Rumisu for Drake's

Introducing the first part in a vibrant new collaboration with Istanbul-based brand, Rumisu. Deniz and Pinar Yegin - the sisters behind the brand - give an insight into how the project began.

It is always a pleasure to encounter others who share our enthusiasm for craft and design. Istanbul-based sisters Deniz and Pinar Yegin certainly fall into that category. Their collaborative project – Rumisu – is something of a kindred spirit to Drake’s. “We had been aware of Drake’s and its iconic, classic patterns for quite some time,” the Yegin sisters explain. “We felt close to the brand, since just like Rumisu, Drake’s initially started its journey producing scarves and shawls with very original and characteristic patterns, growing to be a well-respected brand with enthusiastic followers all around the globe.”

Having admired each other’s work from afar, the Drake’s team were fortunate enough to run into the sisters in Florence, and a conversation flourished into something much bigger. “We were thrilled to personally meet the team behind the brand at the Pitti Uomo trade fair. The idea of collaborating grew during one of our chats at the fair, and excited us immediately.”

We decided to ask the sisters to approach some of our most recognisable designs, and to reimagine these through their distinctive illustrative style. And so began an ongoing collaboration, the first part of which we are proud to present.

Together we chose four iconic patterns from the archive, and Rumisu set about creating their own versions, which we then applied to cushion covers. “We were presented with a selection of Drake’s prints, which we had the freedom to pick from. During the last few years we’ve come to realise that we particularly enjoy working on animal figures, so as a result we were partial towards the patterns that featured the highest number of fauna – as well as intense flora. We didn’t want to depart too much from the originals: we wanted to show our respect to the iconic status of the patterns, thus we mostly kept the original compositions, but re-interpreted the characters and individuals within them.

“We always prefer to draw by hand with ink and watercolours. We feel that no digital tools can replicate that feeling, working on paper with traditional methods. As a result we started this project by re-drawing the Drake’s patterns by hand, in our own visual language, and digitised everything in the final stage.”

The result is something which is unmistakeably Drake’s, but suffused with Rumisu’s vibrant personality: London meets Istanbul. Each of the four designs will add colour and pattern to an interior – a note of the eccentric, but with an air of classicism.