Patchure Collection

What is Patchure?

Patchure is an idea that blends photography, textile patterns and a passion to inspire cross-cultural barriers and make the world a more open place, social inclusion and love. Every print comes with a story from our travel around the world. 

Not many people choose to travel to places off the beaten track, largely because of the picture painted of such places by negative stereotypes.

So, Toby and Jac decided to use patches of material inspired by photographs from their travels, telling stories aimed at destroying the stereotypes, illuminating the fact that there is a lot more positivity to discover in the world than many would have you believe.

Pictures and patches became the concept, and thus Patchure was born.

   

“Above all things, travel gives you perspective,” Toby says. “Visiting more remote locations in particular multiplies that to the max.

“It helps you not only to appreciate how lucky you are in life, but also reminds you of the important things many of us living in more modern, privileged societies forget; community, friendship, family, making the ordinary extraordinary.

“I can honestly say one of the places that gave me the strongest sense of community, for example, as a slum in Mumbai, India. Many of the people had next to nothing, but the support between the many different families and groups living there helped them to believe nothing was impossible.”

 

Jac’s experience is more personal. Having grown up in a small village in China, she experienced a frugal, simple life first hand, and has never forgotten those roots, despite moving to a Western society that is far removed from her childhood.

 

“I have a theory: people who grow up with minimal luxury often have the ability to find the most soul-touching perspectives in life,” Jac says. 

“They are resilient, resourceful and inventive. Growing up in a rural town where the textile technique ‘crochet’ comes from, every household sits around in circles with candles or oil burners, telling tales while they’re crocheting. I remember it always felt like magic to see stories told based on a piece of crochet. 

“We may have been poor financially, but we were rich in other facets of life. We were happy."

Jac believes that the less glamorous patches of the world can lead us on a deeper journey in opening our minds and enriching our souls to the possibilities for everyone on this planet.

“Patchure is our interpretation of these aspiring cultural stories,”she adds. “Using garments as an canvas, we hope our audience can be touched by the infinitely amazing stories to be found in the most extraordinary ‘patches’ of world.” 

The visual concept of Patchure is based on Toby’s photography. Jac hunts for patterns in small parts of an entire image, and uses them to create beautiful patterns for clothing. 

While the patterns at first appear abstract, behind every Patchure print is a clear and often inspiring story behind a full photograph. Tales of triumph over adversity from Vietnam; the importance of working to save cultural heritage in China; the resilience of Cuba; a call to arms to reverse the effects of climate change, seen first hand in Iceland. The narratives are endless.

Patchure aims to help us all do one thing — picture a different world — a world where anything is possible, and all of us can learn from each other, creating a peaceful, respectful, socially healthy global community that thrives on innovation and love.