Welcome to this bonus episode of Pattern Portraits celebrating 150 Years of LIBERTY with author and historian Kassia St Clair.
Geek out with us about Liberty as Lauren Godfrey chats with Kassia St Clair about 'Liberty' as an adjective, getting lost in summer garden florals and Oscar Wilde’s hot take on the icon that is Liberty.
Kassia St Clair is the UK’s best selling historian under 40, selling hundreds of thousands of books globally, you might know her best for her brilliant book The Secret Lives of Colour in which she profiles the remarkable untold histories of pigments, inks and hues through time or perhaps her sumptuous book, The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History, telling of the depths to which our lives are intertwined with fabric and textiles, a topic I’m particularly passionate about here at Pattern Portraits!
In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Liberty, Kassia has written a stunning new book titled ‘LIBERTY - Design, Pattern, Colour’, presenting the very latest examples of Liberty Design alongside prints, drawings and samples from the company’s outstanding archive, telling an inspiring, century long story of manufacturing quality and design excellence.
In Kassia’s characteristically poetic and lyrical style, she brings to life the stories of well loved and brand new Liberty patterns alike, told through chapters marking the key pillars of Liberty design, the book is a full colour celebration of one of the most unique and remarkable design houses of our time. Launching on 15th May 2025, the book is published by Thames and Hudson and is widely available to buy now!
Kassia has chosen a wonderful cross section of Liberty patterns that feature in the book and span the lifetime of Liberty from the late 19th Century design ‘Hera’, via classic Liberty floral ‘Betsy’ (1933), to two very different designs from the sixties; Althea McNish’s undulating ‘Hula Hula’ and Bernard Nevill’s geometric ‘Corbusier’ and finally bang up to date with illustrator Hattie Stewart’s playful ‘Hattie Park’ from 2022.
You can see all of Kassia’s patterns and more on instagram @patternportraitspodcast
‘Maybe Betsy’ - The PATTERN PORTRAIT print artwork to accompany Kassia’s interview and featuring the patterns we discuss is available to buy now at www.laurengodfrey.co.uk