About
Minni Parker is an English interiors and lifestyle brand with an alpine influence. Founder and designer Katharine Lawrie has spent much of her life in the mountains courtesy of an Austrian grandmother. Katharine has created a range of fabrics, wall coverings, tiles and home accessories inspired by the real homes of her family in Austria, the warmth of those spaces, and the “Gemütlichkeit” and simple elegance of alpine living.The easy repeating patterns in the Minni Parker collection bridge the gap between classic and contemporary, and have instantly found their place within the English home. Nothing is designed to be kept for the best, but to bring something special to everyday.The Minni Parker collection includes fabrics, wallpapers, bedding, table linen, cushions, and ceramics. Linens and papers are milled and printed in England. Cushions are hand-sewn and ceramics are hand-painted in Cornwall, and the bedding and table linen are hand block printed in India on 100% natural organic fabrics.What is your biggest source of inspiration?"In Austria, the warmest room in the house is called the Stübe, and this is my favourite room in any home. The Stübe is invariably wood panelled, with a tiled woodstove, carved corner benches covered in cushions, and a table everyone piles around to drink coffee or schnapps, to chat, to eat and, in my family, to make music. There are café curtains across the windows, and linen tablecloths on old pine tables that invariably get covered in coffee and candle wax and are replaced each morning. It’s always clean and it’s always cosy.This is the room I always go back to, and this is the room that Minni Parker comes from."What makes your approach to design different?"My designs are all drawn from memory. My signature print “Minni” is based on a dirndl my mother used to wear. “Blume” is from the curtains of my favourite mountain hut. "Salzburg Stripe" was the corner bench in my cousin's Stübe. I have been drawing these patterns all my life. They are not complicated, but they really seem to find their place in English homes, and I have been so delighted by the response to Minni Parker since our launch in May."
