Cliq Designs showed just what they can do at The Sleep Event in November, and created an impact with their ski-chic themed boutique hotel set.
Working together with melin tregwynt, who weave the welsh woollen cloth at their family owned mill in Pembrokeshire, Cliq created a range of soft woollen quilted throws and cushions aimed at the boutique hotel market. With quilting ideas based on knitting, antlers, logs, snow, birch trees – it was all there for the first time – and the hotel world loved it.What makes Cliq and melin tregwynt so unique is that they are both small UK based family owned manufacturing companies, with increasingly global markets. For Adam and Liz Bolton and Eifion and Amanda Griffiths -the two husband and wife teams at the top of these two busy much more than ‘craft’ companies , it really is about getting out there and doing it yourself! And what makes them stand out is their passion for the new, for being able to work with and develop fresh ideas for the design world- and more importantly, being able to convert those ideas into real product with UK production, right here in our (not completely lost ) Land of Hope and Glory!
Cliq is based in the traditional textile heartlands of Lancashire, but the majority of its work is in the 4* and 5* hotels in London and Europe. “Everything is bespoke, no two days are alike, always something new to be made for an exciting project we’ve been brought into” says Adam Bolton, Managing Director. Working with some of the major hotel chains they have proved they can manage larger projects on a European wide scale, but it’s the attention to detail that keeps the customers coming back over the 26 years that Cliq has been operating from its Preston base. Recent projects include the Grosvenor House Apartments on Park Lane, Corinthia Hotel Spa and the whole of the Marriott Hotels estate in the UK.
“We can take a theme, any theme, and develop quilting patterns to suit the project, working with the structure of the fabric to find something unique for the client”, says Liz Bolton, Design Director.” I’m secretly quite pleased that ski-chic is having a bit of a moment in the world of fashion right now, as I’ve always had a thing for the simplicity of Scandinavian design- I lived in Sweden when I was younger. I really believe that quilting can express purity of design, through simple graphic images on tactile cloth. Beautiful fabrics treated well speak to people; it’s very satisfying to create something that gives people real pleasure – they just want to reach out and touch. And what better way to support the sustainability issues that face us all right now, than to promote British made goods from cloth produced on our own shores. We were thrilled to get such a positive response to our home-grown design input, (as we are usually on the receiving end of a designer’s ideas!) especially from a number of Scandinavian visitors to the stand.”
Talking of the stand, Liz commented: “Being able to do pretty much anything when it comes to soft furnishings can be tricky to communicate, so teaming up with set designers Rooms Service we were able to discipline ourselves to stick with one simple theme and show how that can be played out across a number of elements in a room: throw, cushions, bed valance, headboard, fabric wall panels as artwork – even quilted bedside tables! We are unique in that we offer a lot of skills under one roof including a range of both hand and machine guided quilting options, blanket stitched edges and mitred borders and embroidery. And of course we can respond quickly with samples to ensure a project can get accepted – it’s in our interests to be as helpful as we can!”
If you want further details on how Cliq can help your projects contact Adam Bolton at adam@cliqdesigns.co.uk, tel: 01772 628141
