The History of Beckford  Silk

Right Click Here to save this page in Adobe Acrobat PDF  Format.

Beckford Silk was founded in 1975 by James and Marthe Gardner at their  home in the centre of the village.

The original idea of textile printing in Beckford was based on the Arts  and Crafts tradition of the area. CR Ashbee had come to Chipping Campden in  1902. Sir Gordon Russell made furniture in Broadway. Winchcombe Pottery was  famous for Michael Cardew and Ray Finch. James and Marthe set up their very  small textile workshop in the old coach house of the former vicarage.

The Old Vicarage,  Beckford The early work was mainly silk scarves and ties designed and made for  companies and museum shops. With a unique service to offer, they were soon working for many famous  organisations. The National Trust, The Royal Academy of Art, Rolls Royce were  all early customers. Later Beckford Silk extended their client list to include  Royal Collections who run the shops at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and  other Royal Palaces. They also started selling in Europe to some of the great  museums such as the Kunthistorisches in Vienna, The Swedish Royal Palace and the  Stedelijk in Amsterdam.

By the late 1980s the Old Vicarage was being overrun by Beckford Silk.  The childrens bathroom had been converted to a wash room and spare bedrooms  were variously used for sewing, packing and dispatch. Land was bought at the  edge of the village and the present premises were built and moved into in  1990.

Fashions change and new markets  develop. With Jamess and Marthes daughter and then son joining the firm in the  1990s, the younger generation wanted to steer the firm towards more  contemporary textile design. The high fashion market was a magnet and Beckford  Silk started to work for people such as Georgina Von Etzdorf, John Rocha, Helen  David and the group of young designers who were making a world wide name for  British fashion.

In the new millennium Beckford  Silk is looking afresh at its roots in the Art and Craft movement and  remembering what James and Marthe set out to do in 1975. To bring together a  team of creative people to make beautiful things in cloth, using colour and  texture combined with a little alchemy.