Ok, get your note pads out people, or at least bookmark this page as today’s post is special – seriously special! Enrich and Endure are an artisan homewares brand from Ireland who’ve just got it right, totally right. From product to branding and marketing, ethos and values they’re spot on and I couldn’t be happier to feature them in my column People To Watch!

Last week I managed to catch up with designer-maker Sarah and though she’s super busy she took time to answer all my nosey questions and supplied me with beautiful photography by Matthew Thompson to illustrate today’s feature.

It’s not often I see a brand that ticks all my boxes but Enrich and Endure has a fascinating story to tell of merging modern design with traditional craftsmanship, pushing the boundaries of an age old industry in a fresh and exciting way. Coincidentally Sarah loves telling stories so without further ado feast your eyes on the gorgeous product and read what Sarah had to say about how Enrich and Endure came to life.
 

Could you tell us a little about yourself and your family’s background?
We are from a very close family of three kids and a loyal black labrador, Lilly. We have a very tall and burly English father with a bushy beard and a love for sailing. He is now semi-retired from an eclectic career in business. He loves to pop into the studio now and again for a coffee and dispense some entrepreneurial advice to his infants. Our mother is a self-confessed health fanatic and yoga guru, originally from Ireland. She grew up on a farm and is the eldest of 10 kids.

 
What connects you with Ireland?
Ireland is our home. It’s an incredible country. There is so much to do if you love being outdoors and have a sense of adventure. We spend a lot of our time in the mountains rock climbing, biking and fell running. Ireland’s countryside is exceptionally beautiful, you just have to be prepared for a drop of rain now and then.

The night-life here is brilliant – there are funky bars and restaurants popping up all over Belfast and Dublin. The art and music scenes are also pretty great with many up-and-coming new artists and bands appearing out of the woodwork, such as Little Green Cars and Hozier. We have both taken time out to travel the world, to explore and seek pastures new but we both came back to the nest eventually. Home is home.

 

How does the manufacturing process work and are all your products made in Ireland?
They sure are! It’s something that is very important to us. All of our fabric is woven here, be it locally or in County Donegal. We have a studio in Banbridge where we make up our products. All of our fabrics come directly off the loom to us in loomstate. We do all our own washing and finishing. This is an easy enough exercise with 100% linen, it’s our wool and linen mixes that are the black magic to launder.

Washing and drying this mixed-medium from it’s raw state causes technical difficulties as the two fibres have different shrinkages and felting levels. Admittedly, there has been a fair share of shrunk and over-felted sample runs but thankfully now we have the art down to a tee. We have some incredible ladies who sew and finish our products in the Enrich and Endure team.

They sew on retro Juki industrial machines, all of which are older than ourselves. Cutting out is a big part of the production process; the linen especially has a mind of it’s own and will outrightly refuse to cut in a straight line unless pulled by the thread, which takes time and patience. Crafting our products by hand can certainly be a challenge but the reward of the finished product is undoubtedly worth it.

 

Could you tell us why Irish Linen is so special?
Irish linen is a natural product, it breathes, just like skin. It is world-renowned for being luxuriously soft giving it unrivalled comfort and feel. It has a lasting durability and is enriched with history meaning it may be handed down as an heirloom and treasured generations from now. An added advantage of linen is the fabric’s ability to age beautifully and become softer with washing.

The Irish Linen and weaving industry is an integral part of our heritage here in Ulster. We truly believe the Irish Linen industry is fascinating, it has just been forgotten about. Us young blooded go-getters; the next generation are going to reap up the past and plan to bring the industry back in a fresh and exciting way. Irish Linen weavers are now a rarity meaning we are incredibly fortunate to have one of the last world-renowned Irish Linen weavers right on our doorstep here in Banbrige. We are so grateful for the opportunity to embrace this weaving heritage whilst steering the boundaries of this industry in a young and creative manner.

What originally started off as a relatively small-scale local industry with the multitude of bleaching greens throughout the countryside; linen rapidly developed into large-scale manufacture with several mills being constructed along the banks of the Bann and around our hometown in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These gigantic mills and factories, with their trademark chimneys and large, square, red-bricked buildings with symmetrical rows of windows, still litter the County’s skyline. The industry needs to be revived and we believe we are up to the job.

 

Do you get a government grant for supporting your local community and continuing a tradition?
Yes, we have been fortunate enough to be eligible for start-up government funding and are involved in an ongoing fully funded product design project with the University of Ulster’s design department.

 

I’m intrigued as to how you come up with the product designs?
I (Sarah) am the designer. I work best from visually stimulating mood boards which plaster the walls of the studio. My inspirations and designs always come from real life experience, especially personal memories and travel inspirations. I have always kept a diary and sketch ideas down on paper and pin photos and magazine cuttings to the walls, I call it ‘artistic clutter’.

 

How do you split the work between yourself and your brother?
If you had told a young Sarah that when she grew up, she would be working day in day out with her older brother Lorcan, she probably would have kicked you in the shins and locked herself in her room. The reality these days couldn’t be more different. We work surprisingly well together, both having a similar style and share the same taste in design and business ideas.

Lorcan works on all things business and marketing He is in charge of making it all happen. He is super efficient and whizz on the computer. I’m in charge of all things creative, design and production and write our blog. I’m also a self-confessed post-it-note queen.

 
It sounds like an ideal – as well as idyllic – set-up. So what’s next?
Going forward we hope to design and create more innovative products in Irish Linen and wool mixed composition fabrics. We are passionate about designing more unique double damask designs. We have some extremely unique yarn mixes and intricate weaves in our collections that differentiate us from the crowd. Innovation is key to our future business model.

We are currently working on a project with Northern Ireland’s top design university, University of Ulster, on a new fabric for our Autumn/Winter range. Going forward we hope to work intimately with other artisan Irish weavers and do small limited edition collaborations with weavers, artists, designers and other creative like-minded people. We will also be launching a bedding collection in the near future which we are very excited about.

 
As a graphic designer I’d love to know a bit more about the branding process and how Enrich and Endure came to be. Who came up with the name?
We really struggled to come up with a name at the beginning before going back to the drawing board; to the basics of what we wanted the brand to represent and what values we wanted it to embody and there it was, scribbled down in block capitals on the original spider diagram: Enrich and Endure!
It has no hidden meaning, it is exactly what it says on the tin and that’s what we like about it. Our products will enrich a space and endure for countless years to come. It’s our brand name but in short it is also our ethos, a constant reminder of what we are ultimately trying to achieve – a sustainable business that will stand the test of time just like our products.

 
A wonderful combination of brand and values. Who made it all happen for you?
We are working with a company called Slater Design in Dublin, one of the top design companies in Ireland. Working out of Dublin gives us access to an all Ireland network of creative contacts. Slater Design was recommended to us by some friends in the Belfast graphic design scene. We have a brilliant working relationship with Slater’s and consider them an integral member of the Enrich and Endure team.

We wanted a commercial website which was clean and easy to navigate with an emphasis placed on good-quality photography and colour. The aim was for our guests to have a memorable visual experience when they visited our site. Needless to say, we are absolutely delighted with the final outcome.

 

As I mentioned in my intro I LOVE the logo. What does the bird stand for?
You mean our feathered friend, Phil Linnet!? Not to be mistaken for the lead singer of Thin Lizzy who just so happens to share a similar sounding surname. Interestingly though, they have more in common than just their names; they both grew up in Ireland and sing fantastic melodic tunes – however they both rock a slightly different kind of beat or should I say ‘tweet’. Human Phil, paraded an awesome fro in the 70’s and created one of the greatest bands to come out of the Emerald Isle.

Whereas, our little Phil, (in real life) has brown feathers, a big red–breast and a red patch on the top of his head. He also likes to feed on linen flax. That’s really why we love him so much. He loves Irish Linen and so do we. He nests on the corner of every Enrich and Endure product and perches at the top of our website, packaging and stationery.

 

To finish off, what are your other passions? And do they feed into the business?
For years Lorcan wore a smart cut suit, slouched over spreadsheets and sat bored in board meetings in a Walter Mitty state of mind.

In January 2013 he threw the toys out of the proverbial pram and decided he had enough. He ditched the tie, the hands-free and his THREE work phones, packed a 45cl rucksack, grabbed bucket and started ticking off his list. He travelled around the world for six months living the adventure he had always dreamt of. He made it all the way to Base Camp of Mt Everest before he came home full of bright ideas, souvenirs and with a big bushy beard. Back on home turf now he still lives for adventure.

His ethos is “Love your job and you won’t ever have to work a day”. Thankfully, he loves what he does and I don’t think he even realises it’s a full-time job.

LOVES | Skiing, Rock climbing, Diving, Wake boarding, Mountain biking and Guinness
DOES NOT LOVE | Anything at a slow pace or blue cheese

Me Sarah, I’m one of those cheesy designers who if you had asked when they were a kid what they wanted to be when they grew up, I would have answered, “An artist” – And I genuinely did. I was always a very creative child and driven towards design, convinced I would be the next big thing. I went to Manchester to study art at university where strangely my arty enthusiasm was surprisingly suppressed. I soon realised that actually, I hadn’t a clue what I wanted to do. I knew I didn’t want to get trapped in a career I didn’t feel passionately about.

And so I decided to go out into the big bad world and get some real experience. I travelled, I worked, I shadowed, I learnt new skills and most importantly: I had fun! I was living in New Zealand for a year where I spent time working for an interior designer when I realised I had finally figured out what I wanted to do.

I wanted to develop a business that curated beautiful products made in Ireland that told great stories. I love telling stories. I wanted to meet makers and create a community of like-minded creative people who work together in re-inventing Irish products in a fresh and unique way.

A few months after my return Lorcan also flew back to the nest. We talked for weeks on end about what would come next… and what did was Enrich and Endure.

LOVES | Yoga, Sunshine, Fell running, Cooking, Flee markets
DOES NOT LOVE | Shoes on the wrong feet, driving in cities

 
Thank you so, so much for your time and let me just say that you’re both exceptionally bright and talented people and may Enrich and Endure continue to develop and prosper. I can’t wait to catch up with you for the launch of your bedding collection.

 

 
MORE INFORMATION | Enrich and Endure
PHOTOGRAPHY | Matthew Thompson
 
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