My Story
Hello I’m Hannah, founder of HEF Home.
I’m going to bang on about this quite a lot but spoiler alert: I love cushions and I love stories.
My textile love affair started at the tender age of 18, when I was working in a small ski town in the Dolomites. I fell head over heels for a cushion with an eye-watering price tag. Back then €100/week was the going rate for a chalet host and so the cushion was out of my league, metaphorically speaking. So I did what any good saver does and started a ‘cushion fund’ - in a jam jar! (Raspberry if you were wondering.)
Fast forward ten years and life had moved on. The ‘cushion fund’ had progressed into a ‘first house fund’ and this time I’d graduated from a jam jar to an actual savings account. I’d also met my now husband, James, and we’d just moved back from the West Coast of Canada to the UK to buy a 1920s fixer upper. It was a Project with a capital ‘P’. Having spent all our pennies on the renovation, we scoured the internet for second hand furniture; ovens, bath, sofas, you name it! James is an accountant and I’m thrifty so, unsurprisingly, we bloody love the thrill of a bargain! But more than that, we also loved finding pieces with stories, hearing about our armchair’s former life, the meaning it had for the previous owner. We still love this and the majority of our furniture is either thrifted or handcrafted!
And so here is where I get to the actual point… (I’m a waffler).
When it came to the finishing touches, I looked high and low for affordable textiles that had stories and souls, that didn’t feel like they’d been churned out by big ole machines. And guess what, zilch! From that the idea for HEF was formed...
But this is not just about cushions. Our dream is to inspire more people to consider the provenance of the items they have in their lives. To find meaning and connection in the everyday, and above all, to stop and listen to the stories!
BEHIND EVERY CUSHION IS A STORY
A tradition, a craft, a way of doing things, carefully passed down and preserved through generations. Our cushions tell the story of their origins, of the people who made them, of their journeys from a cotton stem to a length of fabric in the block printer's workshop. The beauty is that the cushion's story doesn't stop there however, it takes on a new life as a cherished piece in your home.
Embracing the perfection of imperfection
Our pieces are all small run, handcrafted items. Every step of the process is done by a real person, each of whom imparts their own unique artistry to each piece. In fact, before it even arrives with you it will have passed through the hands of at least six craftsmen and women; the fabric dyer, block printer, mud printer, embroiderer, weaver, stitcher and more. There are subtle differences between pieces, no two are perfectly identical. This is what gives our homewares character and soul, one which embodies the beauty of imperfect things.
Connection, collaboration, celebration
We set out to celebrate the people and the stories behind our products - the artisans, the designers and the dreamweavers. The artisans we collaborate with are masters in their craft, a craft which has been passed down through generations. Their craft is more than a livelihood, it is a tradition steeped in their family's history. Our pieces connect traditional craft with modern design, connecting cushion makers with cushion appreciators. Because, after all, what’s more important than connection?