For over twenty years, Fox & Chave has been supplying hundreds of fabulous heritage sites like the National Gallery, the V&A, Tate, the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Fitzwilliam, Liverpool Museums, Scottish galleries, Welsh castles, National Trust properties, English Heritage sites, cathedrals and stately homes and similar attractions in the USA and Europe. Our Collection of Silk Accessories is inspired by fine art, decorative pattern, history, literature and nature over thousands of years from antiquity to the present day – or as close to present day as the laws of copyright will allow.

THE FITZWILLIAM MUSEUM - CAMBRIDGE 

In addition to our own collection, we have a flourishing Bespoke Service. We have been proud to create designs to reflect great collections, beautiful buildings and for world-class exhibitions. Inspiration has come not only from paintings but from fabrics, ceilings, flooring, glassware, books and costumes. We see pattern everywhere; our work is challenging, interesting and usually great fun!

We opened our online shop in response to phone calls from the public asking where they could find particular designs.

As museum shops are so specialised, it wasn’t always practical to direct the caller to somewhere several hundred miles away. But it was tiny part of the business and not very well resourced, while our attention was elsewhere. Then along came the pandemic, with severe shopping restrictions and a lull in trading activity that allowed us to focus on our website. Our online sales have developed into an important part of the business, given a fabulous boost by National Treasure and tie lover, Stephen Fry, who called us ‘one of the finest purveyors of silk in the country’.

HUNT IN THE FOREST SCARF by FOX & CHAVE in the ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM GIFT SHOP, OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM

Online has helped us engage with the public and build even more royalty revenue for our licensors. It has encouraged us to understand the world of social media – every day is a school day. We have loved engaging with customers, seeing photos of you wearing your favourite F&C piece, sorting out matching ties for groomsmen, digging into our archives to find a replacement for a beloved tie that was mangled by the washing machine (dry clean only please) or chewed by the dog! Themes chime with our audience.

We have had heart-warming stories, an Olympic tie worn to a Greek grandfather’s funeral, Delaunay’s Eiffel tower scarf worn by friends visiting Paris together, the bee tie worn by the groom to wed his bride, Beatrice, known as B, a Spitfire tie bought by the granddaughter of a man who was part of the spitfire design team, the antiquarian bookseller who encouraged us to create the Marble Endpaper tie.

Post-pandemic, we are slowly recovering from almost two years of closed or empty museums, helped by great exhibitions (Impressionism at the National Galleries of Scotland, Munch at the newly-reopened Courtauld Gallery, Ancient Egypt at the BM) but throughout this difficult period, it has been a pleasure to get to know the people who share our love of beautiful silk.

A HAPPY TRADE CUSTOMER ON THE FOX & CHAVE STAND AT SPRING FAIR, BIRMINGHAM NEC, UK