Nature and storytelling: A pop up with Forivor

Our main priority when hosting pop up’s at our London showroom, is to broaden horizons and celebrate brands who are going one step further to promote the protection of people and planet. Colour plays such a huge part of our day to day at Edward Bulmer Natural Paint and we are so pleased to be hosting Forivor for a two week pop up this February.

Our well being and health is hugely a testament to our sleep and creativity so we sat down with Alice and Rebecca to delve deeper into the concept behind Forivor and what the natural world and colour mean to them.

Tell us a little about how and why you started Forivor?

Rebecca: I had the idea for Forivor in that strange sleepy dreamy moment between being asleep and fully awake. At the time, I was working at the Environmental Justice Foundation campaigning on cotton production whilst also trying to dream up stories for my goddaughter about a recent overland train trip to Hong Kong. I wanted to create a storytelling world with the exploration and wonder of nature at its heart with magic and the odd mythical creature to create a land that children could continue exploring in their dreams. The ‘daytime’ side of our bedding would be a way for children to learn about habitats and wildlife, with the hope they would fall in love with these creatures and want to protect them in the future. The storytelling skills they would develop through the abundance of possibilities in the design and the cues on the cards would help nurture their creativity, something that I believe is vital if we are to succeed in overcoming the many challenges facing our planet.

Favourite Edward Bulmer Natural Paint colours?

Alice: I love Pompadour. I’ve always wanted to have a red themed, opulent room with low lighting and this is really speaking to my cold, February bones that are obviously yearning for something that says you’ll be warm and cosy in this room. I’d have lots of books to get inspired by to complement the atmosphere it would bring.

Rebecca: My living room is painted in Edward Bulmer Rose with Pompadour accents on the bookshelves and a Drab Green inlay to give contrast. I love how cosy and inviting it has made quite a large space in a formerly plain white rental house and it’s complemented by my love of red and pink in lamps and sofas that are not so much selected by me but just arrived at me via freecycle and family which is how I like spaces to come together, a gradual layering of things rather than a vision for how the whole room will look from the outset.

For my daughter’s bedroom we took inspiration from the Edward Bulmer website – it has Kitty and Verdigris stripes on one wall and interchanging colours on the other – we got nervous half way through decorating and nearly opted for pink and white but my ten year old daughter sensibly decided green and pink was indeed the way to go and we are all so happy with it. It is fun and childlike without being too girly and I’m sure she will love for years to come.

The tone of the Edward Bulmer paints and the way they absorb the light is so incredibly beautiful, they give a softness to rooms so that I think I could love in any of the colours. The joy for me is in choosing combinations that play off each other.

Where do you gather your inspiration?

Alice: I find a lot of inspiration for Forivor in children’s books, especially ones I had as a child which would have been produced in the 60’s through to the 80’s. I remember looking for clues in the drawings of books when I was learning to read and they always created a portal to another world for me. When I’m designing a new collection a big motivation for me is imagining how children will study the details and perhaps create their own little worlds with the creatures. I love artists that often overlap the world of illustration and fine art including the artist Domenicho Gnoli who worked on books and large paintings of close ups of figures and shoes. Having studied Art History and especially French art I have a penchant for Romantic artists of the 19th century. In many ways I love walking in cities and find architectural details on buildings and people watching a huge influence. Since starting Forivor with Rebecca I have increasingly found inspiration in nature and I’ve learnt so much.

Rebecca: Our first ever Enchanted Forest design was inspired by a tree alongside the small river by my childhood home. It had these magical spaces in between its roots on the top of the riverbank where you could slide down into an underground den looking out on the water. It’s the most magical childhood experience to have a den like this and I have even been back to the field which is now a nature reserve and taken Alice into my den with a flask of tea and a slice of cake!

We have explored British marine wildlife and the sky above us and all that it contains. Our next collection has food as its starting point which is seemingly a bit of a departure but speaks to so many things that we are passionate about and we hope that with the excitement of a midnight feast to explore, our designs will encourage dinner table and bedtime conversations about the soil that not only our food grows in but also our textiles.

I dream about a collection that includes a rhinoceros as our muse. Part of the reason for founding Forivor was thinking about how much I love rhinos simply because my favourite cuddly toy as a child was a rhino and how invested in them I still am now as a species. Our childhood passions can travel with us a long way!

How important is making your home a safe space in terms of the interiors and items you choose to put in it?

Alice: Growing up, my parents created a home that was completely unique, there were guitars my father painted on the walls, a fish tank inside an old Victorian range they discovered behind a wall and objects everywhere. It was more like a museum with collections housed everywhere you looked. For me safety in a space is finding an intrigue and mystery in many ways that also feels homely. As a family of renters I think you learn to move things around and experiment in place of renovations and big changes which often you can’t undertake. Colour can be the best vehicle for creating your own safe space that expresses you. I’ve ‘borrowed’ quite a lot of my father’s paintings for my own flat in Ramsgate that I rent and love gifts that people have got me or made. I love lightning and have found some incredible finds at flea markets in France as well as in the UK. Objects with a previous life and setting are what interest me the most, it also feels like the best way to keep a circular economy going as opposed to buying everything new that usually contains more harmful materials.

Rebecca: I like to look around and see objects where I can remember the person I bought them from in the flea market, the trip to collect it from freecycle and wondering why on earth someone would want to part with this beautiful thing. I want to see paintings that I painted when I was 16 to remind me of that teenage creative space that used to be so time rich alongside the joyful free markmaking of my children on canvases and cupboards. Two objects that bring me great joy at the moment are the plates me and my daughter use at breakfast – my daughter Remie has a beautiful purple plate with moths on that Alice bought her for her birthday and I have a plate that a friend bought me on a recent trip we took to Spain. Every morning I enjoy getting them out for our tea and toast and they remind me of people who we love so much and love us too. There are countless objects like that around my house, just small reminders of places we’ve been, of friends we love or family we’ve lost. I want my home to be a place where I can live in the present but feel the layers of the years and those memories build up over time. That layering of my life makes it feel like a safe space and that is indeed important to me!

Do you have any eco-friendly tips or activities that parents can do with their kids to encourage a love for nature?

Rebecca: I really love walking and have always tried to take my children on as many walks as possible where they can discover for themselves the joy and wonder of nature. I’ll encourage them up hills whilst pointing at birds overhead or clouds lifting up like veils behind us with the promise of a hot (decaf) tea and a biscuit.

Some walks might be about running free on the tops of the hills in the wind, some we might follow a stream down through the woods, dipping toes in the icy water and then finding trees to climb, another walk might take us up to an old hill fort called ‘mouse castle’ where we’ll make up tales of magical animals that banquet there. I encourage them to choose which walks they want to go on and probably their number one activity is to go up on the hills above my house and race their boats made from Riverford mushroom punnets down a tiny little stream. We know that it’s only there when the water tables are high so even the conversations around when we can go are small opportunities for learning about the natural world.

I don’t even notice I’m doing it most of the time but when we are out walking or driving I’ll always be pointing out birds of prey, or clouds making great shapes or beautiful sunsets or insects on the ground. I am very lucky to live in a beautiful relatively wild part of the UK but I think children can be as excited about an explore around the park as a roam on a hill top. I think what matters is your excitement as the adult for what you are doing as children love to love what their parents love in my experience.

What books are you reading at the moment?

Alice: I am on the final sixth book of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s ‘My Struggle’ its taking me ages to read but I’m also trying to savour it as it’s one of the best things I think I’ve read and I completely understand why it has been such a huge success internationally. Weaving together something that seems to me both autobiographical and fiction and getting some dense philosophical musings in there deserves to be read slowly (that is my argument in any case but I know I also need to dedicate more time to reading – I need that Pompadour covered room!)

Rebecca: I’m currently reading Green Dot by Madeleine Grey because I’m a sucker for a love story and I really needed something that would encourage me away from Netflix and to my bed. Once I’m hooked I’ll be on a roll and my next book lined up is Like Water for Elephants and the Prison Doctor. I’m also reading my daughter Remie The Lord of the Rings which is bringing back so many fond (albeit slightly scary) memories of my dad reading it to me when I was little. Finally, on nightly rotation is Mog the Cat and Blown Away by Rob Biddulph which are currently my son Taryn’s favourites and so I now know off by heart of course!

Why do you think it’s important for children to connect with nature through the things they use every day?

Alice: Such a great question! In essence children are innately connected to nature in a way we lose in the process of growing up. If you think about how much children love their pets, how most zoos are aimed at children and how kids books are brimming with creatures and wildlife, it’s easy to see how strong the connection is. I think by using something everyday it helps to cement that relationship. With the cards and books that accompany our bedding we worked to create a connection to wildlife with conservation and joining up dots at their core so we can encourage children (and their families) to be more involved with how we can care for our planet and heighten what our impact on the natural world is. In some ways we want to illustrate that we have more in common with nature than not and highlight both the astounding intelligence and wonder of wildlife alongside human ingenuity. We can talk positively about how being creative and interested in the natural world will ultimately help to solve many of the issues it faces. We both feel that it’s important to talk positively about the environment so the younger generations feel empowered rather than hopeless and overwhelmed.

Favourite hobby or past times?

Alice: Being in old places where you can rummage. A visit to Portobello market in London on a Friday is probably one of my favourite things to do. There’s a great stall which has piles of clothes to sift through, a lovely wine bar nearby and then I always go to Lisboa, an old school Portuguese cafe where local people go to chat and eat the best Pasteis de Nata. One of my favourite things is exploring car boots and flea markets with Rebecca, we have the same stamina for early morning starts even in the cold and hours of looking for treasure. I love galleries and my favourites are The Wallace Collection and the John Soan Museum in London, places that feel like a home in essence but have some of the best collections. I love to dance, all night clubbing has been replaced with a dance class at the gym but I will take the opportunity whenever I can.

Rebecca: Walking in the hills with a picnic on my back, stopping for a swim in a lake or river is my perfect day. I dream of all the endless walks I want to go on on the Welsh borders where I live (not so far from EB HQ)!. I also absolutely love cooking even though at times the daily cooking can be tiring but Alice and I spend a lot of time talking about menus and food! I love being at home in the Welsh hills but I also am an adventurer at heart and am always plotting a trip somewhere – I love to travel slowly and have taken the train to many places with and without kids including Hong Kong, Syria and across America. I now quite regularly travel overland to Sardinia with my kids in tow which we all absolutely love of course!  I dream now the kids are getting bigger of setting off on a great big bike adventure with tents in paniers to explore the world, in the meantime i’ll be at home playing the piano if I have time!

How do you ensure your products are eco-friendly while still being fun and colourful for kids?

Rebecca: We really carefully consider every part of our production and business to make sure our products have the least impact on the planet possible. We only use organic cotton and all our products are made by a GOTS certified printing company in India. We are constantly questioning the versatility and longevity of our products and also the hidden elements of our supply chain that don’t get seen by customers. For example, we designed our suitcases that our blankets come in to avoid the need for external packaging and to create something that would have another purpose. We are in constant conversations with our manufacturers to completely remove any plastics from our shipping and that ends up with interesting conversations as we are now trialling working with vacuum packing our quilted blankets to bring them from India to the UK – this saves space (and therefore carbon emissions) but we now need to make sure the bags they use are not plastic. There is always something to focus on and it can be challenging as a small business but I feel proud of how much we question our actions – whether or not its reusing props for photoshoots and trade shows or like our most recent trade show in Paris where we made our display furniture using willow from my garden. I often think doing the right thing for the planet only forces us into a more creative place and that can only be a good thing

We’ve entered a digital age, how do you keep your feet on the ground and switch off from all the noise of technology?

Alice: As work is so tied into our phones with messages and emails accessible at all the time it’s harder than ever to disengage. The best way for me to do that is to go walking to blow away the cobwebs. When I get absorbed into an illustration that’s wonderful as it often means I’m in my happy place and don’t feel the need to reach for my phone. I am also going to invest in a good old alarm clock so that I can keep my phone out of my room which will give me more time to read and draw.

Rebecca: Its a very tough thing to do to be strict with technology when you run your own small business but having rules for phone use and making sure the first and last parts of my day are without screens is always my aim. I try to read during the week and save tv for the weekends but growing up without electricty and with such a close connection to the outside world, I think my body just needs that outside time to stay happy and positive. After I drop the kids at school i will always run or walk with the dog before getting to my desk. I don’t see that time as wasted work time though as my brain is busy mulling over ideas and sorting out the day ahead. Nature is the perfect antidote to technology!

How important are the seasons to you and which is your favourite?

Alice: I really feel that I love all of the seasons and feel the UK is incredible for having such clearly defined changes in weather, fauna and feeling. Each time a new season comes along it offers different experiences to us. I want to say Spring as it’s so joyful but I also feel the beginning of autumn offers me as an illustrator a return to a more interior life after summer where I feel more inspired to draw. I also think it ties into the inbuilt back to school feeling in September which for many of us feels like a fresh start and when we can focus on new beginnings.

Rebecca: I don’t think I can actually choose a favourite season. I genuinely love all of them, even the grey rainy days of January. I always think it is about choosing to focus on the element that does bring you joy. For me when its grey and rainy, its getting outside and cold and maybe even a tiny bit upset at how cold the wind is in my ears whilst i’m running on a hilltop with my dog, but slowly warming up and enjoying the warmth in my body and the cold on my cheeks and then coming home to a hot cup of tea and a slice of my mums Christmas cake is as joyful for me as lazing by the river or in the garden in the hot summer sun.

How would you describe your interiors style?

Alice: Having grown up in a house where every surface was covered in objects, paintings by my father and textures I feel I’ve taken some of that but also leave space around objects. I think that is also because I’m renting a flat with very high ceilings and beautiful stucco detailing and sea views so the room itself feels like a big object to admire. IIt’s definitely a place where not much matches including all the chairs around my dining room being different. I have a lovely collection of Forivor quilts on my bed and sofa which have kept me very cosy and snug this winter.

Rebecca: I don’t think I could say that I have a style or at least i’ve never really thought about it like that. I like pieces to have memory and meaning rather than being of a particular style. I love to arrange small things together on the mantlepiece – a few pieces of air dried clay my children have made, perhaps with a birds nest we’ve found and a few flowers from the garden and some candles. I love to layer textiles on the sofas and beds and I always find great joy in our beautiful blankets strewn amongst other pieces i’ve collected. I do like the occasional very opulent item – we have these incredible candlesticks in our living room that are about a metre high and we bought from an antique shop in Hay on Wye for a bargain many years ago but must have come from a church maybe originally – they sit next to a huge red sofa that was my mother in laws which I would never have chosen but i’ve grown to love as it reminds me of her and that sits on a beautiful carpet we carried back on the train from Morocco,  all looked down on by a beautiful abstract painting that was a wedding present from my family.

Favourite place to visit in the UK?

Alice: Since moving out of London I must say that I love visiting which I try to do every few weeks, it’s a city to me that is most familiar but constantly evolving too which is so exciting. I will also say that visiting Rebecca near Hay is an absolute treat, its surroundings are astounding and there’s also a really interesting mix of people living there and so much to see and do. I also love Rebecca’s kids and their dog Orsu (not to mention the horses) and I get fed the most delicious food, so even though we are often working it feels like a mini holiday with my fave people.

Rebecca: One of my favourite places in the world is my friend’s mums holiday chalets in Scotland where she very kindly invites us to go and stay with the whole family from time to time. Its a place called Roshven, west of Fort William and is without a doubt on a sunny day one of the most beautiful and relaxing places I have ever been. Sparkly crystal clear waters with islands to paddle out to in the canoe where on landing on pure white sand you can explore barefoot a magical moss filled silver birch woodland before taking an icy dip in the sea. We have also started an annual pilgrimage to see the starling murmurations on the avalon marshes in Somerset, it is an almost spiritual experience seeing 600-700,000 birds make spectacular shapes in the sky as they come into roost.

What are your ‘go to’ recipes?

Alice: I think on average they say most people have around 6-8 recipes they cook on repeat which is rather sad but probably true! Rebecca has definitely given me quite a lot of my 8 recipes on rotation. The best one was introducing me to Ottenlenghi’s Tabdoori confit chickpeas. One of those delicious recipes which you can leave to cook in an oven after a bit of prep and if you are trying to cut down on meat and impress dinner guests, it works every time. Thoroughly recommend using good quality chickpeas from a jar which makes a big difference to the dish.

Rebecca: This is a good question as I am in the process of recording all the recipes I like to cook in a book for my children to refer back to when they are older! At the moment I am really enjoying the Alison Roman, Nothing Fancy cookbook which someone recommended to me – it has some lovely salad recipes (before this I would have scoffed at salad recipes as I just make them up) but I used these non stop last summer but i’ve also adapted some of those into simple pasta recipes for quick weeknight meals. I would say I mostly am led by the vegetables in my fridge and I take it from there and I like to adapt that to whatever the family  are in the mood for – a stir fry, a curry or always a pasta dish for lazy evenings. I used to cook with the kids in mind but these days I cook for my husband and I and I serve them the same thing, if they don’t like it i’ll fry them an egg but increasingly they are being more adventurous which is great!

Favourite podcasts to listen to?

Alice: This week I’ve just discovered ‘Fashion Neurosis’ with Bella Freud which I’m really enjoying. Although Fashion on the surface is superficial it’s a clever way to unearth lots of family dynamics, desires and fears and all the guests have delved into.

Rebecca: I tend to listen to podcasts on long drives and love Danny Robbins Uncanny – I’ve never been one for ghost stories but a friend recommended it to me because one of the series was set here in the Brecon Beacons and I was hooked. Some of it is terrifying (which surprises me that I can listen to it as I hate scary movies) but for some reason I love it. I have also started listening to French podcasts lately to practice my French speaking which I’m really enjoying!

What were you both interested in growing up that inspired your creativity?

Alice: I was such a day dreamer as a child that I think a lot of the things I was interested in were going on in my head! But I was always absorbing everything I grew up in, which was an Anglo-Indian family on my father’s side and an Australian mother but for both of them I felt their true home was west London. Our house was full of music, art, food and endless cups of tea. We would spend hours sitting round the table drawing all together and that’s really where I began to explore illustration at a young age.

Rebecca: I grew up in a house with no electricity in the middle of nowhere underneath the Black Mountains in Herefordshire. My wild childhood where we had free reign to explore woods and streams and roam through the countryside have undoubtedly been the biggest inspiration for my creativity. We had very little money and so it was often a case of making do. Our entertainment was reading and playing music and making bows and arrows and dens in the woods. I am a true believer in boredom for kids as a fuel for the imagination and whilst I don’t remember being bored I know that we didn’t have anything planned for us to do, we just made our own play.

Tell us about any new products or launches you have coming up for 2025?

Alice: 2025 will see us launch our brand new collection ‘Once Upon a Feast’ which we’ll be showcasing at Edward Bulmer at our pop-up this month. We’ve launched new products but haven’t had a new collection for quite a few years so we are really excited. It’s a little departure for us as it’s our first landscape scene and we have developed tableware including tablecloths and napkins. For me the beauty of the collection lies in its celebration of the imagination of children. For a midnight feast is really about an idea of the perfect after hours meal that we get excited about in childhood. Drawing the creatures around the table with towering cakes and jam sandwiches was a joy and the feelings about planning to stay up late and eat whatever I wanted all came flooding back to me.