Meet April, owner, designer and maker at 20 Seventh Letter, a British lifestyle brand that designs and manufactures uniquely printed homewares, gifts and accessories.
My vision
Hi, I’m April, I design the prints myself, all of our cloth is printed in the UK and I make a large proportion of the products myself too, with help from other UK makers.
I started 20 Seventh Letter back in 2016. After studying Fashion Design at Nottingham Trent University, I went on to work for a luxury menswear accessories brand in 2011. I was exposed to an archive of amazing print designs and travelled to mills across the UK and Italy, designing and sourcing fabrics and products.
As time went on, I wanted to expand my product knowledge and in January 2016 moved jobs to work for homeware supplier. I worked closely with high street retailers to develop and make products with factories in the Far East. I learnt a lot from the role, however, quickly realised I missed creating my own designs and working with local printers.
My dream
I had always dreamt of running my own business and in the attempt to fill the missing creative void, I carried on working my 9-5 job and took my pencil to paper (and Wacom tablet) in the evenings to draw designs and plan what products I wanted to offer. Shortly after the idea of 20 Seventh Letter was born and in November 2016, I launched my first collection inspired by exotic foliage from botanical gardens such as Kew Gardens and the Barbican conservatory paired with animals influenced by ancient ceramics.
My ethos
My ethos is to create bold, colourful prints, support high quality, British manufacturing and to encourage a low waste approach by making small quantities of products and using off cuts of cloth where possible to create new products (this is how the card holders and headbands were born).
Thank you, April. x
