THE RIVERWOOD STORY
The seed for Riverwood Bridal was planted in my childhood. Since being taught to sew by my Nan at a very young age, I had a passion for textiles and dressmaking. Along with a fascination for wedding dresses and couture gowns. This led to me studying a fashion design degree and eventually taking a gap year and booking a month long, textiles tour in India. I was hoping to complete first hand research for my dissertation and return with lots of fabrics, inspiration and new skills to complete my final collection.
Little did I know, the trip would be such an incredible experience and have a profound impact on my entire future. Now, all these years down the line, it continues to inspire me on a daily basis.
During that month, I was lucky enough to witness many talented artisans at work, using traditional textile and craft techniques, that have been passed down through families for generations. We were treated as welcome guests in their villages. They provided us with food, demonstrations of how they work and even taught us some of their techniques. The memories of sitting on the floor of a mud hut in Dhordo village, being taught embroidery (among many others) are memories I will treasure forever. The mud hut was beautifully decorated, with incredible mirrored mud work on the walls, along with handcrafted quilts and embroideries.
The trip was incredibly humbling and I had a new found respect for the simple things in life, that we very often take for granted.
These families had very little, but they took so much pride in their work and used absolutely everything that they could. Materials were recycled, items repurposed and the sense of happiness and respect we witnessed in these communities was incredible.
During one of our workshops, a lady from our tour group offered her reading glasses to an elderly Indian lady, who was visibly struggling with the intricate embroidery in the low light. She didn’t speak English, but her reaction and the look on her face told us absolutely everything. She was so dedicated to struggling through, and continuing with her work. It brought tears to all of our eyes and she kept the glasses! Little moments like that stay with you and I like to keep these thoughts and memories at the forefront of my mind when I work. I’m so appreciative of the skills I have and it’s for this reason that I put my heart and soul into everything I create. I especially enjoy producing unique gowns that make each of my brides feel special and will possibly become sentimental heirlooms for future generations.
Following the trip, I completed my degree and after graduation I decided to take a risk and become self employed. I set up a dressmaking business in North Somerset making bespoke bridal wear and offered a clothing alteration service. I loved it and it became my career for the next 10 years. I particularly liked that I was making such sentimental garments and the alteration service meant that I was bringing a new lease of life to some garments, that may have otherwise been thrown away.
Fast forward 10 (busy and often stressful) years and it was time for some huge changes. A house hunt took us to the beautiful Forest of Dean and we ended up moving in the middle of 2020, between Covid-19 lockdowns. It could not have been a worse time to attempt to relocate and re-establish a bridalwear business. I ended up taking a two year break from the wedding industry, before rebranding the business and making a fresh new start in our new location. The forest has provided me with fresh source of inspiration for my bridal wear and accessories collection.
Much of my inspiration is still drawn from the memories of my India trip and it remains important to me to support the artisans whenever I am able to. Our Dhordo & Indigo collection (Dhordo after one of the villages we visited & Indigo for the connection to natural dyes & traditional techniques) consists of amazing items sourced directly from the Artisans, with the assistance of Kuldip - a fab tour guide and the founder of United Artisans of Kutch. Kuldip founded the project hoping to work with his connections around the world to enable the artisans to sell their work for a fair price and continue making an independent living. Without platforms like this, sadly they will not be able to earn from their skills and may be forced to seek work from large corporate companies. This would be detrimental to the future of their traditional techniques. The other alternative is working with large wholesalers, who take a vast proportion of their profits.
I feel a great sense of gratitude to the communities of Kutch for their generosity and hospitality, so I have a strong desire to continue supporting the project alongside my bridal wear and accessories. Some of the items I order from India are finished products. Other items are pieces of embroidery etc, that I plan to incorporate into my designs. Profits I make from these items will allow me to reinvest money to the project, in the hope of eventually placing regular orders, and therefore supporting a fair trade and sustainable working relationship with the artisans.
Many of the Indian values are embedded in my work. I am always striving to increase my use of recycled and repurposed materials and will also be making more use of sustainable fabrics and British heritage textiles. I have incorporated beautiful handwoven Harris Tweed®️ into my collection and plan to also explore Nottingham lace, Welsh tapestry and Irish linen in the future.
Each of my gowns are produced on an individual basis, in-house at my studio. This along with me never discontinuing pieces, means there is very little wastage and no overproduction. There are lots of new designs and collections in the pipeline. I’m so excited for this new chapter and seeing where it takes me, so I hope you will love what you see and follow me on this new journey!
