Introducing the woman born in 1886 who inspired our Gawthorpe collaboration

Some patterns have more of a story to tell than others.

Our collaboration with Gawthorpe Textiles takes designs from an extraordinary historic textile collection and gives them a new life underfoot. Patterns that began on fabrics many decades — and sometimes centuries — ago can now become part of your own home.

And behind them is quite a story.

Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth MBE was born in 1886 and lived through an extraordinary period of social and cultural change. She was a talented maker, teacher, philanthropist and social activist, with a lifelong passion for textiles and craft.

During her life, Rachel collected more than 11,000 samples of fabric, tools and objects, preserving not just beautiful things but the techniques, ideas and stories behind them.

Rachel’s ambition was to create a craft house where her collection could be kept and her knowledge and expertise shared.

Today, the collection has grown to more than 30,000 items. It is housed at her childhood home, National Trust property Gawthorpe Hall, with the collection cared for by the charity Gawthorpe Textiles.

It is an extraordinary archive of pattern, colour and textile history — and the starting point for this collection.

So, what does that have to do with your floor?

For the Floor & More collaborated with Gawthorpe Textiles to create a collection of patterned vinyl flooring inspired by fabric samples from Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth’s archive.

Rather than simply recreating those textiles, the patterns have been adapted for a completely different surface and brought into new colourways. It means you can choose a floor with genuine history behind it, without your room having to feel like it belongs to another era.

Each design is named after someone in Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth’s family, adding another little piece of the collection’s story.

Selina is named after Selina Adine Bridgeman, who married Captain Lawrence Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth. Lawrence was killed in action during the First World War, leaving Selina with a family to bring up.

The pattern itself began life on a silk dress from around 1950. Its botanical forms have been adapted into new colourways, giving you very different ways to bring the same piece of textile history into a room.

Look beyond the story and choose the version that works for you. The pattern may have come from an archive, but what happens next is entirely yours.

Next is Blanche, adapted from a silk design dating from around 1900.

The design is named after Rachel Kay-Shuttleworth’s mother, who married the 1st Baron Shuttleworth, Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth, in 1871.

The original geometric textile was a light jade green, and that heritage can still be seen in the softer sage version of Blanche. Other colourways take the same pattern somewhere completely different.

That is one of the things we like most about working with archive pattern: its history is fixed, but the way you use it isn’t. Choose the colour that catches your eye and let it become part of a room that is completely your own.

This design is Janet, named after Janet Shuttleworth.

Janet was the reason the Kay-Shuttleworth name was created. She was heiress to the Gawthorpe Hall estate, and when she married Dr James Kay in 1842, the family name became Kay-Shuttleworth.

Another family story, another pattern given a new setting — this time underfoot.

And then there is Eve.

Eve is named after Eve de Hulton, the wife of Henry De Shotilworth. She was the first Shuttleworth to live at Gawthorpe and built the Pele Tower to defend against Scottish attacks all the way back in 1325.

The floral pattern comes in two very different palettes: a softer yellow with pink and white accents, and a richer green with touches of salmon and fuchsia.

Same pattern, different feeling. Which one belongs in your room is very much up to you.

A little history. A lot of possibility.

The wonderful thing about these designs is that you don’t need to know their history to love them.

You might be drawn to a colour first. Or a particular repeat. Or simply spot one that makes you imagine your own room differently.

The archive gives each pattern its story. You get to give it the next one.

Explore the Gawthorpe Textiles Collection and see which designs catch your eye.

For more flooring ideas, explore our patterned vinyl flooring inspiration.