With respective backgrounds in fashion and photography, Carolyn and her partner Roderick launched Merchant & Mills in 2010 with a view of offering an antidote to modern life. Ahead of their time, they wanted to bring back a sense of style and purpose to the then overlooked craft of home sewing. Quickly establishing their signature timeless designs, right down to the packaging and presentation (c/o Roderick’s clean graphics) they have created a brand that would attract the very people that had hitherto overlooked sewing. Equally, they were determined to include the steadfast makers and menders who had continued regardless of current trends.
Moving to Rye in 2012, they opened a shop trading in all things sewing. Stocking gorgeous natural fabrics, sewing patterns and quality tools, all beautifully and inspirationally presented, the mission was to encourage and entice people to sew.
As they transformed the derelict old building they found on Rye’s Tower Street, into their studio, warehouse and shop, so did their business expand and develop. By 2017 the space was becoming too small for their needs, so they undertook a huge renovation and redesign project, setting up shop temporarily nearby using market stalls, whilst still trying to manage their growing wholesale and online business. Merchant & Mills products are stocked in the world’s most respected outlets and the company has successfully collaborated with London’s V&A Museum and Alexander McQueen, amongst others.
In 2019 they launched the crisp and airy studio that is now their Rye store. By adding a mezzanine floor, the whole of the ground floor could be dedicated to retail, whilst upstairs became the brand-new sewing school.
Never sitting still, and always exploring new ways to work with fabrics and people, one of their latest ventures is the introduction of their popular sewing retreats. To host these, they have purchased and renovated a house in Rye, where students from around the world come to immerse themselves in a 6-day residential course. As a result of this house renovation, Merchant & Mills have produced a collection of interior pieces and are now developing a range of interior fabrics. As Carolyn says, “You can make everything if you want. There is nothing that would stop you”.
What brings you to the George?
The George has been designed and redesigned by one my favorite interior design teams, Retrouvius. So, it’s lovely to have a nose around and feel inspired by their ethos of reuse and repurpose. I do like to take a seat in the bar and have a cocktail at the end of a busy week.
List 3 things you won’t leave home without
Keys, pooh bags and phone.
What is your earliest hotel memory?
We never went to hotels as children, much more likely to be a caravan in the middle of a muddy field. So, my earliest memory would be of my first trip to Paris. The very darkest blue room at the very top of a never-ending stairwell …it felt very bohemian.
What is the best/most important part of staying away in a hotel for you?
A big comfy bed and a huge bath.
What are you currently reading/binge-watching/listening to?
I am currently watching Martijn Doolaard on You Tube, slowly renovating a couple of stone houses in Val d’ Aosta; Very slow paced, not much chat, great landscapes. Listening to audio book of Empireland (Sathnam Sanghera) and I just finished Sapiens (Yuval Noah Harari).
Do you have a hotel lobby/lift story you’d care to share with us?
Hotel lobbies are made for people watching and I can spend hours doing that.
What do you always forget/lose when you go away?
Phone charger. Which I either forget to bring or forget to take. A disastrous trip would be when I forget to pack my PJs.
Hypothetically, who would you most like to discover is a fellow guest?
My very dear friends, Stephen, Jonathan, Clark and Caroline.
What helps you get to sleep at night? (Keep it clean!)
Listening to ‘Things fell apart’ with Jon Ronson. Although the stories can be very disturbing, they are a fascinating insight to what can go quite wrong in our interconnected world …I love his very gentle voice; I don’t think I’ve ever got to the end of an episode.
My secret Rye discovery is….
The walk from Love Lane up to Tillingham winery. On a summer’s day it’s everything you need.
