TOP DRAWER AND HOME EDIT.

There is definitely no rest for the wicked.  No sooner are we into a new year and already the trade shows are upon us.  Top Drawer and Home are geared to the retail gift trade and are huge affairs in the cavernous halls of Olympia, but I managed to spot some great fabrics as I tore around one afternoon last week.  Here is my edit:

Laura Slater makes striking abstract prints on natural linen, from her base in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.  

I was really happy to see Gail Bryson's stand.  She hand screen-prints bright blocks of solid colour onto linen which she makes up into cushions, tea-towels, zipped bags and more.

Thorody's intricately hatched designs printed on linen seem to me to pay homage to an abstract Arts and Craft aesthetic - they call it 'Rustic Modernism'.

I loved the quirky repeat patterns from Orwell and Goode - from a distance they seemed totally abstract and the badgers and foxes only became apparent on closer inspection.

Eva Soneike is of Nigerian descent and has drawn heavily from her West African heritage to design a brilliant range of colourful textiles - love the stylised palms above!

Katie Brown uses industrial inspired images from her native Northern Ireland juxtaposed with fine printing, high quality silk and linen and bright colours to stunning effect.

A personal favourite - I loved these mediterranean-floor-tile-inspired prints from Akin & Suri.

I have just the place to use some of them myself - of which more another time!