Blog - The Story Behind Our Prints: The Shopper

The Story Behind Our Prints: The Shopper

The series of limited-edition prints designed for The Shopper came about a little differently to how we would usually work. You see, usually, our products start as prints first. Our in-house team of designers spend months making magic in paint and ink.. The whole world of Cath Kidston starts as a sketch from that team.

But for The Shopper, we found the fabric first. And that was the lightbulb moment It’s called Tyvek – a paper-like fabric that is super light, surprisingly strong, recyclable and water resistant.

But it was the way it folded and creased that sparked the inspiration. It reminded our print designers of vintage water coloured paintings and the time-weathered cracks of antique glazed chintz.

And – ta-da – so grew the first floral print of the limited-edition range – now an edited series of eight. Six of them brand new and designed specifically for this range and two of them heritage from our archive. The eight include bright botanicals hand-painted in a fresh, modern palette, classic Cath Kidston heritage stripes with a twist of timeless houndstooth. All designed to come to life the more real life The Shopper faces.

The Prints

Morning Glory

It all started when our print team discovered an old Morning Glory watercolour painting. Its beautiful blue colouring and trailing leaves ignited the creative concept that would form the range. Hand painted, it has the feel of an antique chintz fabric – even more so when printed onto the Tyvek fabric of The Shopper.

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Pop Print

Throwing a lively pop of print in the mix, our designers were inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s wardrobe for this pattern. It was drawn in the same traditional way with pen and ink outline and hand coloured in pinks, oranges and browns to sit back well with the houndstooth.

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Fuchsia

We have collected (ahem, hoarded) many antique fuchsia prints over the years, we love their graceful, bowing buds and trailing leaves, so we added one to the story. It’s a hand painted design with fresh colours and a fun take on a classic chintz.

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Oak Leaf

What could be more English than an Oak? We love the shape of the leaves and drew this up with a pen and ink outline to give it a slightly graphic feel. The leaves are painted in contrasting shades of green with mustard yellow acorns to set off the colours.

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Houndstooth

We loved the idea taking a very classic pattern like the houndstooth check and painting a version by hand to give it a special twist. In a bold scale and coloured in both a classic English mustard and deep, bottle green, it prints beautifully on the Tyvek fabric with its stiff creases and folds.

Shop Yellow Houndstooth Shop Green Houndstooth

Paper Bag Stripe

In the early days, Cath Kidston parcels were all sent out wrapped in a red and white livery stripe. In a wink to our heritage, we re-created this in a tidy, hand-painted finish in post-box red and a pure, deep navy. We love that it’s such classic pattern for a paper bag, almost like the ones you’d get your penny-sweets in.

Shop Red Paper Bag Stripe Shop Blue Paper Bag Stripe