Evening Standard - Valentine's Day Homeware Gifts

Thanks very much to Barbara Chandler from the Evening Standard for featuring Body Lace voile in her round up of Valentine's Homewares. Read the full article here.

A clutch of UK female designers are celebrating sexuality with a passion, beauty and wit that will bring romance into your home on Valentine’s Day and beyond.

In Islington today, a saucy “nude net curtain” is currently raising eyebrows at The Surface Design Show.

Show this page for free admission until 9pm tonight, and 5pm tomorrow.

It’s a collaboration between furnishing entrepreneur Charlotte Raffo of new brand Monkey Puzzle Tree and artist Sarah Jane Palmer, whose erotic drawings are known for their visual tricks.

On a visit to Palmer’s London studio, Raffo spotted a sketch of lovers in an erotic embrace inspired by a 5th century Greek plate.

The artist’s great great grandfather was a Nottingham Lace designer, and this was her amatory update. Raffo made this happen.

She tracked down a heritage print works in Lancaster, whose “burn-out” technique partly dissolves fibres in a fabric leaving transparent areas, for a lace effect.

Body Lace voile is in nude or a limited edition black, in a viscose/polyester mix, at £78 a metre.

“Nets are intended to hide and obscure,” says Palmer. “And mine have an extra layer of concealment, as you probably won’t spot the erotic imagery at first glance.”