We are very excited to be launching our new Parrot print as part of out Spring Summer 2024 collections. We asked Lotty to tell us about the inspiration behind this print design and she told us this wonderful tale:
"As a child living in Ghana in Africa we had two parrots who lived wild in the trees in our garden. They were the beautiful African Greys and we called them Quincy and Frederick. They were excellent mimics and every afternoon we'd hear a loud "Hello!" followed by the sound of the lawn mower starting up. We'd all presume our father was home from work and out in the garden mowing the lawn until we realised it was Quincy or Frederick and, in fact, our father had not arrived home at all. One of their catch phrases copied from my father was "Anyway Charlotte, waste no time!" which he used to say often in reference to the fact that I was always running busily from here to there, never sitting still.
When we first arrived on Mustique, the Vincy Parrot, or 'St. Vincent Amazon' (Amazona Guildingil), which is now the National Bird of St. Vincent, was in danger of becoming extinct. The Prime Minister of the time, Sir James Mitchell, who visited Mustique often would encourage our children to throw their fruit seeds through the undergrowth in the hopes that we'd grow enough fruit trees in the wild to support the introduction of the Parrots to Mustique. Sadly the rainfall and soil of Mustique are not as prolific and rich as in the St. Vincent Rainforest, and his hopes have not been realised... Yet!
The St. Vincent Parrot is not as elegant as the African Grey, but it suits the Caribbean well with its cacophony of colours. I hope I have captured it in this year's print "The Vincy Parrot". I've chosen to portray them up in the treetops of the rainforest for my linen and silk prints; and more graphically, as just a silhouette, for the swimming trunks."
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