for Wales at a major international cultural event in the United States in June.

The First Minister said: “Melin Tregwynt’s products have gained a worldwide reputation for its stylish and eye-catching designs as modern as they come, but linking strongly to the craft and cultural heritage of Wales. This is one of the reasons why the company has an important part to play at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, where the best of Wales’ culture and traditions will be showcased Wales to more than one million visitors from across the USA and further afield. If what I have seen here at Melin Tregwynt is anything to go by, those visiting the festival will have a wonderful experience and will be flocking to buy some of Melin Tregwynt’s elegant and striking products to enhance their own homes with something Welsh and something special.”

melin tregwynt - a cultural icon?

Wales needs to maximise its cultural icons, a review of the nation’s heritage tourism, for the Welsh Assembly, recommends. The 165 page report says that because Wales has relatively few cultural icons it’s important to maximise the impact of those that do exist. 

Those listed include castles, the Wales Millennium Centre and Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the national parks and famous welshmen from Dylan Thomas to Tom Jones. The review praises innovative tourism examples in Wales: especially the traditional cottage holiday company Under the Thatch, the Faenol Festival in North Wales, the marketing of the Wye and Dyfi valleys and Melin Tregwynt.

So now we’re a cultural icon. What next I wonder? 

thanks to all our customers for a 25% rise in sales

Whilst we don’t have a group photograph of all of you, we’re very grateful for your continued support of all of us here at Melin Tregwynt (see picture below).

I’m pleased to say that despite all the economic gloom, around at the moment, our retail sales were up 25% over the last year, thanks to you and all our other customers.  

Just a quick update on the year so far. Our blankets and throws are now being sold in John Lewis and are doing extremely well. We’ve produced a new range of traditional doublecloth bedspreads, designed by Donna Wilson, which is being launched at Milan furniture fair and then sold exclusively through SCP in London. Despite the recession we’re selling well in Germany and Japan and have a number of large hotel projects to complete. Later this year we’re doing more joint projects with other manufacturers like Healthy Back Bags, Innermost, Birkenstock, Tolbiac and others.

Let us know what you think about these new products when they arrive; and what else you’d like to see us selling. We couldn’t do it without you.

the faces behind the fabric

I thought you might like to see the faces behind our fabrics. This picture was taken about a month ago when we said goodbye to Kath and Irene, two of our staff who were retiring.

Kath (3rd from right in front row) had been with the company for 40 years (she joined us in the 60s). She began by recording our sales by hand in an old ledger and by her retirement she was experienced in the dark arts of Sage accounting and computers. Amazing changes in one working life.

Irene looked after all the administrative duties and paperwork that make small business life such a pleasure. She was also a great source of doggy chews for our three labradors.

We’ll miss them both but we now have two new staff, Peter and Maria. (on the right in the top row) who have taken up the challenge of working here. 

If you want to know who everybody else is and what they do, then go to our staff page and see more pics including some archive pictures from 50s onwards.

100 useful things to do with melin tregwynt fabric

I thought I would show you some more of the amazing things that people have made using our fabric.

These jackets, waistcoat and cap were made from our spice multicheck blanket fabric by a Japanese company called ThisisFew for their Melin Tregwynt 2008 Winter Collection. I’m sure that the winters are very cold in Hokkaido but this combination would keep you very warm indeed. The model on the right looks as if he’s realised the early September may be too soon to wear this outfit.  

Update on 2009-03-18 14:39 by Eifion Griffiths

 Looking at the clothes above, I was reminded of a photograph one of our visitors to Pembrokeshire sent us of an alternative use for purchase he’d made earlier that day. The picture is taken at Strumble Head about three miles away from Melin Tregwynt.

Despite the obvious sunshine it was winter and very cold and blustery so he took our teacosy out of its bag and used it to keep his head warm.

I’ve lost his contact details, so if anybody recognises this resourceful gentleman, please let me have a name so I can let him know that his fashion flair and inspiration has not gone unrecognised.

Update on 2010-05-10 23:43 by Eifion Griffiths

Again on the subject of things that other people have made from our fabric, these are some very sweet lavender scented hearts made by Clems Daughter and despite the missing apostrophe I think it’s a really nice site. We make hearts ourselves but I like the delicacy and the string bows add a nice touch.

I love these rooms

Another example of welsh tapestry used imaginatively in an interior. This time it’s the new bedrooms in the Harbourmaster Hotel, Aberaeron.

        
 
The original rooms used our mondo and madison designs but in the new extension they have used the larger traditional welsh tapestries as bedheads. They look fantastic.