Next stop Uzbekistan for talented Ramelton-based textile designer

Seasca, the online boutique, is the creation of Carmel Patterson, a textile designer based in Ramelton, which takes a little something from everywhere.

Carmel first started travelling at the age of 18, now in her 60’s, and says she has “taken inspiration from different countries and used them for my products”.

Carmel sells handcrafted cushions, rugs, blankets, and bedsheets using “all natural materials”, which all have design elements she’s picked up in her travels.

“I started Seasca during Covid”, she says, “I just thought to myself about what I was going to do with the last part of my life, I didn’t want to retire and just go out for lunches, I wanted something interesting to do.

“I was doing AirBnB and I couldn’t find any textiles that visually reflected Ireland, I wanted something fun and whimsical as well, like when you go Morocco and they would have nice Moroccan cushions and Moroccan blankets, and I thought it would be nice to have something where people would come and feel like they were in Ireland.

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“I was born in Scotland, raised in Bedfordshire. My mother’s from Donegal and we used to visit here every year, and I married an Irish man. I could never see myself living anywhere else.”

The designer creates Irish post stamp cushions and says there is an interest from the likes of America and Australia, people who are away from Ireland.

“It's nice for them to have a little reminder of back home,” Carmel adds. “I look for things that have interesting patterns and designs. I’m mostly inspired by the Celtic design, which you see an Irish theme running through most of my products, but not exclusively. I have a lot of designs inspired by a trip to Kyrgyzstan.

“I did a lot of travelling before I was married and before I had kids, I crossed the Gobi desert and crossed the Sahara desert in 1989 to raise money for the Samaritans in Derry, but now that my kids are older we had a lovely trip to Kyrgyzstan, so some of the patterns on the cushions on the website were taken from the the distinct colours and patterns you see there

“I take a lot of inspiration from Morocco, and we’re just back from Jordan, a lot of Middle Eastern countries have beautiful high quality crafts.

So what's next? “I want to go to Uzbekistan because they have really beautifully detailed embroidery,” Carmel adds. “I like remote places because it’s lovely to feel lost for a bit and places that are not well travelled with my two daughters, they’re always good fun to travel with”.