Style and fashion expert Jake Daniels takes a detailed look at Rampley & Co, a London based men’s accessories company working with international art galleries to ensure every product tells a story.
Rampley & Co was born out of a desire to create unique men’s accessories through innovative design, exquisite materials and quality craftsmanship and ensure that every product they create tells a story.
The brand launched it’s first pocket square collection in December 2014 and what I really love about this product line is the fact they are a very subtle addition to a jacket, which in turn can completely transform the overall look of an outfit. A pocket square can instantly smarten a casual look, while every fold and colour combination means an alternative way to present a single jacket or suit.
I recently sat down with Elliott Rampley, managaing director of Rampley & Co. He told me: “As a company we want every product we create to tell a story and so we’re always trying to work with some of the most prestigious and well known institutions, museums, galleries and artists to provide our customers with truly unique designs.
“It is our aim to provide pieces of art in your pocket while continuing to innovate and find new ways of presenting this timeless classic as well as paying a premium to ensure we have the best quality product available. All of our squares to date have been 100% silk, all printed in Britain and all hand rolled.
“Having launched with the Tate, we have since partnered with the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, Scream London, English Heritage and the Museum Of London and have several significant partnerships set to go live in 2016.”
When identifying a partner to work with, Elliott says he always takes great care to ensure they are in line with the brand’s core values as well as making sure the partnership is in keeping with the style of product they are looking to create.
“With The National Gallery for example, we worked closely with their team to choose three paintings from their substantial collection of some of the finest artworks in the world,” he explained to me.
Elliott added: “The paintings had to first and foremost suit the medium on which they were to be presented and so we slowly identified those we wanted based on colour blends and the ability to work within a square crop. We then designed unique borders for each square, each inspired by the painting it was chosen to go with and utilising individual details seen in the work such as the detailing on an arch or the colouring of a piece of clothing.
“Once designs were finalised we worked with their expert colourist to ensure that the sampling process gave us the closest possible match to the original painting before producing our finished product. This is a difficult task when printing complicated images with multiple colour blends onto silk but fully worth it when presented at the end with a stunning hand rolled silk pocket square featuring an absolutely stunning piece of art.”
The company’s first range was created with the Tate. This saw Rampley & Co take three pieces of Tate’s art collection to feature. Still the brand’s bestsellers, they feature works from John Martin, John Singleton Copley and J.M.W. Turner. Their most popular individual item is still ‘The Death Of Major Peirson’ featuring the Battle Of Jersey in 1781, a stunning image that works beautifully as a pocket square.
Rampley & Co then launched with the National Gallery and featured art from Rubens, Canaletto, and Crivelli. “This was very well received and led us to then partner with the Wallace Collection in Marylebone where we used their renowned weapons collection to inspire our design process,” Elliott said smiling.
Separate to the fine art, the luxury British brand has also created a range based on the sketches of William Swainson, a 19th century ornithologist, as well as working with the University of Pittsburgh to access an original copy of John James Audubon’s ‘Birds Of America’ for their very elegant wedding inspired range.
Looking ahead, Elliott told me that Rampley & Co had some very stylish new collections planned as well as some exciting new partnerships on the horizon.
“We’ve recently released a range with the Museum Of London called the Historic Handkerchiefs Collection where we have recreated 18th century handkerchiefs with maps of London on them. We also have several large partnerships due to launch in 2016 as well as our first tie range. The second half of 2016 promises to be a very busy one indeed,” he said.
Visit their website today and see for yourself how beautiful their designs really are.
