Pyrus
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- For the genus of trees, see Pear.
Pyrus is a luxury fashion brand based in London, UK. Founded in 2003, the label produces women’s prêt-a-porter and accessories
"One of the best labels for broderie anglaise is Pyrus - a new name at Fenwick - which uses it on full skirts in white, pale blue and soft tangerine and on jersey tops with ruffled collars" The Telegraph “The full broderie anglaise” May 2006
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[edit] History
Initially established as an embroidery specialist design-company, London based Pyrus is best known for its unique take on embroidery and embellishment that adorn each piece in every collection. Combining old and new embroidery techniques is what gives Pyrus that raw and naïve twist to an elegant design style.
Today, the Pyrus range offers not only unique and beautifully detailed pieces; it also presents an extensive range of quality fabrics in both classic and innovative shapes for wearability and style. Romantic softness is achieved with a mix of vibrant prints, colours and detailing which team together to make a truly fresh and alluring collection each season.
Pyrus embroideries are skilfully hand-crafted from Zardozi to the appliance of Glass beads and components. Pyrus is always inventing and discovering a new embroidery technique which in the Spring/Summer ’06 collection included intricate Hand-crochet flowers which have never been seen on any garment till now.
The labels distinctive handwriting is being recognised both in the UK and Internationally. With an exclusive stockist base in the UK, the label has also gained an international following of loyal buyers in Japan, the Far East and Europe.
[edit] The Designers
Pyrus is designed by Ashwin Johnson and Lorraine Barnes.
The pair began working together in early 2002 designing prints, embroideries and creating embroidery artworks for various companies based in UK, Italy and France. Later that year, the pair was approached to design a womenswear range for a major UK high street retailer, which proved to be very successful; a few more offers soon came to design other womenswear ranges.
Ashwin and Lorraine continued with their embroidery & print designing, but at the same time began collecting and sketching ideas for a clothing range of their own. They both became aware of each other’s design styles and inspirations, combining feminine with simple styling and fresh takes on old embroidery techniques. The pair naturally progressed into producing a full womenswear range under their own brand name – Pyrus.
Their first collection for Pyrus was launched for Spring / Summer 2005 and consisted of around 60 pieces. The pair had transformed their living room into a showroom, and made appointments immediately, so much so, that the first buyer of the brand was a Japanese Distributor who sold Pyrus to over 20 stores in Japan in its first season.
In early 2005, the designers postponed the designing business for a while to concentrate more on their own womenswear brand.
The pair decided that, with current competition, a design style was not enough to maintain a successful brand, they believed that working the added hours to secure their distribution and production network would insure buyer confidence and loyalty. Ash and Lorraine also began to produce a full-colour range book for the International buyers who could not travel see the range. The book included detailed photographs of every Pyrus piece with all the information of the product.
Five seasons later, the labels distinctive handwriting is being recognised both in the UK and Internationally. With an exclusive stockist base in the UK, the label has also gained an international following of loyal buyers in Japan, the Middle-East and Europe.
Pyrus is best known for its timeless, contemporary pieces with 1920’s Flapper influence of lowered hiplines, slim silhouettes and knee length hemlines. Each collection draws its attention to beautiful detailing highlighted by bold stylised floral prints, colours are always muted and fabrics are washed and softened to give a ‘lived-in’ feel to the garments.
Simplicity and style is key to the duo’s design philosophy with an old-world look, inspired by their endless gathering and sourcing of Antique laces, dresses, vintage pieces, fabrics and books.
‘Nothing is ever over designed. We like to keep that delicate balance of keeping the collections commercial, yet utterly inspiring to the eye.’ Ashwin & Lorraine March 2004
The designers are continually evolving their design abilities to keep the collections both modern and fresh. Looking for influential finds in bazaars and thrift markets in their travels to India, France and at home in the UK.
[edit] References
[edit] Links
- — [3] via Official Pyrus Site
