The Natural History Museum’s collaboration with Dunelm is continuing to go from strength to strength. However, with four major product collections focused on vulnerable UK habitats, such as wetlands and moorlands, the brand new Spring/Summer collection has taken a bold new direction, with attention turning to the Museum itself, specifically the treasures housed there and secrets they reveal about our planet.
“Our previous collections with Dunelm have shown us that the Dunelm consumer appreciates bold prints and quirky pieces, and we are really keen to continue delighting them with stylish homewares, inspired by the natural world, that help make a visually stunning interiors statement,” states Maxine Lister, head of licensing at the Natural History Museum.
Adds Debbie Drake, design director at Dunelm: “The Dunelm design team continue to find amazing inspiration from the rich variety of the Museum’s collections – it’s a privilege to have such unique access to an extraordinary archive and to be able to use it to create homewares that both inspire and inform our customers.”
The Spring/Summer 24 homewares collection features multiple themed ranges, each offering bold, nature-inspired prints with historic artworks given a modern twist. Metamorphosis, a creative direction featured on cushions, bedding and more, is inspired by the art of Maria Sibylla Merian, a talented artist who was one of the first to observe and document the process of metamorphosis.
Kaleidoscope is another key theme that celebrates the symmetry that can be found in nature. The decorative endpapers found in many of the Museum’s historical books – a traditional technique used for hundreds of years in bookbinding – inspired the marbling creative direction, which can be seen across home décor, bathroom accessories and blinds.
Hot on the heels of their success at the 2023 Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards, where the collaboration picked up the Sustainability Award, the team are hoping to build on their initial success with the new offering. Having exceeded expectations in terms of sales, while raising awareness of key issues facing the natural world, it seems that there is a continued consumer appetite for heritage inspired homewares.
As well as inspiring nature-themed homewares, the Museum’s collection – a treasure trove with over 80 million specimens –is also used by the Museum’s 350 scientists to inform their research. They are one of the largest groups in the world working in this area, with the Museum committed to opening up its collection to help to find solutions to climate instability and biodiversity loss.
The Natural History Museum and Dunelm’s latest collaboration, ‘Treasures’ is available now via www.dunelm.com/category/all-natural-history-museum-collaboration
To read the full story in the February 2024 issue of Progressive Gifts & Home, click through to pages 60 and 61.
Top: Decorative home items in the new Spring/Summer Natural History Museum x Dunelm collection include, from left to right: a Wildlife Garden candle; a parrot vase and a set of two storage books.
