Take My Hand Opera Duster
A splendid and wholly original ode to friendship, this lighthearted design has quickly become one of our very favourites! We combined several pieces of art in the tradition of Victorian collage — including a remarkably detailed engraving of clasped hands and sun rays from 1626, a painted heart from a seventeenth-century colour chart, and flowers, leaves & hummingbirds from an 1800’s lithograph. The banners on the front reads, in both English and French, “La vie n’est rien sans l’amitié — Life is nothing without friendship”. The trim combines more hand-coloured 1800’s florals collaged together. The resulting print is so fresh and joyful — and unlike anything we’ve made before.
100% bamboo/wood viscose. Machine wash gentle or handwash and hang to dry. Iron to finish if needed.
Kimono measurements: length 116cm, width 78 cm (across back, underarm to underarm). Model is 5’9” for reference.
A splendid and wholly original ode to friendship, this lighthearted design has quickly become one of our very favourites! We combined several pieces of art in the tradition of Victorian collage — including a remarkably detailed engraving of clasped hands and sun rays from 1626, a painted heart from a seventeenth-century colour chart, and flowers, leaves & hummingbirds from an 1800’s lithograph. The banners on the front reads, in both English and French, “La vie n’est rien sans l’amitié — Life is nothing without friendship”. The trim combines more hand-coloured 1800’s florals collaged together. The resulting print is so fresh and joyful — and unlike anything we’ve made before.
100% bamboo/wood viscose. Machine wash gentle or handwash and hang to dry. Iron to finish if needed.
Kimono measurements: length 116cm, width 78 cm (across back, underarm to underarm). Model is 5’9” for reference.
A splendid and wholly original ode to friendship, this lighthearted design has quickly become one of our very favourites! We combined several pieces of art in the tradition of Victorian collage — including a remarkably detailed engraving of clasped hands and sun rays from 1626, a painted heart from a seventeenth-century colour chart, and flowers, leaves & hummingbirds from an 1800’s lithograph. The banners on the front reads, in both English and French, “La vie n’est rien sans l’amitié — Life is nothing without friendship”. The trim combines more hand-coloured 1800’s florals collaged together. The resulting print is so fresh and joyful — and unlike anything we’ve made before.
100% bamboo/wood viscose. Machine wash gentle or handwash and hang to dry. Iron to finish if needed.
Kimono measurements: length 116cm, width 78 cm (across back, underarm to underarm). Model is 5’9” for reference.
“What are hands made for but this? For holding. For holding on.”
- James Patterson
“A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.”
- D. Roberts
“And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, they danced by the light of the moon.”
- Edward Lear, The Owl and the Pussycat
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We can’t help but get a little swept away by this lighthearted piece — it’s so much fun to style! Wear it layered over a simple black slip dress & sandals for brunch with your best friends, or add some drama by pairing it with high waisted jeans, heeled boots and statement earrings for a flirtatious date-night look. And definitely bring it along in your carry-on for any vaycay adventures — it looks absolutely amazing over a black swimsuit poolside or at the seashore. The versatile colour palette will match with so many tones in your existing wardrobe — blues, greens, pinks, yellows and black…a gorgeous bouquet of wonderful shades.
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The true friend, the kind hearted. Women who lift up the ones they love, who are always there when it matters. Women with an open hand, and an open heart.
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It’s amazing to think that the art we used to create this wonderful design spans more than three centuries! The Flemish engravings, created in the 1600’s, depict symbols of co-operation and charity, while the colourful flowers and hummingbirds come from British lithographs that were made almost two hundred years later. And even the heart we added to this piece has its own history, coming from a seventeenth century French painter’s chart that was used to record the formulas for how to mix paint colours. The motto, “La vie n’est rien sans l’amitié — Life is nothing without friendship”, was borrowed from an engraving on the inside of a French bracelet from the same era. Fast forward to the current century, where we brought all of these marvellous works of art together to make Take My Hand! Talk about a long time in the making ;)
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Just for a while, empty your hands. Set down the ghost of every brick you carry, the ones. you built your dreams with and the ones you threw at your own windows. Hush. The world is wide. and full of things to hold and let go. Some days you’ll only know the truth by touch — taut skin of tulips and apples, animal warmth, the strong spine of feathers.
But some you’ll just know. That your dreams will stand and the cracks will let in light. That the hummingbird can fly forward and backward, against all odds, every moment its heart beats a thousand times. That love is heavy and weightless. That if your open hand holds nothing but a question, my hand will answer.
