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J C Middlebrook

J C Middlebrook makes lace textile accessories and home products in Nottingham. Nottingham is a city steeped in the history of lace, a city with a rich history of lace production dating beyond the 1700’s. The center of UK lace production until just a few decades ago, Nottingham’s Lace Market was a place for dying, finishing and trading lace brought in from lace factories around the world. The inventor of the stocking frame, which changed the face of lace production in the 1700’s, came from a village not far from where J C Middlebrook now works. Nottingham lace was known to be so fine, that even an expert found it difficult to tell it apart from hand made lace.

Building on this long heritage, J C Middlebrook makes lace in her Nottingham studio with the most up to date software and machinery. Inspired by the heritage of the craft, she prefers to make wearable lace in vivid shades, challenging perceptions of what lace looks like, and is used for. Making lace in up to 240 different shades, Middlebrook uses vintage lace patterns to produce beautiful, contemporary jewelry and home goods. Made from viscose rayon, which is a derivative of wood pulp, the brilliant colors are all produced from low impact dyes.

The lace is entirely biodegradable, and all J C Middlebrook leftovers, including the thread are composted, taking about a year to fully break down. Middlebrook also uses linen and cotton fiber for table linen, all sewn with rayon or cotton thread, and all designed to be compostable. Even the packaging is sustainable, packaged in sturdy recycled cardboard boxes and wrapped in bio-cellophane wrappers made from corn starch. Lace production is powered by 100% renewable electricity.

Website: www.jcmiddlebrook.co.uk