Fiona Lynch x Waverley Mills Desert Fields Blanket. This remarkable blanket is the meeting of two Australian icons. Designed by celebrated interior designer Fiona Lynch and woven by Waverley Mills, the oldest working textile mill in Australia, each blanket captures the colour and quiet atmosphere of the Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory. Fiona walked the trail after months of lockdown and found comfort in the desert’s shifting light. Sandstone cliffs at sunrise, violet dusk on the ridgelines and soft blue shadows around the ghost gums have all found their way into this collection.
Each blanket is woven from 100 percent 18 micron Winton Merino wool, a fibre known for its softness, strength and natural warmth. The yarn is grown on Winton Estate in Tasmania, a historic property tended by seven generations of the Taylor family. Their Saxon Merino stud is one of the oldest in Australia and produces wool with a clarity and handle that gives this throw its luxurious finish. At 135 cm x 210 cm with an 8 cm fringe, it is generous in size, beautifully weighted and designed to sit comfortably across a bed, sofa or armchair.
The palette is offered in four distinct colourways. Sonder, Simpson, Ormiston and Stanley each interpret the desert landscape through a different lens, echoing the simplicity of the Colour Field movement while remaining grounded in the Australian interior. This is a blanket to keep close on winter evenings, to fold at the foot of the bed or to use as the finishing touch in a lived in room. It has a quiet presence, a sense of place and a softness that grows more familiar over time.
Made in Launceston, Tasmania.
