People have pointed out to us that wine and fashion don’t immediately feel like natural partners. Initially that might seem to be the case – as fashion has greater visual emphasis than wine. But through our collaboration with Turning Leaf we’ve noticed that they share some vital qualities, beyond the fact that both revolve around the changing seasons.

Both wine and fashion can play an important role in someone’s lifestyle, they can be elegant, casual, smart, minimal or complex. People care passionately about them, from the producers to the consumers. And on the technical side, the creative processes behind both fashion and wine require precision and lots of skill.

But we guess the most important thing is that they should bring both joy & delight to the consumer. The whole precious atmosphere and delicate art of winemaking is very inspiring in itself, in the same way that we’re exhilarated by great design.

On that note, we hope you’re making the most of the summer months – al fresco eating, summer fashion and all the rest!

We knew immediately that collaborating with a wine brand would be a fascinating project. There’s such complexity involved in the crafting and blending of a wine – it actually shares many principles with the process of designing and producing digital prints.

 Turning Leaf gave us the brief ‘Discover the taste of Colour’ to work with, which was a great tagline for a spring/summer collection. We came up with the words ‘Tradition Meets Avant-Garde’ to help us explore the brief, and to bring our own vision to the Turning Leaf brand.

 There have been so many exciting angles to the collaboration – from designing the products, to learning more about wine. It was particularly inspiring to visit the vineyards in Sonoma, where the Turning Leaf wines are crafted. That was a really personal experience, which we were very privileged to have access to. We met with Gina Gallo, the granddaughter of Julio Gallo and chief winemaker Cal Dennison, who produces Turning Leaf’s unique blends.

 Their knowledge and experience informed us perfectly, and gave us lots of ideas for designs. We’re excited to show them to you soon – watch this space!

Designers in Residence for a wine brand sounds like a very impressive title  – but we’ve been asked ‘what does it actually mean’? Good question! So, there are several aspects to our partnership with Turning Leaf.

We kicked off the collaboration at our A/W10 catwalk show, where we gave all our guests fully printed bottles each in their own bespoke printed bags. They looked amazing, and got a great response. We’re now producing digitally printed umbrellas as a customer giveaway. 

The climax of the project is an installation inside The Shop at Bluebird on King’s Road, Chelsea that launched on 15 June. It’s a showcase of bespoke products that we’ve created specially for Turning Leaf. You’ll walk in, and be met with our whole vision. We’ll be displaying digitally printed wine tables, a luxurious upholstered French bergere, a drinks cabinet and printed lampshades – all featuring our custom designed print for the Turning Leaf collaboration. 

And then finally we’ve produced a luxury ‘alfresco’ kit for summer. It includes a printed silk quilt and cushions, inside an exquisite case. The kits are going to be available to buy at the store, and each one will be limited edition.

We’re particularly excited about the retail installation; it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase a range of lavish interior products. It’s fun to show our customers another way to experience our brand – we can’t wait for you to see it.

 Come check it out at the Bluebird.  It will be on display througout the summer.

Hi there, we’re Chris and Bruno – better known as fashion design duo Basso & Brooke. Earlier this year we were appointed Designers in Residence at Turning Leaf, where we’ve been helping to create a collection of prints and products for Spring/Summer 2010. It’s been exciting to bring the cutting edge technological process of digital print, to something as traditional as winemaking.

Of course we know our tastes in design, but first we had to decide which of Turning Leaf’s wines we were going to focus on. After some careful thought (and tasting!) we decided Zinfandel & Chardonnay were our favourites.  They’re just really enjoyable, so we picked them out as the wines we’d develop prints and designing products for.

While we’re best known for sending our prints down the catwalk, this isn’t the first time we’ve branched out of the fashion industry. In the past we’ve collaborated with Harrods, Converse and SkyHD who we produced a custom printed set-top box for. We’ve also tried our hand at interiors – we designed a chandelier for Swarovski where all the crystal components were printed, and a range of wallpaper for Graham & Brown. Not forgetting the limited edition lipstick we created for L’Oreal Paris, to commemorate their 100 year anniversary.

Now we can add wine to that portfolio! See you back here soon.

What a great evening at the Bluebird’s Summer in Style event! 

Basso & Brooke’s interiors line inspired by Turning Leaf wines was unveiled. 

People shopped, sipped wine, mingled and fawned over the beautiful creations of handcarved furniture with a neo-pop finish.

Discover the Taste of Colour!

 Here at Turning Leaf we’re starting the summer in style, by collaborating with creative talents in fashion, art and design. Our first partnership is with fashion designers Bruno Basso and Christopher Brooke, whose label Basso & Brooke is best known for its vibrant, Power Prints.

Basso & Brooke will be the Designers In Residence for the Spring/Summer 2010 Turning Leaf Collection – creating some stunning products, and collaborating on exciting projects. They’ll also be talking you through their inspirations and style secrets right here. Like us, Basso & Brooke are inspired by colour, style, optimism and discovering new experiences. We’re excited to have them on board!!