Introducing House of Amitie

House of Amitie is a young homeware brand translating marbling techniques into fabric, wallpaper, cushions and accessories. Here, in their own words, they share their brand story.

The colourful and magical world of House of Amitie sprang to life in late 2022 with an official website launch in Spring 2023.

Our independent and sustainable interiors brand was co-founded by lifelong friends Jemma Lewis & Angela Bush who met at secondary school before attending art foundation together then going their separate ways at university and beyond.

Angela spent 20 years as a footwear and accessories buyer for well-known British retailers and Jemma, after working at a bookbinders for several years, set up the studio of Jemma Lewis Marbling & Design which is run full time by Jemma and her husband Craig.

A move back to Wiltshire for Angela enabled us to spend more time together and set in motion the beginnings of our luxury interiors brand.

Our business name came easily as ‘Amitie’ means friendship which is at the heart of our business.

Both Jemma and Angela saw an opportunity to bring together their respective skills, Angela for her in-depth knowledge of the textile industry and manufacturing and Jemma for her hand marbling and experience running a small business. Our wish was to take the heritage and time-honoured craft of paper marbling and to create a collection based on these designs that could be used in interiors, both domestic and commercial.

We are a brand whose provenance begins at the marbling tray in Jemma’s studio, creating designs using techniques that have been around for hundreds of years. The earliest form of marbling is called ‘Suminagashi’ which translated means floating ink as ink was organically yet simply floated on water. Traditional marbling which we focus on is a more colourful and intricate way to create designs often using various tools and handmade combs to create a diverse range of patterns.

The process begins by floating Gouache paints on to a thick and viscous substance which is derived from Irish Seaweed, whilst still organic in its nature the marbler can control the overall look of the design.

Once we have chosen our designs, we hand them over to our friend Nicky who with skill and experience is able to translate them into a digital repeat to create beautiful seamless marble printed wallpapers and fabrics. We ensure our designs are always as close to the original marbling as possible and that repeats are hidden to provide the effect of hand marbling.

Sustainability is a large part of our brand and is very important to us. By digitally printing and printing on-demand we are consuming less energy and water than more traditional methods and are reducing waste by printing un-necessarily. Our wallpaper print house is a 0% to landfill manufacturer with all waste recycled. The designs are printed with water-based, non-toxic inks and the mica fibrous finish used on some of our wallpapers is partially made from recycled plastic bottles!

Marbling is classified as an endangered craft but has grown in popularity over the last decade. People have begun to see it as a wonderful unique pattern and design resource, no longer confined to antique books, which has been its main stay over the centuries.

Whilst it’s been frequently used to make lampshades in recent years, we can offer designs in an array of products from wallpapers – we are planning to launch two new designs and various fabrics to cushions, decorative bows, which we recently launched, and our own range of lampshades alongside tablecloths and napkins which we are currently working on.

As it is often bold and impactful, marbling works beautifully within interiors where you might wish to add a statement, inject some colour, or simply create a talking point. Many of our patterns consist of both matching wallpapers and fabrics for those, like us, who love marble-on-marble, but for those looking to inject a more sparce artistic touch to their interior a simple cushion, bow or lampshade is a great place to begin.

Our brand will only ever offer marbled designs which I think makes us quite unique. As marbling is so varied there is a wealth of pattern and colour that we can’t wait to share with you all in many different guises.

This Autumn will see the release of our decorative bows which will be followed by tablecloths and napkins and 2 new wallpaper designs.

We strive to merge traditional craftsmanship with décor for the contemporary home whist creating pieces with less focus on trends and throwaway design but on something that can hopefully be an heirloom of the future.

For more information and to view all wallpaper and fabric collections please visit houseofamitie.com

Written by Jemma Lewis & Angela Bush

House of Amitie is part of our Textile & Wallcovering Source Book carefully curated for interior designers and studios. Please contact us to request a digital copy.

DISCOVER ANOTHER INDEPENDENT INTERIORS BRAND HERE.