Page 77 - The Digital Cloth - issue 8

Love And West sell handmade vintage linen
tea towel cushion covers, strong lined and
pocketed tea towel tote bags and denim
skirts with vintage linen details, hand made
in our Sydney studio with Love by Judith
Love.

Borne of a love of vintage linens, especially
the charming souvenir linen tea towels our
mothers would lovingly collect and store,
Love And West came about through the
friendship of Judith LOVE, Andrea HEALY
and Caroline WEST: graphic designers who
shared a love of vintage collection. (sadly,

Caroline is no longer with us, but we live her
excitement, good humour and unique
aesthetic every day in our creations).

The tea towel industry seemed to be as large
as it was mad - from deftly illustrated
Australian botanicals on thick and thirsty
Irish linens, to poorly drawn ‘nephew art’
and at least 78 lurid colours on a Gold Coast
souvenir tea, they are each as lovely and joy
inspiring as the next to us. We’ve repurposed
hundreds of souvenir linens: from Australian

flora, its beautiful wildflowers and eucalypts,
orchids and grasses, through kangaroos,
kookaburras and koalas, capital cities and
small country towns, calendar years and
celebrating the local bowls club or CWA
chapter, each linen has its own charm. The
thrill of the (increasingly elusive) find is as
exciting as the making and selling and

although our stash is getting a little lighter,
we are hoping to keep repurposing these
beautiful old linens for as long as we can.