Projektityyny Travelling Tales, episode 2
A tapestry of creative souls carving out corners of their homes for ruffles, for patchwork, for bows and all.
Join us as we travel to visit some of our amazing customers, observing our Nordic textiles living out life in the hands and homes of artists, designers, writers and big dreamers from near and far.
Tattie Isles, the creative genius and Founder of Tattie Rose Studio, West Dorset
For our second episode of Travelling Tales we visited Tattie Isles, the creative genius and Founder of Tattie Rose Studio, in her West Dorset home.
I have the great privilege of calling Tattie a dear friend. There are few people in the world that make one feel as inspired, excited and welcomed as she does. Her home breathes this same energy of joy, warmth and acceptance, like a giant hug that envelopes you with its old wonky walls and painted floors.
On a stormy March morning when the rain was beating down my windscreen and the whole of Dorset seemed like a giant puddle, there was nowhere more cosier I could be than Tattie’s.
We sat down by the fire with her adorable dachshunds Pantoufle and Bird, to chat all things Tattie Rose Studio, where it all started and where it may be going. Of course we got carried away like we always do, I never want to leave!
But first, I need to tell you a little bit about how Tattie and I met
On a somewhat sombre, ordinary day in the midst of lockdown, our daily visit to our local deserted playground changed my life for the better. There I was helping our then three year old daughter climb up the climbing frame for the thousandth time that summer, when I spotted someone else doing just the same, but with two little boys and a newborn in a backpack, with a big smile on her face. People often tell me my textiles were the tonic they needed in lockdown, but I’d say meeting Tattie for me was just that.
Needless to say we hit it off immediately. Partly probably because seeing and talking to another human being, in person, at that moment was almost impossible, but we seemed to share such a huge amount of same interests. Looking back it makes me giggle how much information we managed to cram into this short accidental happy exchange. We shared stories about our interests, passions, work, children, home life, colour, fashion, all in a few precious minutes at this playground. There was so much to talk about but so little time. Tattie and her family had just moved into the area and I went home so excited about this newfound neighbour of ours.
Some of you may have seen Tattie’s work, but its her love of birds that best encapsulates her lifestyle and her working vision, wild and free…
Its always exciting to find out something about a person that, behind the scenes, really drives them…and for Tattie, its birds.
I’ll never forget my first visit to her home when a white dove suddenly burst through the open door (another thing I love at Tattie’s, they never seem to close their front door) and lands on her head whilst she is washing up, so casual and so ordinary, to Tattie.
Today she is the proud owner of approximately 52 birds (this changes regularly due to busy birds nesting) - 4 white peacocks, 8 guinea fowl, 20 doves and 20 chickens.
Additionally to the birds, Tattie also has two dogs, 4 small children and she runs a successful business. Her home is imprinted by the stories of this lifestyle, busy, buzzing, creative, noisy and happy. If ever there was a place full of life, this is it.
I started Tattie Rose Flowers 15 years ago…
We first started doing flowers in Edinburgh, slowly moving out and around in Scotland, then across England, and then finally down to the south, and more and more in London.
Eventually I moved down to the south and the events kept getting bigger. Over the last ten years, we have done weddings in Italy and on boats in Norway, weddings on floating pontoons in Lake Como, and then beautiful ones right here at home on our doorstep as well.
I have an amazing team. I work with Fred, my husband, and he's just incredible. He supports me a lot in the logistics side of things, and we are a real family team. It's really important to me that it all works really well like that, because it is a bit like being part of a travelling circus, you know, we go out, pop up for a week in a place, create this big show; there's a lot of stuff, and there's of course lorry loads of flowers. And I do love that, that traveling nomadity of it all.
I'm very lucky that I'm so supported by my family and friends, and it's important to me that the work is enjoyable and fun. I feel that always ripples through to the flowers. If you've had a good time making them, the flowers usually turn out much better.
Im really driven and led by the seasons…
…I love to look at old photographs and see what the person was holding in their hands, in their bouquet, and go, Oh, she must have got married in the spring, because she's got lily of the valley in her bouquet. It makes the moment more genuine and real, So I think being led by the seasons is really important.
About five years ago we decided to change the name to Tattie Rose Studio…
…because what we do is so much more than just the flowers.
We are in fact telling stories and using all sorts of different mediums to do that. The flowers are at the heart of it, but we also paint backdrops, and we help with styling for events, and that's grown into helping to style for photo shoots and for people's homes. Although flowers will always be at our heart, I didn’t want to pigeonhole us. It's always rather lovely seeing the other commissions that come in. It keeps things fresh and exciting.
I don't quite know where its going to take us, but every opportunity feels like a door opening, and I don't want to shut any of them…
We are really excited about starting our very own flower school…
I really want to make a place which teaches the bare bones, the hardwired, important structure of flowers, all the rules, and all the rules that can be broken. Somewhere that will nurture going against the flow, coming up with your own ideas, a place for people who perhaps want to start their own business but need that little bit of encouragement. I really wanted to go to somewhere like that when I was younger, and It didn't really exist. We were taught all about the rules, but I want to make somewhere where you learn the rules and then you learn how to break them.
My most important job is being a mother
…to four people who need me far more than anyone else does. So whatever we do has to also work around that really important job. Figuring that out, and striking a good balance as a working mother is hard, because you've got to look after your children but also inspire them at the same time.
I like creating feelings…
I always lead with how I want a client to feel or how they want their guests to feel, rather than what they want the space or event to look like. I use that as the starting point with everything, at work and at home.
Going into my children's bedrooms, I want them to feel safe and cozy and joyful and fun. I don't want the room to look a certain way. It doesn't matter to the child what it looks like. It matters what it feels like to them. And again, in a kitchen, I always think it doesn't really doesn't matter what it looks like. All I want is that people feel they could always put another chair around the table.
I want people to feel at home, that you can make a mess, and have a bit of fun. You can enjoy the space, that nothing is too precious.
I try and spread that through into my work, very much.
And I think that’s what probably sets us apart...
Textiles enables you to put your own mark on things…
…I love the fact that you can change them and move them around. And again, it goes back to how you want a space to feel.
I have collected little bits of fabric along all the years of traveling and little patches of this and that. And my mum, who's a brilliant upholsterer has made bits and pieces and tie backs from the various pieces that we've collected. I often move things around and swap things over. I love that about textiles.
I love color, and then the way it softens the hard edges of especially some of these colder, older properties. You put a piece of fabric there, and it all feels gentle again, it feels inviting and cozy.
As soon as I laid my eyes on your fabric…
…there was something that immediately drew me in. I love that it's floral, but it's not twee. I just love everything that you create, because your work is feminine and gentle. But there's also this quite folky, earthiness to it, which really appeals to me - and the palette is just perfect, beautiful.
I think there's something from Projektityyny in every room.
I hope that when someone walks through my house, they would get a feeling of the person or people who live here…
…When I look through an interiors book or a magazine, the houses that I like most are the ones that you can see who the person living there is. When the home isn’t too curated and not too thought out, then usually the spirit of that person comes through. I really love that.
Hopefully if someone was to walk around my house, they would get a feeling for the people that lived here. There's no rhyme or reason really to anything. But that’s just the way I like it.
SHOP TATTIE’S EDIT
Watch the full second episode here