Meet: Mabel & Co.

Designer-maker studio Mabel & Co. excels at bringing old-school techniques and traditional crafts into the contemporary world. And they have quite the roster. From letterpress printing and bookbinding to film photography, weaving and pottery, is there anything founders, James and Katie, can’t do? 

We caught up with James from the dynamic duo to chat about rural life, what career path he actually considered before their business took off (it’s not what you’d think), and the importance of sustainable working practices, which are at the core of what they do. 

Hi James. There’s so much to talk about due to the multi-faceted nature of Mabel & Co. – let’s get into it! What are your preferred ways of working? 

This is such a good question, and I guess we can only talk about what we are doing at this moment because it seems to constantly evolve rather organically! 

So, what came first in terms of the medium? 

Mabel & Co. was born from a deep-rooted concern about the social and environmental impact of clothing and textile production. We wanted to create a craft-based response that would take these issues seriously yet still enable us to produce meaningful products. We started finding and restoring small-scale, mainly treadle-powered looms, bobbin winders, etc – establishing a small solar-powered engineering workshop in the process.

How do you decide to add more strings to your bow? Is it circumstantial? We read that you travelled 2000 miles to rescue a Harris Tweed loom in Scotland!

Well, our letterpress printing came out of producing information cards for open days about the weaving, people started commenting on the quality of the print and asked us to take on small projects, and we designed a range of products.

When COVID hit, we couldn't use our main studio, so we set up a smaller studio and shop in our coastal village. There wasn't enough space for the weaving side, but we could carry on and develop our letterpress printing. What was supposed to be a short-term arrangement ended up lasting over 3.5 years! By that point, most people knew us for letterpress printing and knew nothing of the weaving – we were hoping to launch in 2020.

Our film photography emerged from the print work, where we had been undertaking a project to print photographic print blocks from 1912. We ran a project which saw us print all 52 blocks and then bind them into an edition of 35 hard-bound books. As a lifelong photographer, this project inspired us to form a collective of seven photographers who document the people, culture and landscape of the Suffolk Coast - Ephemera Collective - often printing the resulting images using our presses.

We have both been learning pottery for a few years, and Katie, in particular, has been enjoying her wheelwork. She studied art at university, alongside her teaching practice, and she's bringing all this to bear on her ceramics. Then, last year, we moved back to our main studio and were able to resume weaving. So this week, we are really excited to launch our first collection of hand-woven blankets and Katie’s pottery.

Exciting! Can you expand more on the Ephemera Collective and how being a part of it benefits not only you but also the area and the business? 

The Ephemera Collective is just a joy to be involved with; they are such a wonderful group of people with diverse and imaginative ideas, as well as a huge range of experience. At the moment, we are in the process of working out what the collective is about, how we are going to work and what areas we want to explore. It's remarkable to think that it is not yet a year old, and yet we have put on an exhibition of large format photography, which had a handprinted letterpress halftone book at its core. Produced two editions of our new RISO printed photographic newspaper, Trees & Touch, which have been warmly received. We've also undertaken training in 16mm motion picture - both production and post-production work. We are now in the process of shooting our first 8mm short film, exploring a local town (now village) that was almost entirely washed away in a series of tidal surges.

Credit: Mabel & Co.

We learnt that you have no formal training and are a perfectionist. How do you find a balance between consistency in work, learning as you go, and ensuring that the product is executed to the standard you’re seeking? 

Yes, guilty as charged on the perfectionist part. It can be a real help and an absolute hinderance. Great in ensuring that our work meets the high standards we set for it, but it can also be a barrier to progress and movement. Luckily, Katie is much freer than me, so we balance each other out. Sometimes she gives me a much-needed and firm ‘it's fine’ – and then likewise, I'll often say – ‘hmm, it's good, but I think we can do it better.’I can genuinely say that the two of us have slightly different skills and that without both, the business would struggle. And often, people are surprised that they aren't always as they would imagine. For example, Katie is often the one who will push us to do something new or take a risk.

Teamwork! Did you always want to be a designer? Or were there other careers you may have considered but decided to move in a different direction? 

Maybe I could have become a Vicar! I did consider it and actually studied and taught theology for a very short while. It would have been rewarding work, I'm sure, but I know me, and I'm not sure parish life would have been enough. I would have got distracted by something new, and that would not have been fair to those who needed me. 

Katie had a career in education and ended up as a headteacher at a primary school. She enjoyed her time there, but when she took on the headship, she told herself and me that she would do it for five years. Which she did and then quit as her 40th birthday present to herself.

How valuable has it been for you both to be able to focus on the business full-time? And where do you see Mabel & Co. going in the future?

Mabel & Co. has been both our full-time occupations since 2021. I didn't know we would end up here, so I am certainly a bit vague about where we are going next! I think a time of consolidation in terms of the areas we work in would be a good thing, supporting the Ephemera collective and seeing where that goes. But honestly, if the last few years have taught me anything, it's that things often take unexpected turns.

You’re based on the Sudbourne Park Estate in Suffolk. Can you talk us through the origins of finding the space to house your studio and shop? It feels like a match made in heaven.

Yes, our studio space is quite a unique building. The main house at Sudbourne Park was pulled down after WWII, but all the working buildings remained, and a number of these are now used for studios. We have three other potters and another printmaker alongside a historic sawmill. Our studio space was the old wheelwright's shop, where they used to make cartwheels and ladders, whilst our shop is in an unusual hexagonal building that was the seed store. This was unused and in a poor state of repair until we took it over in 2023 and fully restored it. It's a lovely location to work and we are right next to the popular coastal village of Orford, with the famous Pump Street Bakery and Chocolate shop.

And how does coastal, countryside living inform your creative practice? Or even simply, the opportunity to switch off?

We're a decidedly rural practice, and we lean into local knowledge for many aspects of our work. However, many of our customers live in more urban areas, and so I think we create a really nice bridge between the two. 

Outside of work is a really precious space, as there isn't a lot of it. Trying to make a creative business work with no other income is a tough act, so it does become a bit all-consuming. But I shouldn't complain. Our 'work' is often what people choose to do for fun, so it's not all bad, and it is very varied. 

We're very lucky to live in a beautiful part of the world, and we enjoy getting out with Mabel (our beloved Lhasa Apso) and spending time in the landscape that surrounds us. That said, all three of us also enjoy curling in front of the fire and watching slow, beautiful vlogs from people living all around the world, doing interesting things.

Credit: Mabel & Co.

We read that you get inspired by simple utilitarian designs rather than specific designers. Does this make it easier to feel inspired daily for your designs and processes — inspired by things everywhere you look?

Design-wise, as you say, we lean towards what I term British Utilitarianism, looking at historical sources for our inspiration. With letterpress printing, our rationale is to design and print as they would have done in the 1930s to 1950s. That means we don't use damaged type or blocks, we're looking for clean and clear lines with crisp inking. Our typefaces would be as familiar to people from that era as they are today, Johnston Sans (the London Underground typeface), Bembo (a classic book typeface), Transport (the typeface used on roadsigns) and British Rail Alphabet (not only used on railways, but the NHS, Ferries and Airports).

With the blankets, we have quite a specific inspiration: narrow-width Welsh flannel blankets, hand woven in the late C19th for the local population. They have the most wonderful natural palette, simple, timeless patterns, and are very hard-wearing (we have some that are way over 100 years old). All our blankets are woven from undyed wool, so we just use the natural colours of the fleece.

Katie's pottery is much more painterly and reflects her own personality, with beautiful whites and translucents, with often bold splashes of blue or black (or white on black). She often says that she is trying to find the beauty within the chaos. Her clay comes from Stoke-on-Trent and is a heavily grogged one with a course and robust texture. Her work fits so well with our wider range and sits perfectly with the blankets.

Your work does feel incredibly cohesive. You use equipment from the 1860s to the 1960s—why do you think you’re drawn to historic, Victorian equipment? From print presses to looms!

Sustainability is at the very core of what we do; it's why we started and, frankly, what drives us forward. Part of this is that the things we make have to have a sense of timelessness so that they are not buffeted by the winds of fashion. By drawing on historical work, we can be sure they will fit within considered homes for a long time to come.

Next, they have to be robust. We live a fairly hardy existence, and the things that come along with us have to be able to keep up! The blankets, for example – I'll have no truck with one that cannot survive a camping trip or which you cannot wash. So we use hardy, rare breed British short staple wool, which has a perfect balance between softness and toughness.

Finally, they have to be made in a way that treads as lightly on the planet and people as possible. So, for starters, we don't sell anything with plastic in it. Not one single piece in all our products. Our workshop is powered (as much as the weather will let us!) by solar power, direct from our panels to our engineering machines & lights. But actually, most of our crucial machines (our printing presses & looms) are human-powered, with no electricity used. The great thing about using machines and tools that are 100-130 years old is that the environmental impact of these has already happened, so we are not adding to the problem by going out and buying new ones. Plus frankly, they are far better made than modern equipment and have the benefit that they look beautiful!

Our paper-based products are made from 100% recycled paper or FSC Certified, using linseed oil-based ink sourced from small, independent and UK-based companies. Our packaging is also compostable or recyclable. The pottery kiln is powered by non-nuclear renewable energy, like wind. We added an electric van to the business last year, which reduced our remaining carbon emissions by 69%. So, we are very low-impact and strive to become even more so.

All our materials are very carefully chosen to be as sustainable as possible. The card we print on usually either comes from James Cropper's mill in the Lake District or from a mill in Germany that produces the most wonderful recycled card. Our wool is from rare breed British flocks and spun in the Holme Valley, Yorkshire, on historic machinery - once it gets to us as yarn, it stays with us until the customer receives the blanket, meaning that the embedded miles and carbon emissions are low

Credit: Mabel & Co.

You have found a way to make festive greeting cards feel curated and considered in terms of design. Simply put — how?!

Yes, making contemporary Christmas Cards is no mean feat! And we have become known for them, selling our first box this year on 4th January! By September, we are being asked when that year's design is coming, so it's a bit of pressure.

It’s quite the task, for sure. How important is the combination of function and aesthetics to you? You combine the two beautifully.

I think the answer, as it is with everything we do, is that you have to play. You come up with an idea, and sometimes you are not sure if it is possible or practical, so you have to play with it and see where it leads you. Sometimes, a design comes pretty fully formed as an idea, and other times, the end product is actually quite different from what you first envisaged.

Your product range is eclectic through the offerings and fonts. How do you think you create a sense of uniformity with Mabel & Co. as a brand while also being able to explore, experiment and play with text and eras?

The uniformity of range comes from our stubbornness and selfishness – a less harsh word might be integrity. We wouldn't and couldn't make anything we wouldn't personally want in our own homes. We make essentially things we like, that are our taste and do so in a way that meets our values. We then put those things out into the world and hope that other people will value them and the way they have been made, too.

Apart from your website, where else can customers find your products stocked?

Obviously, the best way to get to know what we do and the things we do is to come over and visit us! We love to show people around and talk about our processes, and, as you would expect, the shop carries everything we make. We have a small number of stockists around the country (and a few abroad), so you'll occasionally spot our work in complimentary shops or galleries. As you mentioned, the website is a great way to get to know us, with a lovely video on there, mainly covering the print work.

And on that note — go visit Mabel & Co. online, their studio or join us at The Art of Giving:

A Modular Festive Market

Fri 29 Nov, Sat 30 Nov, Sun 1 Dec 2024

Fri: 3pm - 5pm | Sat, Sun: 10am - 3pm

SERCHIA Gallery, 24 Elmgrove Rd, Redland, Bristol, BS6 6AJ

SERCHIA Gallery and New Journo are delighted to present The Art of Giving, a new approach to seasonal shopping in the form of a Modular Festive Market. Join founders Christine Serchia and Emily Birkett, respectively, to celebrate the season, championing women and timelessly designed products in a low-key setting. Located in Bristol, the gallery will act as a shop floor showcasing a carefully curated selection of twelve highly coveted female-founded brands, a nod to the Twelve Days of Christmas, personally chosen by the curatorial duo. 

Happening on the traditional Black Friday weekend, the pop-up event challenges the perception of consumerism, offering a more tailored, considered outlook on gifting. It’s about the ceremony and rituals you share with others rather than the product itself: interactions, utilitarianism, and sentimentality, with quality and beauty taking front and centre. A small gathering will be held on Fri 29 Nov, in addition to the regular weekend opening hours, as a chance to meander the gallery and chat with the organisers, surrounded by ambient music, mulled wine, baked goods and festive scents. It is free-entry with community at its core.

Stocked

Johnston Christmas Cards - Box of Twelve [£20]

“Our modern and minimalist Christmas cards are typeset in our house typeface, Johnson Sans, designed by Edward Johnston in 1913 for the London Underground. Familiar short festive words or phrases are presented in a contemporary but humorous design. The cards are hand letterpress printed on our treadle-powered press, built in around 1860 and, following its restoration, still going strong some 160 years later. 100% recycled letterpress card, folded A7 size. British-made FSC envelope & natural linseed oil ink.”

Grey Pocket Notebooks - Plain Pages - Pack of Three [£24]

“The cover and wallets are hand letterpress printed on our treadle press and typeset in Johnston Sans, drafted in 1913 for the London Underground. The card is 80% recycled. We bind the notebooks on our C1890 german stitcher, using vintage coppered staples. The wallets have brass eyelets handset over the washers and a linen thread. Both the notebook and wallet are robust, to ensure they can keep up with use and travel. 87mm x 140mm with 48 Plain Pages.”