As the RHS Chelsea Flower Show unfolded just a few streets away, we welcomed guests from the interiors press and trade into our King’s Road showroom for an informal breakfast ‘in conversation with two creative women who share a deep connection with nature: interior designer at Home & Found, Tamsin Saunders and Caroline Kent, artist and founder of boutique stationery brand, Scribble & Daub. Hosted by our founder and design director, Andrew Cussins, the conversation moved from the creative spark of a wildflower meadow to the lasting comfort of a home shaped by its surroundings, exploring how gardens and nature shape the way we design, decorate, and feel at home.
Nature as a Creative Force
“It’s everything. It’s absolutely everything.” – Tamsin Saunders
For both speakers, nature is a constant source of inspiration – not just as a visual reference but as a grounding, emotional touchpoint. The feeling of ‘flow’ – that immersive, focused state so many creatives seek — often comes for both of them when immersed in nature, whether walking in Richmond Park or sketching a sprig of blossom.
Tamsin described how natural beauty feeds into every aspect of her design practice, often unconsciously: “I’m forever taking photos of sunsets or trees… it’s just that feeling.”
Caroline, too, shared how closely she observes the natural world throughout the year. A personal project to draw one flower a week led her to build an entire collection of designs rooted in seasonality and growth. “It gave me structure,” she explained. “It made me really look.”
Designing with the outdoors as a reference point
The conversation explored how nature isn’t just a backdrop to our homes, but an active influence on how we shape them — from colour choices to architectural and design flow.
For Tamsin, a home should be in conversation with its setting. When starting a new interior project, she begins by looking at the garden. “It’s about glimpses, framing, connecting the inside and out,”she said. “You’ve got to work with nature, not fight it.”
This approach was thoroughly reflected in a recent renovation of an Arts & Crafts home in Hampshire – originally built for the Edwardian explorer, naturalist, artist and editor Aubyn Trevor-Battye naturalist – where the architecture is designed to honour the outdoors. The view from each window offers a moment of connection with the garden beyond. The renovation of this special house was carefully considered with reference to its particular setting, with kitchen walls and natural stone worktop, for instance, chosen to echo the colours of the flint stone outside.
Her interiors more generally, frequently echo the seasonal colours of the garden: rusts, sages, soft pinks and inky blues that ebb and flow with the year. “I want the inside of a house to have the same feeling as the garden,” she said. “A sense of honesty, of real life.”
Drawing from the garden
As the founder of stationery brand Scribble & Daub, Caroline’s work frequently returns to the gentle connection we feel to gardens and flowers. One garden Great Dixter, once home to the great gardener and garden writer Christopher Lloyd, left a particularly lasting impression. Local to her home, regular visits there with her young children gave her a deep appreciation for its wildflower meadows. After taking home a bag of meadow cuttings from Great Dixter — part of their annual tradition of sharing seed heads — she sowed a small patch in her own garden. Once established, she spent a year drawing what emerged, creating a set of wildflower cards in support of the Great Dixter trust. “There are so many quiet connections between nature, creativity and art history,” she said. A similar thread runs through her collaborative collection with Charleston, the Sussex home of the Bloomsbury group’ which drew on the favourite flowers of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant for inspiration for a set of ten letterpress-printed, individually hand-painted, notecards.
Layered prints and sofa stories
Andrew introduced Sofas & Stuff’s new RHS Etta’s Bouquet collection to the gathered guests. Drawing on paintings by 19th-century botanical artist Caroline Maria Applebee, held in the RHS Lindley Collections, the design celebrates the timeless appeal of British florals, reinterpreting a classic blousy bouquet with an anchoring stripe for the modern home.
The print feels lived-in, layered and full of character — the kind of textile you could imagine in a long-loved room, rich with stories. As Tamsin shared, it’s this sense of personality and ease that helps to make a space ‘feel right’.
Both Caroline and Tamsin agreed that the sofa plays a central role in creating this atmosphere. It’s where life unfolds, fabrics are layered — not just for decoration, but to create comfort, familiarity and ease. “The sofa is such a crucial part of that.” Tamsin noted, “It’s the key thing.”
Their memories of interiors they have loved — whether glimpsed through the uncurtained glow of Edinburgh’s upper flats when a student or experienced through childhood friends — speak to the emotional life of interiors. Etta’s Bouquet taps into that spirit: a collection that feels at home from the moment it’s introduced.
Final thoughts: home as feeling
At the heart of the conversation was a shared belief that home isn’t just about how a space looks — it’s about how it makes you feel. The most memorable interiors aren’t over-styled or perfect; they’re shaped over time, with care and character, creating a sense of comfort, ease and belonging. It was a joy to hear such open and thoughtful perspectives, and to celebrate the creative power of the natural world with our guests.
A heartfelt thank you to Caroline Kent and Tamsin Saunders for sharing their stories, and to all who joined us for a memorable gathering.
Explore the Etta’s Bouquet collection in showrooms and online — inspired by the flowers we love, and designed to be cherished for years to come.