Beautiful apples and scratchy brambles

I got so much pleasure picking apples from an abandoned orchard recently with the kids. It was like sweet tonic to my soul, the sunlight on leaves and the fresh air, sure, but also - the mould, the flies, the bramble scrapes on my legs. I just loved being in a place where you could see so many lifecycles happening; the growth and the decay.

I felt called to go back and spend some more time there sketching, exploring and eating loads of apples. I didn’t have a project in mind I just wanted to feel into that aliveness and enjoy the scrape of the pencil on the page and everything there was to see, hear and smell. It’s one of the perks of running a small business - the ability to take an afternoon for creative experience and play. Our Charlie came along too and we roamed around, she took pictures, I made sketches. We reconnected with nature and beauty. Perfect.

It also served to remind me why we need to keep working in the way we do; to make products that are plastic free. Hadley products are made of materials that can rot away to nothing, it just feels comfortable to me to work with stuff that can enter that same cycle of decay.

If you fancy feeling into our afternoon you can come along for 5 mins (well 7 really) by watching this video - grab a cuppa and settle in...

And if you'd prefer a peek at the photos Charlie took, here you go... 

The day after this gorgeous Orchard trip I set to in my studio, filled with inspiration.  I created my first set of Apple paintings.  

These may one day make it into a Hadley collection, and they may not!  Either way, it sparked something in me and we had a lovely time.  So for now they go into the creative pot... and who knows where they'll pop up! 

With love and levity 

Jo x

A little more about Hadley

We’re Hadley, we’re a close-knit, artist-led team making considered products with care and joy.

In a world that moves faster every day, we believe in the human touch, in artwork you can hold, and in the small rituals that connect us. We work as thoughtfully and sustainably as we can, printing in the UK on recycled and FSC boards, with fully recyclable packaging.

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