Artist Studio, Fife Arms
There is a reason I called the brand CHESKIE folk.
It is partly because I have always loved the spirit of folk - the colour, the pattern, the craftsmanship and, above all, the joy of making something your own.
But it is also because folk means people.
And both of those things are at the heart of what I want CHESKIE folk to be.
The joy of folk
I love the painterly joy of folk art.
There is something wonderfully liberating about it. A flower doesn't have to look exactly like a flower. A bird can be wildly colourful. A face can be simplified into a few lines. A chair, a piece of fabric, a wooden box or an ordinary household object can be transformed simply because someone has looked at it and thought: I could make this beautiful.
That is what I find so appealing.
Folk doesn't seem to worry too much about perfection. It is expressive, decorative and full of personality. It allows colour to be joyful and pattern to be exuberant. It celebrates the hand of the maker rather than trying to hide it.
And I think that way of looking at things is rather wonderful.
Because if you start to see the beauty in the ordinary, there is suddenly beauty everywhere.
Artist Studio, Fife Arms
It is everywhere, if you look for it
Perhaps this is why I have never thought of folk as belonging to one particular country, period or style.
It appears in paintings and textiles, ceramics and furniture, embroidery and architecture. It turns up in old traditions and new interpretations. You hear its influence in music and see it in theatre and musicals. It finds its way into stories, costumes, homes and the things people have made for generations.
And I love that it doesn't belong to just one group of people.
Folk traditions have been passed from one generation to another, adapted and reinvented along the way. They carry memories of places and people, but they also travel. Ideas cross borders. Techniques are borrowed, changed and made personal.
To me, that makes folk feel wonderfully alive. It isn't something preserved behind glass. It is something people continue to make.
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A little folk can change a room
You don't need to turn your home into a folk museum to enjoy it. In fact, I think the smallest touches can often have the biggest effect.
A hand-painted tray on a kitchen table. A colourful piece of ceramics on an open shelf. A patterned cushion tucked into a favourite chair. A painted piece of furniture. A piece of artwork that makes you smile every time you walk past it.
One or two things with personality can lift an entire room.
And perhaps that is one of the reasons I am drawn to collected interiors. I don't want everything to match. I want to see the things that someone has fallen in love with along the way.
A home should tell you something about the person who lives there. It should have evolved rather than arrived in one delivery.
There should be things that make you stop and look, things that remind you of somewhere you've been, someone you've met, or simply something that makes your heart skip a beat.
That, to me, is where decorating becomes personal.
Image from The Fabled Thread
And then there is the other meaning of folk
This is perhaps the most important reason of all that I chose the name.
Folk means people.
When I started thinking about what CHESKIE folk could become, I didn't want it simply to be a shop selling things I like.
I wanted it to be a place for people who share my curiosity.
People who notice the hand-painted detail.
Who get excited by an unusual textile. (Or any hand-made textiles really!)
Who appreciate the time and skill behind something handmade.
And also people who are just beginning to discover all of this.
You don't need to know the history of a particular craft or be able to tell me where a weaving technique originated. You might simply see something and think, I love that.
That's a perfectly good place to start.
Part of what I hope to do through CHESKIE folk is share the things that make me curious and excited — the makers, the artists, the traditions and the stories behind the objects we live with.
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So, who are CHESKIE folk?
I suppose they are my kind of people.
People who believe that our homes can be joyful.
People who appreciate craftsmanship and character.
People who are drawn to colour, pattern, art and the slightly unexpected.
People who want to know a little more about where something came from, who made it and why.
But also people who simply want their homes to feel more like them.
That is what I love about folk. It is generous. It invites you in.
There are no rules about who gets to enjoy it.
And perhaps that is exactly how I want CHESKIE folk to feel too: a place where you can come to discover something new, find something you love, and perhaps find a few like-minded people along the way.
Image from Tess Newall, Oxfordshire Home
Bringing a little folk home
So, when you look around CHESKIE folk, you will find quite a mixture of things.
Hand-painted furniture from Dingley Dell, beautiful botanical pieces from Feast of Flora, and the wonderful ceramics and traditions of Casa de Folklore, alongside artwork, textiles and decorative pieces from other independent makers.
They may come from different places and have very different stories, but they share something important: someone has cared enough to make them special.
And that is the spirit of folk that I love.
The belief that beauty doesn't have to be grand. That ordinary things can be made extraordinary.
That colour can bring joy. That craftsmanship matters. That our homes can hold stories.
And that there is always something new to discover.
That is why CHESKIE folk has folk in its name.
Because I love the art of it.
I love the spirit of it.
And I love the people it brings together.
Perhaps you are already one of my folk.
Or perhaps you are just beginning to discover what makes you tick.
Either way, I am so happy you are here.
