Collection Inspiration
An in-depth look into the research and story behind the Autumn/Winter 2025 collection.
This is the second part of our deep dive into the Autumn/Winter 2025 collection. This newsletter builds upon the research we explored in part one, inviting you to follow the unfolding narrative that resulted in the final designs.
the story
The secret symbolism of nature, as seen through the sketchbook of a travelling naturalist.
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Tipping his cap, naturalist Alfred Swift disembarks a rickety prairie wagon in the vast expanse of a Wyoming plain. Wordlessly, the driver offers his steed a sharp click, and in moments the coach disappears toward the horizon in a billow of dust. Taking a moment to absorb his surroundings, Alfred savours the gentle sounds of the rugged landscape. It has been three decades since embarking on his American adventure, and both he and the country have been through turbulent and troubled times. Having chosen not to return to his former life in Holland, Alfred was fired from his job as a researcher at the University and has been wandering the wilds of America ever since, carving and painting sculptures from foraged materials to earn a meagre living.
Having seen his roadside folk art, in 1860, Alfred is temporarily housed by a Fraternal society; a secretive troupe of odd fellows founded on esoteric knowledge and specific mythologies. They commission him to create signs, artworks and banners for their temple, and he becomes entranced with the enigmatic symbolism of the order, merging his detailed and scientific illustration training with the mysterious and abstruse new style. He remains for two years until the lodge is resplendent, his skills no longer required, and his exploratory instincts get the better of him.
This masonic endeavour affords Alfred the freedom to continue his travels, which he does with ardour. A wayward and lost soul, our traveller is taken in by many well - wishers along the course of his journey. He encounters countless accommodating folk; from the Lakota people of the Northern Great Plains who teach him the prophecy of the white bison, to the sailors on the Nantucket whaling ships who allow him to stowaway in their quarters for several weeks, to the Cherokee peoples of Oklahoma, imparting the ancient and pertinent legend of the two wolves.
