Carys Briggs, founder of Stoff Studios, creates designs that are instantly recognisable. Her textiles, fabrics and prints all evoke hot, Mediterranean Summers, and are impeccably crafted by hand at Carys’s riverside studio in Woolwich, London.
It’s been an absolute pleasure to sit down with Carys and chat to her as part of our Meet the Makers series. We believe that the independent makers, artists and designers that we work with around the world become the fabric of our LAMP LDN community and the driving force behind our ethos, and it’s been fabulous to hear about Carys’s making process, her inspirations and her wonderfully artistic home life.
Tell us about your journey - how did the business begin?
I began Stoff Studios in 2015 after graduating from my MA at the Royal College of Art. I’d always wanted to set up my own studio, and meeting so many inspiring people during my time at the RCA made me get on and do it!
Initially, I worked at home from our spare room and printed all my fabrics and papers in a big communal space in a railway arch in Bermondsey. I still work with some of the people I met while printing there. It was really eye-opening to see what everyone else was working on - there were fashion designers and artists as well as people making the most amazing costumes for the Royal Opera house productions.
After a few years I grew out of our spare room - every time I went in there I had to take something out first to make some room! I moved into a studio down the road in Woolwich, and Stoff Studios has grown from there.
Is there anyone in your life who has had a lasting influence on your taste and style?
It’s a real cliché, but the most influential person has probably been my mum.
We have the same stamina when it comes to junk shops, charity shops and car boots and we often take Rita along in her baby sling too. We have very similar taste when it comes to our houses, with lots of greens and blues and changing displays of our various collections. However, she is a bit more tasteful than me! My partner and I are in the middle of doing our kitchen, and my mum hasn’t quite got behind our primary-coloured-1960’s-Italian-espresso-bar vibe!
What, would you say, are the biggest inspirations for your creations?
I think drawing and mark making is the most important thing for me to do when I’m looking for inspiration. When I’m beginning to put together ideas for a new collection I’ll spend the day in the studio with lots of black ink and a roll of paper laid out. I also have a collection of slightly sticky cookbooks by writers like Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson with wood cut illustrations of Mediterranean scenes and flagons of wine. I really love the sense you get from these pictures, of long hot summers, and I’ve found them inspiring for my designs.
Do you have a favourite moment of your making process?
Its hard to choose but I think my favourite moment is the first time I screen print a design. After weeks of drawing and scanning and getting my screens ready, finally getting to the point of pining out a length of linen is really exciting. However much you’ve planned, there’s always an element of surprise when you print the first batch.
I think the tactility of screen printing adds another dimension to a design. When something has been made by hand there might be slight differences along the length of fabric and hand mixed colours always seem to have a vivacity that digital printing never quite captures.
Tell us about your supply chain - where do you source your materials? Do you try to remain conscious of longevity and sustainability?
When I began Stoff Studios, I wanted to highlight how important hand making is to me. I love that we take plain fabrics, and then print and finish them all in house. The same applies to all our materials - I try to keep everything local or, if that’s not possible, at least traceable.
Our linens are woven in Lithuania using 100% Balkan grown flax, with some I get arriving ready dyed (our suppler has a really beautiful range of colours), and the others I have hand dyed in small batches by a small studio in Brockley. Linen is a bit of a wonder material in itself. It’s long lasting and can be washed again and again without loosing strength. I love the idea that someone could have a Stoff cushion for years and they would only get softer and more beautiful.
All my cushion inners are made in the UK using British wool. Wool is a material with lots of amazing properties, one of the best being that you never have to plump them up! I’ve also recently begun working with a lovely local seamster who lives down the road in Greenwich and who cycles along the river to collect and drop off cushions to sew.
Tell us something you love about your own home?
My partner is a carpenter, and so we both love making things for our house. Our living room is probably my favourite. I’ve printed us a huge pair of curtains in my Dromos design in a pale blue to match the walls with bright, grass green columns, and I recovered a second hand sofa in a bright red boucle loose cover. Andy has made us a beautiful fire-surround with a sort of wavy, fluted front. He used reclaimed oak from a mill in Lewisham and I love the density of the wood and the tactile surface he’s made. It’s lovely to be able to make things — and its even nicer when you get to keep them.
What’s your favourite thing about being an independent maker?
My favourite thing, and the whole reason I began my studio, is that I have complete control over the whole process of making something from beginning to end. I love spending quiet days in the studio creating new designs and collaging together a new colour palette just as much as I enjoy the more frantic production side; screen printing rolls of wallpaper with buckets of ink on huge paper beds and sewing the frills into a bolster. I even get to go out searching for props when it’s time to arrange photo shoots, which is wonderful!
Meet the Maker Quick Fire Round
Your favourite cocktail
Campari and tonic…preferably somewhere warm, just before a lovely dinner
Your ideal Sunday morning
We always get the paper on a Saturday morning to read leisurely over the whole weekend…so I’d be reading yesterday’s paper in my pajamas with a cup of coffee and a nice breakfast. A big, hot pile of churros with a bowl of yoghurt and honey to dip them in. And seeing as this is supposed to be ideal…I’d have had a full, uninterrupted night’s sleep. Something we haven’t quite managed since our baby Rita arrived!
We’re coming round for dinner - what’s on the menu?
My partner Andy is the cook so he’d be in the kitchen while I set the table and light the candles. We’d have a selection of nice things from the Brutto cookbook with some good bread and lots of Italian red wine. Our favourites are the polenta with cannellini beans and chard, and spinach baked with lots of double cream, eggs and parmesan. We’d finish with Ottolenghi’s pistachio macaron cake, a nice amaro like Montenegro and tiny cups of strong, hot coffee.
Your rainy afternoon comfort movie
Cher in Moonstruck!
Your favourite pick from the current LAMP LDN collection (that isn’t something of yours!)
I’ve always liked collecting glassware- and the perfect little wine glass is hard to find. My pick would be the La Rochere short stemmed wine glass…perfect for a little Campari and tonic!
You can follow Stoff Studios on Instagram here!