Laura Ashley Reclaims its Heritage with Hard Core Cottagecore 70th Anniversary Reboot Experience

British heritage brand Laura Ashley is marking its 70th anniversary year with bold new work created in partnership with Uncommon Experience Studio.

Under the headline idea 'Unashamedly Romantic', Uncommon Experience Studio has created a campaign, pop-up shop and limited edition product range.

Celebrating Laura Ashley as the pioneer of what is now dubbed the ‘cottagecore’ trend, the push primes the brand’s anticipated return to ready-to-wear in Spring/Summer 2024.

The idea is inspired by a 1975 interview in which Laura Ashley said of the brand’s heritage, “We typify Beatrix Potter, Jane Austen, Rupert Brooke. We are unashamedly romantic.”

A pop-up store in Fitzrovia features a specially created anniversary range, with proceeds supporting the charity Furnishing Futures.

70 unique art prints were each overprinted onto sheets of original Laura Ashley wallpaper. Typographic statements proclaim the brand’s point of view in a bold new tone of voice. BEAUTY IS NOT FRIVOLITY, PROUD TO BE PRETTY and GENTLE IS A STRENGTH are among the range’s provocative slogans.

The work honours the origin story of the brand, which began in 1953 when Laura and Bernard Ashley bought a small screen printer.

To promote the range, in urban East London the same lines currently appear on beautiful fly posters, some of which see actual Laura Ashley wallpaper pasted over heavily graffitied walls.

Poppy Marshall-Lawton vice president of Laura Ashely described this as “a beautiful intervention, a coming together of our past and our present. This 70th anniversary campaign carries forth the strength of Laura Ashley’s vision, and makes it relevant for a new generation.”

Ben Golik, Uncommon Experience Studio creative partner said, “For too long words like ‘pretty’, ‘nice’ and ‘gentle’ have been used dismissively. We reclaimed Laura Ashley’s quiet strength by reframing the words most often associated with the brand.”

Poppy Marshall-Lawton continues, “Laura Ashley started out 70 years ago at her dining table, with £10 worth of screen printing materials. We’ve gone full circle, giving brand lovers a chance to screen print their own Laura Ashley original at our dining table.”

Visitors to the London pop-up could also print their choice of slogan onto a tote bag made from one of ten archive prints.

Poppy said of the experience, “Laura Ashley started out 70 years ago at her dining table, with £10 worth of screen printing materials. We’ve gone full circle, giving brand lovers a chance to screen print their own Laura Ashley original at our dining table.”