The Fabric Of Life

A journey of creativity, self-belief and love has mapped out a path from one continent to another for Cassandra Ellis, piecing together and adding new sections has been the making of her – literally. Sophie Harper talks to the designer to find out about her world of quilts and love for design.

New Zealand-born quilter Cassandra Ellis has been styling beautiful chic English homes with her own wares, soft furnishings, and overall good taste for the past decade. Luckily for us her love affair for the UK, in one way or other, began some time ago and appears (so far) not to have waned. And now she’s settled, it looks as though she’s here to stay – thank heavens for prayers answered by the style gods, eh?!

Naturally creative, Cassandra says she was drawing and making from a young age, and with help from her mother, learned to sew, and later on design and piece her own quilts. Already having spent some years in the UK, Cassandra moved back to New Zealand in her twenties and opened a store selling products designed and made by her and her team. Mainly consisting of furniture, small homewares and textile goods, Cassandra decided she wanted to add handmade quilts to their stock, but didn’t know how they were made. “My mother has made some incredible quilts,” she says, “so I simply asked her to show me how they were constructed. From there I designed one that represented my look, pieced it, had it quilted, and it sold the next day!”