Katharine Lawrie - Minni Parker

We are always on the lookout for brands that feel full of heart and have a genuine story to tell. Minni Parker was one of those rare discoveries that instantly felt special.

One day, we invited Katharine Lawrie, founder of Minni Parker, to Restaries for a coffee. What started as a simple catch-up turned into hours of conversation about life, creativity, family and the realities of building something meaningful. By the end of it, it felt clear that we needed to create something together.

We’d been waiting for the right project - one that called for warmth and whimsy - and the idea of a twin bedroom soon followed, inspired by Katharine’s daughters’ room. Designing the climb through nook beds for our daughters - Aries and Deia became that moment, and Minni Parker felt like the most natural, joyful fit.

1.      Tell us how Minni Parker came to life?

Minni came to life almost by accident. My grandmother was Austrian so I did a lot of my growing up in the mountains, surrounded by natural linens, woven stripes and easy repeating patterns. I had been drawing these alpine patterns all my life, but never with any real intention, until we bought an old farmhouse in Cornwall that needed complete renovation. I knew the fabrics I was looking for, but couldn’t seem to find them, so I sent my drawings off for sampling and Minni Parker was born.

2.      Your designs feel both joyful and grounding — playful without ever feeling childish. How do you strike that balance, and how important is emotion in the way you think about pattern and colour?

All my designs are drawn from memory. My signature design Minni (my family nickname) is from the memory of a Dirndl my mother used to wear, Blume is from the curtains of a mountain hut I used to play in as a child - emotion is woven into every one. I keep colour sampling until I find exactly the mood those designs first struck in my memory.

3.      So much of your work feels designed to be lived with, not just looked at. What does a “real home” mean to you, and how do you design with real life — mess, movement, children — in mind?

I have a six year old and a four year old. I know they are going to be covered in sand or mud by the end of the day, but I still put them in lovely clothes in the morning. It’s a bit like that with our home, and that’s very much the ethos behind Minni Parker. Nothing is designed to be kept for “best” but to be lived in, washed, remembered. If my children are going to build a fort, let them do it out of cushions! I know the tablecloth will be covered in Marmite after breakfast, but isn’t that the point?

4. We used your fabrics in the twin nook beds we created for Aries and Deia, and there’s something incredibly comforting about watching children grow up surrounded by thoughtful design. How do you think fabric and pattern shape early memories?

So many of my childhood memories are surrounded in fabric and texture. Pattern is so evocative to me -  like a song that takes you back to a moment. I had no idea how pervasive pattern was until I started Minni Parker and found so much of it in my memory.

5. Colour is at the heart of everything you do. Do you have a personal relationship with colour — are there tones you’re always drawn back to, or ones that feel tied to certain chapters of your life?

I have always loved pink and green but red is the most important colour for me, and it’s right at the heart of Minni Parker. When I launched Minni it was with five designs and they were all pink, red and green because those were the colours I’d painted our house. But my home and Minni Parker have grown up together over the last couple of years and it was lovely to introduce blue and sand to our collection this year, as a nod to our home in Cornwall. Everything is still covered in Edelweiss though so we never stray too far from the mountains!

6. Nature, nostalgia, and a sense of optimism seem to run quietly through your collections. Where do you find inspiration when you’re not “looking” for it?

In Austria, the warmest room in the house is called the Stube. Home of the tiled woodstove, and almost always wood-clad, the Stube is where everyone gathers to drink coffee or schnapps, to chat, to sleep, or to make music. There are café curtains across the windows, wooden corner benches covered in cushions, and linen tablecloths. It’s always clean and it’s always cosy.

This is the room Minni Parker comes from and this is the room I always go back to.

7. As a founder, how do you protect creativity while also running a growing business? Has your relationship with your work changed over time?

That’s the strangest thing about running  a creative business - it begins in creativity, but most days you stray a long way from that, and you have to. I can’t do both things well at the same time but I was a commercial litigator for 14 years first, so I’m hard wired for hard work and late nights. I love the fact that I have to keep coming back to creativity for Minni to survive.

8. There’s a warmth to Minni Parker that feels deeply personal. How much of you lives inside the brand?

Probably far too much - it’s inextricably linked to me, my family, my history. But I love that I love the fact I can draw at the crafting table with my children and the designs feel like ours. I love the fact that my mother’s writing is on the back of your fabric samples. It’s hard hard work but it’s heaven.

9. When someone chooses one of your fabrics for their home — perhaps for a child’s bedroom, a quiet reading corner, or a family space — what do you hope it brings to their everyday life?

I just hope it brings that feeling of comfort and calm that these patterns have always brought me. I hope those children are counting flowers and making new patterns out of them as they fall asleep.

10. At Restaries, we talk a lot about creating spaces that allow people to slow down and feel held. What does comfort mean to you, and how do you translate that into design?

There’s a word we use in Austria “Gemütlichkeit” which has no direct translation, but it sort of means warmth, cosiness, a feeling of belonging. That’s the feeling I get at Restaries and that’s the intention behind Minni Parker.

11. Finally, if Minni Parker were a feeling rather than a fabric, what would it be?

(See 10)

12. Is there anything you’d like Restaries readers to know about you, your process, or the Minni Parker brand that perhaps isn’t always visible?

No, I think I’m visible enough xx

Website - minniparkerdesigns.com

Instagram - @minniparkerdesigns