Edie Ure
Edie Ure is a native Londoner who, after graduating with a Fashion and Textiles degree from Central St. Martins worked as a designer in Milan, Paris and New York. She worked at Ralph Lauren Home concept-ing their home collections and designing, and has created multiple businesses, including a children’s wear label she co-designed with Ulla Johnson and a print design company that has created prints for many major New York brands.When her husband-at-the-time’s job suddenly brought the family to Boulder, Colorado she was thrown out of her comfort zone. She had never lived anywhere so un-urban and was definitely more into “human nature” than “nature.” Coinciding with the move she decided to take a step away from fashion for a few years. She had two young kids and there wasn't really a fashion industry in Colorado anyway. The time away gave her a chance to truly absorb where she was living — the mountains and remote, wild places where animals are abundant. She grew to love this new lifestyle and was inspired to go back to fashion with the intention of communicating this passion for nature through her work. Coming back to textiles was a natural step for her. She utilized all the amazing raw materials she found in Colorado to dye her textiles. She found that things such as bark, leaves, flowers, roots, vegetables and minerals could create luminescent colors without the use of toxins or chemicals. It was a move that paid off. Edie now works as a natural dye artisan, sustainably dyeing textiles for apparel and interior designers, and also owns an eponymous interior brand.She’s worked substantially with Ryan Roche dyeing wool for knitwear. For the CFDA collection, they dyed skeins of cashmere from Oregon goats blush pink using avocado pits and skins. Last summer, she covered her yard with shearlings while she dyed them individually. She's worked with Garza Marfa on an interiors project for 'Freda' at the Ace Hotel New Orleans, and most recently can be found collaborating with Brother Vellies, dyeing and fluffing hundreds of feathers for their line of Lamu sandals, and peach shearlings for their “Island Bag.”We recently caught up with the multi-faceted businesswoman to ask her to share the seven things she’s most interested in at the moment. This is what she said:1 | Getting lost -- What is more stimulating than a foreign road trip, preferably alone, all senses alive, slightly nervous and yet totally blissed out on the unknown? Some of my favorite trips are driving the Westfjords of Iceland, dropping into the Draa Valley in Morocco, and exploring oases and casbahs throughout the desert of Zagora.2 | Inverted Spaces Orion Wallpaper -- This breathtaking wallpaper was designed by Calico using NASA's immense library of satellite imagery to create an abstract view of the infinite expansion of the universe. It’s truly a celestial dream!3 | Pink and yellow colors extracted from plants and trees -- It’s profound how difficult it is to achieve a good pink using chemical dyes, yet every pink found in botanical dyes is so beautiful. My favorite sources are from Avocado Pits, Loquat leaves, Sandalwood and the perfect mustard yellow from Osage Orange wood.4 | Caudalié Creme Gourmande Hand and Nail Cream -- This cream is the most kind to my hands, because they are frequently submerged in a pot of dye and I always forget to wear gloves which makes them very dry. I have tried hundreds of hand creams and this works the best for me.5 | Outside Magazine -- It is written so well, telling tales of extreme adventure and extraordinary superhuman achievement. I read it in the bath and imagine my alter ego is capable of such things.6 | The Burkina Slide -- The prettiest summer shoe by Aurora James of Brother Vellies. Handwoven in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia by a marginalized community of women weavers. These shoes just make me happy -- it's like wearing flowers on your feet.7 | My flower garden -- I lived in cities all my life until I came to Colorado and hadn't ever had the land or patience to grow anything. I get constant joy from a flower reseeding itself and coming back the next year. I cut them for my house and extract color from them to use as dye. I also make a good martini from organic rose petals simmered to extract flavor and color, filtered with some lemon juice.
