We recently connected with Kirsty Norris and have shared our conversation below.
Kirsty, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. undefined
I have been developing my skills as a Textile Designer for 28 years now, and after this extensive training I have decided to start my own brand “House of Norris”. My brand is my passion and shows after decades that discipline and dedication to creating can lead to wonderful things! After designing for and working with a large bedding and homewear supply company for many years I had the opportunity to develop my own brand- with its very own unique style. Due to the success of previous designs selling well in the industry the company Deyongs have backed and supported my brand helping it break through into some of the leading retailers on the high street, such as Debenhams, Home Sense, Tk Maxx and Daniels Department Stores, Windsor- not mention many independant boutiques accross the UK within the AIS Group of retailers. My recent win was getting the brand into Blue Diamond Garden Centres, a chain of 45 High end garden centres accross the UK.
Kirsty, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
“Hello, I’m Kirsty Norris BA (Hons), a printed and embroidered textile designer with 28 years experience designing bedding. Designing textiles for the home has been the focus of my career for many years, and after all these years experience I have decided to start my very own brand, House of Norris. My love for design has led me to create products I am truly inspired by. I aim to bring high end design into a place that can be accessible for more people. I want them to make their homes beautiful- with high end designs with impeccable attention to detail that lights up a room and makes a home really special. Inspired mostly by nature I draw and paint animals, foliage and flowers- my work is extremely detailed and I love to add pattern and colour to produce vivid and eye-catching designs. I have developed a style that I want to stand out as my own. I lost my father a few years ago and I would absolutely love to continue his family name through my brand, and show my children and family that if you are passionate about something and you work hard at it – you can achieve your dreams!
Born in Chichester in the UK I was brought up in a small village in the heart of the Sussex countryside called Steyning. “I loved Art and everything about design, it was a flare and a passion of mine from the outset”. I was strongly supported by my family who saw how much passion I had for art. “All I did was paint and draw! My dad bought me an easel for my birthday one year, it was all I ever wanted! I could get lost in art which was my happy place all those years ago and still is to this day”
I was always inspired by art, and loved painting and drawing. After many years of painting and drawing at home in 1994 I went on to start a 2 year BTEC National Diploma at Brighton College of Technology and specialised in textiles. I was leaning towards expressing myself through embroidery, which to this day I am still strongly passionate about. “My dream was to go to art college, it was all I had ever wanted to do! It enabled me to try a variety of mediums from graphics, to metal work, to textiles. I loved textiles the most and felt really comfortable behind a sewing machine”.
After completing my Dilploma in 1996 I went on to study Fashion Textiles with Business Studies to complete a BA (Hons) at The University of Brighton. In 1999 I went to on to do a series of placements in my year out as part of the course where I moved to London to work in London at a company called “Gilbey and Cheyne”. The ladies that ran this design studio based in Hackney, Louise Gilbey and Sarah Cheyne gave me a shot at achieving my dream, and gave me a 6 month placement where they helped me learn a design technique that lead to me selling many designs, for home wear and fashion. They taught me everything I needed to know to help me become an accomplished designer. I sold a lot of my design work in the UK, America, Paris, Italy and Japan. I attended many trade shows around the globe with Gilbey and Cheyne and also went on to complete a placement at Clarrisa Hulse in Angel Islington, and London Portfolio in New York; a busy design studio in the Fashion District in the center of Manhattan. In this time frame I sold my work to Anne Klein, Liz Claiborne, Bed Bath and Table, Talbots, and Ralph Lauren. In the UK I sold to Marks and Spencer, Selfridges, House of Fraser, Debenhams, The Pier, Heals, BHS, John Lewis, Next, Kookai, Ted Baker, and Caroline Charles. I travelled to Paris many times to exhibit her work at Premiere Vision (A fashion trade show) , to New York to exhibit at Surtex (a surface design fair) and Germany to exhibit at Hiemtex, a home textiles trade fair.
After finishing my placement year I went on to complete my 4 year degree at University of Brighton in the year 2000. After my degree I was offered a permanent position designing for Gilbey and Cheyne.
“I just want to make reference to Louise Gilbey, an amazing woman, mother, and dear friend who gave me the break I needed to help me to become a designer, and continued to help me develop my skills for many years to help launch my career and let me do something that meant so much to me- to become a textile designer. She helped me achieve my dreams, and that means so much. She helped me get my next big break, an opportunity to move to Australia and start my dream job. I was living the dream! But I couldn’t have achieved any of this if Louise hadn’t been there as my supporter and mentor.”
I had told Louise I’d like to travel with my work so when exhibiting at a Paris trade fair an Australian Company called KAS Australia approached Louise and saw the potential in my work. They offered me a job to come join their team there designing bedding and cushions in Sydney, Australia. Of course I could not turn down this offer- so off I went, on a new adventure, a new opportunity, that would carve the direction of my work for the rest of my career. My time there started in 2003 and I continued to produce designs in the home sector- designing the companies best selling product to date at the time, and I continued to design many best sellers for them for a further 7 years until 2009. “KAS Australia was the making of my career, and I want to thank everyone there for having the patience with me for so many years- I really grew up whilst I was over there and it was the experience of a life time! I got to travel, learn all the design computer programs, and refine my skills to another level” In Sydney I sold my work to Myer, Freedom, David Jones, Holy sheet, and Adair’s.
I moved back to the UK after 4 years in Australia and continued to work for KAS for a further 3 years. I then felt it was time to start my own brand, so in 2009 Koodle Doodle Design was born, a children’s bedding brand. Koodle Doodle featured in many high street stores, such as WJ Daniel & Co Ltd, Elphicks, Cargo, Debenhams, TK Maxx, Tudor Williams, Rainbow Wood, Selfridges, Barkers Department Stores, Rackhams, Beales, Bentalls, Barrets of Woodbridge, Knights of Reigate, Eddershaws, A Space, The Great Little Trading Company and many many others. The brand sold in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Although I loved working in the children’s sector I felt I needed to be designing more so I opened my Design Studio “Swatch Loft” where I could express my passion through her printed and embroidered textiles.
I also took on a variety of freelancers to add to my range, and took many students on to help them sell and develop their design work ready for industry. I worked with many companies with Swatch Loft, such as Marks and Spencers, Delbanco Meyer, Kylie at Home, Bed Bath and Table, Dunelm Mill, Sainsburys, Asda, Turner Bianca, Also Home, John Lewis, and KAS Australia. I also developed a relationship with a home wear, bedding, towel, and throw company called Deyongs, with whom I produced bedding designs for for a period of 5 years. I continued to exhibit at trade fairs such as Premier Vision Paris and Hiemtextil in Frankfurt Germany. In this time I also freelanced for Gilbey and Cheyne, Alistair Boyd and Am Creative. I would produce embroidery designs that sold across the globe. A lot of these companies asked me to do commissioned work to a more specific brief.
To become an ambassador of the textiles industry I started an exciting and informative trend magazine called “Write on Trend”, and also launched “Learn 2 Design” where I would teach my skills in textiles to post graduates. This included preparation of CAD artworks for production, embellishment and embroidery and printed textiles, focusing on improving my client’s portfolios to help them enter into industry. Learn 2 Design was an excellent opportunity to lecture in various Universities such as University of Portsmouth and the Royal School of Embroidery. I would give lectures and assist the students with many projects there and develop the students skills in textiles.
In December 2013 I became Creative Director for Shandong Wonder Group in China and was director for all UK and European Customers including Laura Ashley, Dunelm Mill, Also Home, Waitrose, and Turner Bianca. I designed printed and embroidered bedlinen for all European customers. I also managed sales for above companies and all UK clients, and worked to customer briefs. I travelled regularly to China and Australia to grow the market there, and assisted trade fairs in Germany. I also managed collections from designers from head office and worked to researched trends putting together ranges of my own and other designer’s work. I would travel to China regularly to the vast factory in Shandong, and give lectures to the design team there to teach them western design that could sell in Europe.
After designing embroidery for many years after the recession the embroidery market became too expensive to produce for bedding, so I worked hard on improving my drawing skills. I started to design print designs more as this allowed for more coverage and was cheaper for the textiles mills to produce- and digital printing had started to become a key way to print onto cotton. So inspired mainly by nature and flowers, I would produce fresh designs based on current and forthcoming trends. My designs ranged from contemporary/directional, chic/sophisticated, and traditional to classic. I would use various computer programs to aid me with full size layouts, and printed repeats for factories to work with. A lot of my design work was created digitally, and the hand painted work could be scanned in photoshop and I would create full size repeats and panel prints. “I see a bedlinen design as a massive canvas and I loved working on large detailed design more”
Over the coming years I continued to work in textiles, designing for Deyongs 1846, and working as Creative Director for Nimsay Ltd Fashion and Home and designing bedding for Vistex a textile supplier in Pakistan.
In 2018 I was offered a full time position as Creative Director Europe for Momtex Pakistan where I worked for clients in the UK such as Marks and Spencer’s, JD Williams, Kaleidoscope, and many others. I would hand paint foliage and flowers and also drew in pencil, allowing a more detailed look.
In 2020 I began my 5th company “The Blissful Pineapple” where I produced home products for children with personalisation. Despite Covid hitting I was still extremely driven and had the need to create. When I was designing my son William’s nursery I became inspired by children’s products and began to create products using my skills in embroidery.
With each business I was learning how to create a brand, from the look of the brand, from concept to logo design. Although my brand “The Blissful Pineapple” did well on various platforms such as Etsy, the products were taking too long to create and I missed the design phase, so I decided to start an adults home wear brand “House of Norris” where I could own the copyright of each design and use it on a variety of home wear products. Deyong’s the company I had already worked with for many years that I had created many best selling print designs for showed a huge interest in “House of Norris”, so we worked closely together to produce the first bedding and home collection “The Great Outdoors”. This was a huge opportunity for me to be able to get my products out there. A man named Sean Cook who I had met when I was working for Delbanco and Meyer, who worked with Deyong’s closely on their bedding ranges took me under his wing. He could see the potential in the House of Norris brand. “I want to give reference to Sean, he had become a good friend and was so supportive for me and he made “House of Norris” happen for me. “He saw my vision and has mentored and nurtured me through this process, making my dreams a reality. I love working with Sean, Daniel and Oliver Deyong, who really are a pleasure to design for! I want to thank them for giving House of Norris the chance to grow and emerge as a luxury brand that can be accessible to everyone”
I have finished the 3rd season “The Detail in Nature” which is the strongest Collection, and is in the production process as we speak. Season 2 “The Rising Moon” and my first range “The Great Outdoors” feature 6 designs for each and are all based on animals, flowers, foliage and birds. Both seasons are in stock and are in the market place right now. It is all hand drawn and digitally produced on Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I have designed every part of the brand from logo to signature look, and every single part of the brand, even the packaging. The brand particularly has a British feel- with British woodland and creatures, but also has many elements from nature all over the globe, with a tropical edge.
I am currently working on the 4th Season, which is the best work I have ever produced! “The Fabric of Time”. This Season I have focused on detailed animals and endangered creatures. Each design I produce has a message and theme and I try to depict this with my detailed work. I aim to now produce classic designs that will last the test of time and will hopefully remain core designs within the House of Norris range.
I still design for Deyongs for their own ranges still creating some of their best sellers. I also design logos and graphics, and create brands for private customers. I am also a complete nail technician, and do hand painted designs on my clients nails. “I have always wanted to be a nail technician and I’m in my happy place when doing my clients nails” which I match with their outfits for special occassions. “It’s a little side line of mine that I’m truly passionate about! Its called “Trendy Tips Nail Artistry”
But my main focus is “House of Norris” and I am dedicated to my brand. “I truly hope everyone gets behind the brand and wants my products in their home. I am living my dream, and I hope people love and cherish all the products I have worked so hard to produce”
Take a look at this labour of love I have produced on www.houseofnorris.co.uk
“Thankyou so much. Love from Kirsty BA (Hons) xxx”
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
When I worked in Australia with the homewear brand KAS Australia, due to the nature of the business being a middle man, between foreign suppliers and retail, I learnt all about the manufacture of bedding, and how to produce the design files that the factories could use. At this time digital printing had not come out yet and the factories used rotary printing. This meant the designs needed to be seperated into 12 colours and in certain repeat sizes. It also meant the MOQs where huge, depending on at least 2000 units per design. It was a great experience learning the CAD programs and learning how to get the designs onto the computer ready in the correct repeat sizes for production. It was a real learning curve and I still use a lot of the repeat information I learnt to produce designs today. The industry experience I learned there was invaluable and helped me improve on my skills designing repeat patterns to sell moving forward. I learnt how to liase with the factories, prepare artwork ready for production, and to produce collections for comercial use. Nowadays the production process is very different- the main way to print onto cotton is now digital- and you can use as many colours as you like- and work on the design as a whole canvas that covers the whole bed. This has allowed me to push boundaries with House of Norris to produce forward thinking artworks that are fully on trend and irresistable to my consumers. The company “Deyongs” have backed my brand and put it into production using factories that use digital printing which means they don’t have to commit to huge quantities- so they could test the market more with my products. So digital printing has been a turning point for the industry.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In total House of Norris is my 6th Business. It has taken me so much resilience because I have never thought of any of these previous businesses as being a failure. It is having the mind set of an entrepreneur. I have never failed in business- I have only learnt huge lessons and every single one of my businesses have got me to where I am today with House of Norris. Moving forwards with this business has helped me see that people who are successful have been unafraid of failure, are not afraid to take risks and are prepared to get up one more time. I will never give up in my business and I will always strive to do my best. I have 3 children to prove to that if you are disciplined and you follow a path that excites you you can never fail. When you are passionate about your craft- whatever that may be, people see that and generally get behind you, and that is what helps you to succeed!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.houseofnorris.co.uk
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houseofnorris_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551712667142
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirsty-norris-2771a832/
