Love and joy knitted through every piece.
Our Story
About Us
You could say that for Catherine, a future in knitting was inevitable. Catherine grew up in the Malvern Hills surrounded by the soundtrack of her mother’s various craft projects; whether that was the soft thrum of a spinning wheel in the lounge or the click of knitting needles each evening.
A child of the 80s, Catherine immersed herself in all things ‘fashion’ from a young age (‘The Clothes Show’ was the highlight of her week).
After many years of dreaming of making beautiful things, Catherine earned a place to study Textiles at the Royal College of Art where she developed her signature style; bold, playful and always made using the finest materials.
Hand-made happiness for you and your home since 1999.
Catherine Tough graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1999, with the vision of turning heritage craft into playful, modern pieces that are a pleasure to wear and use. Inspired by nature, travel and colour, she and her team continue to make products to cherish.
Now we are one of the UK’s leading designer-makers; our products are found in many of the finest stores around the UK and the rest of the World. Our lovely patterned socks, woollen hats and scarves, lavender door stops, cushions and throws are widely coveted, and we're expanding our range all the time.
Catherine's passion for textiles began when she was still at school, inspired by her mum's knitting skills (there was often a fleece in the lounge, a spinning wheel and lots of projects on the go) and, as a child of the 80’s, religiously watching The Clothes Show. She went on to study textiles at the Royal College of Art where she developed her signature style of bold, playful designs using beautiful materials.
Catherine and her dedicated team handcraft beautiful quality products for you and your home from the finest natural materials. By fusing traditional craft practices with contemporary, elegant design, we lovingly create pieces that you'll treasure. Manufacturing in the UK where possible has always been at the heart of the business; our mini factory at the studio in Hackney and a selection of highly skilled and knowledgeable manufacturers and suppliers now work together to produce our entire range.
Though she was brought up in the peace and quiet of the Malvern Hills, Catherine now lives in Hackney with her young family. Drawing inspiration from the chaotic mixture of urban sights and sounds around her, and combining them with a very English sense of style and whimsy to create individual and charming products that are luxurious and make you smile.
Catherine has written or contributed to many books, and our products are regularly featured in the press. As hands-on knitters, we love the challenge of bespoke projects and have created a diverse collection of one-off specials ranging from a knitted memorial cat to matching mother and daughter legwarmers.
You can keep up to date with life at our Hackney studio on Facebook and Instagram or by following Catherine’s Blog. We take genuine pleasure in producing our range and, if you're interested in working with us or would like to feature our products, we'd love to hear from you.
Welfare & Ethics
All the yarn used in our production is ethically sourced from high-quality spinners with animal welfare policies in place.
The fleece used in manufacturing the yarns can be traced back to Australia and South America from non-mulesed sources (very nasty practice of removing the skin around the sheep's bottom to prevent flystrike, which is associated with the yarn used in high volume, low-cost garments)
The spinners are members of Wool Mark who have signed up to the RSPCA best practice in Support of the International Wool Textile Organisation Working Document of Animal Welfare and 5 Freedoms
- Freedom from Hunger & Thirst
- Freedom from discomfort
- Freedom from pain.
- Freedom from injury
- Freedom from disease
We have worked with the same factory in Portugal for over ten years and visited them on many occasions, all the staff are treated fairly, and health and safety policies are in place. We do stress out the team with too many colour combinations but they love us really.
Our UK production takes place at our studio in Hackney and a traditional mill in Scotland, we are a very happy team, and you are most welcome to visit us at the studio where we knit, wash, dry, iron, sew and finish every product by hand.
If you have any questions, please get in touch through our contact page.