Clothes designer Margaret Howell has a long history of supporting British designers in other disciplines whose work she admires.
Her Wigmore Street shop has hosted exhibitions celebrating the endeavours of, among others, Eric Lyons (Span houses), Anglepoise and Ercol furniture, and in the past year she has collaborated on clothing ranges with industrial designers Kenneth Grange and Sam Hecht.
Now she is lending her imprimatur to the work of Grimsby-born painter and printmaker Charles Bartlett, represented by the Emma Mason Gallery, showcasing a series of etchings inspired by the East Anglian coastline, a place that is particularly close to her heart.
'There is something in coastal East Anglia that makes a painter want to paint, a photographer to frame, and a composer to make music,' says Howell. 'An open landscape and seascape whose natural elements are constantly renewed by shifting light from the enormous skies. Always changing, always challenging.'
On display are eight semi-abstract studies of sailing boats and coastal landscape by the artist who has lived for much of his life in East Anglia. All eight prints are for sale and have come directly from Bartlett's studio.