Apprenticeships- celebrating a Masters of his craft: Mr William Phipps

This week is national apprentice week. With the price of University tuition fee’s and living going up, young people are opting for apprenticeships schemes rather then University.

With some professions, only an apprenticeship can actually train you for your role. In Japan apprenticeships were a normality. Young people flooded master craftsmen with requests to shadow and learn from a master. In some professions it is the only way forward.  Being trained by a master craftsman or women with a indisputable reputation is a gift in itself.  How else can you learn a detailed craft or making method other then standing by watching and aiding someone who has been doing it for years.

Without apprenticeships taking on a similar role as those in Japan, some English traditional crafts will soon dissolve and eventually be forgotten. How many of you know of any one who can make bobbin lace? It’s a beautiful process and produces an even more beautiful fabric. Something I wish I had paid more attention to when I was shown by a lovely lady who has now past away.

I want to tell you about a very special person whose beautiful crafted skill ended when he died in 2009 . Mr William Phipps aka Mr Bill Chipps.

I met Mr Phipps at egg.  He was the egg silversmith. His personality won me over and I think I was a little bit in love with him. His giggle, naughty grin and clumsy stuttering, normally while telling a joke kept everyone enthralled. The punch line was normally forgotten because everyone would be giggling too much. He turned up every year at Christmas to play a seasonal tune on his bicycle pump or on the silver spoons. He rode a bicycle and motorbike both which had a plastic nose taped to the front to replicate his own hooter. He swam in the Serpentine everyday. EVERYDAY. At Christmas he swam in fancy dress, a normal festive formality for him. 

He was kind, happy and wonderful man. And most importantly he made the most beautiful silver wear. He worked in his garage aided by his plastic soldiers that were placed in a marching regiment  to keep him company. Many a phone call to Bill, answered by Mrs Phipps, would be received with a broom pounded on the floor so that Mr Phipps knew he was wanted.

His silver pieces were the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Some commissions were 3-4 years long as he hand forged every spoon, fork, knife by hand. Despite his humour and character, his work remained professional and to time.

His spoons were what I loved the most. They were spoons, but very naughty spoons with lots of personality. Midget spoons, salt spoons, jam spoons, table spoons, ...the list goes on. He made a paddle spoon which he shared with egg. It was exactly as the name describes, a spoons to paddle with. More of a work of art then a functional object. When clients would ask me what you used a spoon of such size for, I would always answer with a smile the same way Mr Phipps would, "To paddle with". A glimpse at the £5000 price tag would always  add to the clients puzzlement.

I was lucky enough to be given one of Mr Phipps silver spoons. It will always be a treasured memory of my dear friend.

Without apprenticeship schemes special crafts and traditional making methods like Mr Phipps  will be forgotten too quickly. That is just too sad to think about.


To read more about Apprenticeship week click here
Read more about my very missed friend, Mr Phipps, click  here

Muse Music

I find that music inspires my mood, especially if I am feeling creative. I have been bought up with music blaring from a radio or from a music player of sorts and not always my own choice of music.

My Dad was renowned for his music tastes and collection and many a Sunday morning as a teenager I would find myself woken from my slumber to Cream, The Who, The Band or some other form of Eric Claptonesque music BLARRING from my Dads player VERY loudly! For most teenagers this is a bit of a role reversal. But for the Matthews clan, this was very much the norm. So when I moved in with Mr. Kircher, and his house of silence…well it was all a little too quiet for me.

Soon I had a player in most rooms and a lot of the time, all were on, playing some type of music, all at the same time. Something Mr. Kircher has had to learn to live with!

When Ida was born, I wanted to make sure I played the music I loved to her, normally LOUDLY. I choose to play my music rather then nursery rhymes or children’s clunky clonky music  as most parents choose to play. At only days old I was using loud music and bopping as a form of entertainment for her and sometimes also to soothe her. She has always been a little bit of a rock chic and already bops, shimmy’s, wiggles and sings in the back of the car as the radio blares out. She is like me; she doesn’t enjoy silence unless she chooses to contemplate for a little moment. We play and have fun with music…any music. And I often play a little of Clapton, The Who or Cream very loudly and tell her that this was her Granddaddy Allan’s favourite. Music was such an important part of my Dads interaction with my sisters and me. Without him around I am making sure she hears who he was as his music explains him well. And it is always played LOUDLY!

Me, My Daddy and my sisters Katie and Sarah

At u-ni-k HQ both Sarah and I have very different music tastes. Sarah is a radio 2 fan whereas I am very much an avid follower, listener and supporter of 6radio. Music inspires me, winds me up, calms me down and very much, is me. So while I’ve had my sewing machine out getting ready for the first Christmas craft fayres we are participating in over the next few weeks, I have been choosing carefully my music to listen to. Hoping it will inspire me and my love of aesthetic will come flooding back after being hidden in my back pocket for well over a decade. I was always a cutter, sticker, gluer, painter, drawer, moulder…just ask my Mum. I was the messy one that filled the bin with off cuts of unwanted paper and left the sink with paint splats. Luckily I have learnt to recycle and tidy a little better!

I have also leant to choose my music wisely.

Thinking about music choice made me stumble across this written piece by Edmund de Waal OBE. I met Edmund through working at egg. He showed his work at egg during it's very early years and now flourishes with his prestigious work being shown at the V&A. He is an amazing potter, writer and teacher. His apprentices are renowned for being “his” apprentices. And he too finds muse music very important.

Enjoy reading about his playlist, seeing his minimal, understated beautiful installation of ceramics and most importantly listeaning. I myself am sitting back and spending a moment listening to his muse music while my little ones sleep. 

Click here

 *Our ceramicist, Helen Beard apprenticed with Edmund de Waal. See her whimsical, naughty pots here

Cashmere- LOVE IT & WEAR IT…and WASH IT so you can WEAR IT again!

Cashmere thrives with love and care. Just like a baby! And such a lovely thought...as I had always thought cashmere was a fragile difficult fibre.

 I have been incredibly spoilt. I didn’t own a piece of cashmere until I worked at egg, my last place of employment.  I always thought before egg, it was a fibre/material that should be looked at and not touched, or kept in your wardrobe for special occasions. Only that occasion never arouse so it would sit there and never be worn.  Or was simply worn by rich ladies as twin sets with pearls. How wrong was I!!

Whilst working at egg I was given an a few amazing cashmere pieces. One that I will always treasure is a navy blue sweater by Sine of Yarmood that I wear as I type. To simple describe it …it feels like home.

I have worked with Sine for many years and have grown to love her pieces slowly over time. Not because they weren't beautiful but because I was always a little scared of the peices. I was at first too frightened to wear a piece of her gorgeous cashmere. I now am never out of my lovely jumper! Once had had a peice on it was never coming off! It’s perfect for sleeping in as it’s super soft and breathable. It has no ego and simply is what it is. Beautiful and sublime.

Nest of hats-  newborn, 3-6 months, 6-12 months

Sine is a master of her craft. After the birth of her twin daughters, Francesca and Sicily, many moons ago, Sine set to work teaching herself how to machine knit after being unsatisfied with the cashmere baby products available. She knitted simple pieces to ensure ease when dressing her twins and items that can be easily worn by both little boys and girls.

Sine’s mathematical approach to knitting means that each piece must work out and balance proportionally to be able to pass the Sine test aesthetically. If the sums do not work out or feel unbalanced a whole piece is changed to “balance” the mathematics behind it!

Samson in his Yarmood jumper

The result is an understated, unpretentious, precious pieces that can be treasured for life. Cashmere is one of the few materials that grow softer and more beautiful with age.  The Yarmood cashmere pieces when worn give warmth and protection. Perfect for our little ones.

Ida & Sam in Yarmood sweaters 

We’ve been lucky enough to have Yarmood join our family of makers. And even luckier now that we have Yarmood baby versions of my lovely jumper. 






Samson is especially lucky to have a little jumper of his own to match Mummies! We have Jumpers that will be worn with love, we'll love wearing, they'll protect us from the cold and last forever and ever. Mummy just needs to make sure she puts them on the right temperature in the washing machine!

Simply beautiful!

Lucky us x


Thank you Yarmood for creating such wonderful pieces!
Read my little story about "MY" cashmere here. 

Taking over the world with Florals by David Earp, founder of Shuktara

With the gorgeous mention of our baby blankets in ST Kids (Sunday Telegraph) by Daisy Bridgewater, we have asked the orginator of the blankets, David Earp to tell us about his story of how he started his gorgeous charity Shukara and about his love of florals. Without florals the world would be most certainly a very dull place! So celebrate florals with Shuktara and u-ni-k.


The shuktara blog, by my very dear friend David Earp.

The Shuktara family

I was delighted when I found out that Anna, who I had known from egg in London, was going to start up an online company, with a friend, selling beautiful heirloom products for children.  I met Anna at egg some years ago, when I started selling my blankets there.  As Maureen who owns the store was choosing her designs, Anna and I hatched our own evil plan to take over the world with florals.

Shuktara girls gang *

Before coming to India at the end of 1998 and starting shuktara (www.shuktara.net) I had been working at Portobello Market selling vintage clothing and textiles.  Then on one of my trips to India I visited Calcutta and decided to start a home for children with disabilities who had no family to care for them.  I gave up my flat share, sold my car, closed down my stall and packed a bag for India.

Many friends of mine came out to visit and as much as they were delighted to see what had been created for these children and young people, they were concerned about my passion for textiles and often asked me why I wasn’t doing anything.  It just wasn’t the right time for me then.

Shuktara Girls, photo by Paula Harrowing

Some years later I saw very dilapidated blankets lying on the roofs of people’s homes.  They seemed to be layer upon layer of random textiles and on further investigation I discovered what I like to call village kantha.  With little spare money for people to buy blankets in the colder season, they would stitch together old pieces of lungi/sarong or bed sheet, sari or dupatta – layering them and patching them as they went along, finally finishing off the entire piece with a running stitch.  I loved this mismatch of textiles, the worn upper layer suddenly revealing a vibrant check or a faded floral underneath and so I decided to try and recreate the same thing myself.  With the help of my staff and women from their villages I made a handful of oddments.

David outside the boys house with Ramesh and Sunhil

I carried this bag of kantha blankets with me on a holiday to Goa, to show some friends of mine, who immediately snatched them off me and told me that they would take them to show Maureen at egg.  I was almost immediately contacted by Anna about egg having exclusivity on my blankets for about 6 months and Maureen’s beautiful store has continued to support us by stocking shuktara products.

In a world that is frequently seen as selfish and uncaring and only out for oneself, I have continually been moved by Maureen’s generosity of spirit in passing our products and our charity and myself on to other clients, rather than hold on to me – with the exclusivity tag.  It therefore came as no surprise when Anna asked me to work with her on some exclusive baby blankets for u-ni-k of course with Maureen’s blessing.

The beautiful baby blankets 

It has been wonderful for me to work (again) 
with Anna on this new project, pushing for 
everyone to start enjoying hand made 
one of a kind beautiful imperfection – 
and our evil plan to take over the world 
with floral …. continues







http://www.shuktara.net/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/shuktara/117414948032
http://www.eggtrading.com

*Image includes Prity, Tamina, Ipshita, Riya and Lali with Priyanka (holding Prity) their tutor, Nandita their activity co-ordinator and Tenaya & April (Gallaudet University interns)