Humphries Weaving for British Textile Week
08/09/2020
Humphries Weaving is a leading British manufacturer of custom jacquard fabrics, proudly based in Sudbury, Suffolk. The company believes in design excellence and integrity above all else and uses its extensive knowledge, unique archive, and technical skill to produce beautiful and interesting fabrics for the world’s most prestigious clients.
Humphries Weaving frequently works with Royal Palaces and Historic Houses and although the firm is predominantly weavers of historical furnishings, it often works with leading contemporary interiors brands. In addition, the company also provide fabrics for ceremonial and historical garments and gowns.
Its passion for quality British manufacturing drives each project and the company’s trained designers create custom woven fabrics and diverse textiles that can be found around the world.
The collection
Over nearly 50 years Humphries Weaving has accumulated a vast archive of historically accurate designs, with some dating back to the 15th century. Clients are welcome to use an existing design or to bring their own textile document, artwork, images or drawings to work in collaboration to create something new. The design is then combined with the chosen custom dyed yarn or stocked noble fibres to create their own unique fabrics.
Manufacturing
Humphries Weaving originally began weaving our fabrics using a variety of traditional hand looms. Since the company has moved to modern production methods on state of the art machinery at the Sudbury Silk Mills.
Service ranges
The company’s custom Jacquard fabric is popular for curtains, upholstery and walling and is all woven to order. Fabrics are fully customisable but fall largely into two broad categories, ‘Stocked Yarn Service’ and ‘Custom Yarn Service’. Both categories utilise the team’s skills and knowledge of research and consultancy, design, weave construction, colour, sampling and production.
Over the five decades that Humphries Weaving has been producing custom jacquard fabric in Suffolk, we have become well known for weaving ‘short and special’ orders. Special often falls into the category of nationally important historic restorations with special yarn weights or custom dyed colour. It can equally be a snippet of fabric, kept by someone in an envelope for years; just waiting for an opportunity to reproduce it. Often clients come having explored off the shelf options in retailers and the company is able to marry ideas about yarn, colour, texture and design.
The company also offers a stocked yarn service for projects that require a small amount of fabric, the scope of budget is more of a consideration or projects that have a shorter lead time. This service is utilised by decorators, historic houses and private individuals alike. The minimum order is 15 metres and there is an extensive range of ‘in stock’ yarn types and colours on both silk and cotton warps. Customers can choose a design from the archive or something completely unique can be developed.
Meet the team
Natalie Jones joined Humphries Weaving with seven years’ commercial sales experience, and an Honours Degree in Textile Design from London’s Central St Martins. She is responsible for coordinating the business activity of Humphries Weaving with key focus on sales, marketing and sustainability. Within this she also retains client accounts ensuring that our customers, and their unique projects, remain central to all that we do as a business.
She says: “In both contemporary and historic commissions we form one part of a complex network of highly skilled trades and crafts; seeing the realisation of these combined efforts in the finished restoration is really rewarding.”
UKFT’s British Textile Week is a digital showcase of the craftsmanship, imagination and innovation of the UK textile industry.