We are delighted to introduce ‘Janwardar’, the result of a collaboration between the Royal School of Needlework Archive and Welland & Wye, a boutique producer of crewelwork fabric for interiors.

“I approached the RSN to see if we could work together,” explains Frances Barber, founder of Welland & Wye. “It was a long-held goal of mine to find a beautiful archival piece and resurrect it for use as material for soft furnishings.”

Projects like this demonstrate how historic needlework can inspire contemporary interiors while supporting skilled hand embroidery, and the RSN was delighted to forge a new partnership.

Working closely with Anne Butcher (Head of Studio and Standards), the RSN Embroidery Studio team created a new design inspired by an archival document attributed to an artist known simply as ‘Schneider’.

The final pattern was embroidered in Kashmir, India, by a family team of artisans with whom Frances’ family has worked for over twenty years.

“The embroidery wool and cotton backcloth are dyed by hand. The embroiderers work on the fabric in the winter months, when their farm animals are brought into the villages to shelter from the harsh Himalayan climate,” explains Frances.

Using an ‘aari’ needle, the team of embroiderers work on bolts of fabric to create a beautifully naturalistic cloth that is highly sought after by interior designers and homemakers alike.

Anne remembers, “One of our biggest challenges was adapting from the fine embroidery that we do in the Studio to the larger canvas of this fabric. We needed to simplify the design and use just one stitch that could be created using the aari.”

The resulting fabric, Janwardar (pronounced JAN-war-dar), means ‘bird design’. It is a joyful, colourful pattern, ideal for curtains, blinds, cushions and upholstery across the home.

This collaboration highlights the RSN Archive’s role as a living resource, inspiring contemporary design while preserving historic needlework traditions. RSN members may be particularly interested in seeing how archival designs can be translated into large-scale textile production.

To see Anne and Frances discussing the creation of Janwardar, click here.

Shop ‘Janwardar’ fabric here