Our story

Heirloom Silk is a family business specialising in creating naturally dyed, hand made silk ribbons. We work from our studio in the small seaside town of Minehead, Somerset, UK.

We are a mother and daughter team (Anne & Lydia). We are both passionate about working with nature in a sustainable way, and apply this ethos to our work at Heirloom Silk. Lydia comes from a floristry background with many years working in the wedding industry; which is how we first came across the art of beautifully handcrafted silk ribbons. Anne’s lifelong love of fabric, and textile crafts, combined with our joint obsession with plants means everyday at work is immensely enjoyable and rewarding.

We both have small cut flower patches which we use for both floristry and dye-making uses, and are pleased to say that a lot of our dyes are made with plants from our garden (or perhaps our neighbours!)

Our journey with Heirloom Silk began in 2017 but its story goes further back to when Paula Baxter of Millpond Flower Farm launched the business in the Scottish Borders some years previously. It was Paula who began naming the colours after interesting and inspiring, although sometimes little-known, women from history, a process we still continue today.

The beauty of using plants for dyeing (apart from the obvious, non-chemical reasons) is the dyes seem to have a life of their own, each batch brings its own personality to the silk. The colours change and shimmer in different lights creating a soft, ethereal quality to the ribbons.

We love the experimental aspect of our work and are continually researching and trying out new dyes, as well as looking to expand our range of different fabric styles.

These naturally dyed silk ribbons are the perfect accessory for adding luxury and romance to your wedding or event, and make for beautiful heirloom keepsakes.