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2024 marks John Smedley’s 240^th anniversary. To celebrate this, they have partnered with QEST mural artist Melissa White, who has dreamed up a bespoke, fantastical narrative of heritage and longevity.

A visit to John Smedley’s Lea Mills factory in Derbyshire furnished Melissa with insights into the company’s history, people and beautiful setting on the edge of the Peak District National Park. Back in her studio, she weaved these details into a surreal landscape of rolling hills, rivers, and trees. Cherry blossoms bloom in honour of the brand’s longstanding relationship with Japan and an oak tree with a herringbone trunk reflects the floors at the mill. Merino and Bluefaced Leicester sheep, Sea Island Cotton, and a mulberry tree are all nods to the quality raw materials synonymous with John Smedley’s knitwear. Jay birds, the brand’s logo, can be spotted throughout. Watching over this bucolic scene is John Smedley himself, while his wife Caroline sits among her beloved rhododendrons in Lea Gardens.

This special piece will feature across the brand’s whole anniversary year in a range of different ways, beginning in May with London Craft Week and the launch of a new capsule collection of limited-edition mural sweaters and silk scarves. Their London stores will also display new window schemes during this time, sourced and made in collaboration with Petersham Nurseries.

Head to John Smedley’s Jermyn Street store on Thursday 16^th May to learn more about the art of mural painting from Melissa White herself, accompanied by a live demonstration.