Jolene and the DARN elves

Hospitality is the act of hosting strangers- After frequent return visits, you start to exchange stories with them and after a short time, strangers become friends.

Amelia was just such a stranger ten years ago.We had barely opened Westerns Laundry, our second restaurant, the frontage was still missing and made up of plywood, it was a glorious autumnal evening drenched in the last of the summer rays and she was sitting with a mutual friend, the artist Karen Birkin, who I was meeting for a drink. I sat down with them both and we started talking- about nothing, about everything.

Amelia is like a Wes Anderson character. Etherial, playful, tender, rebellious, colourful, curious, wildly creative and inhabiting a plane of reality usually populated by unicorns, giants and fairies.

When Amelia comes to stay at your house, she seems to bring with her a small mischief of elves... little drawings appear in unusual places, corn dolls too in the kitchen and stairs, prayer clouties knotted in tree branches in the garden, cookies magically appear hot from the oven...

... but most curious of all, the holes in your wooly jumpers, socks, trousers are mended in bright little coloured patches... as if DARNed by magic.

DARN STUDIO is Amelia's brainchild, a joyful and experimental cross pollination of photography, art direction, design and events. Childlike, ludic, explorative and fresh, echoing the spirit of the Jolene ethos and logotype designed by then 8 year old Igor (son of Frith of Studio Frith)- it was a natural step to create something together.

Curator and collector of beautiful and rare hand printed fabric, Amelia was inspired by the head scarves our Bakers and Chefs wore in our various open kitchens and set to work. With her elves.

After two weeks of design and 6 weeks in production, the scarves are here inspired by the original paisley bandana, reimagined by DARN + JOLENE. 

In true Amelia fashion, the bandanas embarked on a sailing odyssey around the remote Scottish isles of Eigg, Rum & Canna onboard Stella & Mungo's stunning traditional Gaff Cutter from 1938, the Eda Frandsen.

They have now returned home from their North Sea baptism having adorned the heads of the deck hands and are available to purchase from our shop.

Jolene x