One Year Later: Rio de Janeiro - From Journey to Jewellery

It is testament to how busy 2025 was for me (moving cities is unsurprisingly time consuming) that I have only just gotten around to "launching" my Rio collection here on the blog, when it's about six months since it went live in my shops. Even more startling to me is that it is exactly (give or take a couple of days) one year since I went to Brazil and began the process of designing this collection! 

Above: The view from Corcovado Mountain (where Big Jesus is) 

I only stayed 3 nights in Rio, out of a 12 night trip, but visually it was the most inspiring place I went to. The collection is made up of three prints, inspired by three different aspects of Rio; City, Forest and Sea.

City is a patchwork of all my favourite details from the buildings in the Centro and Santa Theresa districts, from decorative tiles to elaborate ironwork and intricate window frames. 

Forest is a classic floral print, full of the tropical plants I saw on our trips to Cristo Redentor and Pão de Açúcar. Away from the beaches and up into the hills the city gets greener and greener, and I kept seeing things I've tried and fail to grow as houseplants in the UK absolutely thriving in the undergrowth. 

Sea was the most challenging print to create, as I tried to represent the shapes and textures of the coast around Rio within a repeating pattern. What makes the seascape so exciting to me is the contrast between the still blue ocean and the rocky outcrops and mountains that surround it. 

I'm so pleased with how the collection has turned out, and that I have the best kind of souvenir from my trip to Brazil. I'm also really excited to have added a brand new product to my range with this collection; tote bags.

Printed in the UK on heavy half-panama cotton, using eco-friendly inks, these bags are a perfect showcase for the Rio prints, and are super hardwearing with tough handles and a boxed base to make sure you can carry everything you need in them. I've been using mine constantly the past few months so I hope you love them as much as I do!