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T2 × Charley Harper
After the success of our Charley Harper collaboration last Christmas, we were excited to bring his quirky creatures back to our tea table in an even bigger way!
Our favourite ladybird returns with her very own grown up teaset, plus there’s more aquatic friends to discover – find them swimming all over teapots, teacups and sugar bowls!
Shop the rangeCharley Harper was an American Modernist artist best known for his highly stylised wildlife prints, posters and book illustrations. Born in Frenchtown, West Virginia in 1922, Harper’s upbringing on his family farm influenced every part of his work, right until his last days. After leaving home, Charley studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati where he picked up numerous awards and the Academy’s first Stephen H. Wilder Traveling Scholarship.
From exciting shapes, colour combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behaviour, to the endless possibilities for making interesting images – Harper regarded the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent and perfectly balanced.
An interview with Todd Oldham
Since Charley Harper’s passing in 2007, Todd Oldham has been running Mr. Harper’s Estate and has a unique insight into the man we’ve come to know and love. Oldham, a veteran of the fashion world and a visionary in his own right, truly championed Charley’s work in the last years of his life. We sat down with him to find out more about Charley’s work and life.
How would you describe Charley Harper’s work?
Charley had a way of sorting out complex ideas in a way that was friendly but never reductive. Charlie once said “I just count the wings, not the feathers”. He made it seem easy but he considered his precision like an Audubon painters, referencing endless field guides so that his rendering would be most authentic. He never changed a colour or detail.
What was Charley like as a person?
He was a perfect gentleman, the kind of man that honours family and integrity first. He was just lovely, so fun and funny, I love Charlie so much. He was very secure with his talents and had nothing to prove.
What drew you to work with Charley?
I discovered Charlie’s work when I was six and had the golden book of biology. He inspired and instilled a love of nature and science that is still with me today. That I got to be with him the last 5 years of his life is an honour I will never forget.
How would you like Charley’s work to be remembered?
His masterful efforts and his service to nature.
We are so lucky for that.
