For the new spring Natural History Museum 2024 offering, attention has turned to the treasures housed in the museum and secrets they reveal about our planet.
The Natural History Museum’s acclaimed collaboration with Dunelm continues to go from strength to strength. Now with four major product collections under their belts, all focused on vulnerable UK habitats such as wetlands and moorlands, this brand-new collection has taken a bold new direction.
The spring/summer 2024 Treasures homewares collection consists of multiple themed ranges, each offering the consumer bold, nature-inspired prints with historic artworks given a modern twist. Metamorphosis, a creative direction featured on bedding, cushions and more, is inspired by the stunning art of Maria Sibylla Merian, a talented artist who was one of the first to observe and document the process of metamorphosis.
Kaleidoscope is another key theme that celebrates the incredible symmetry that can be found in nature. The exquisitely decorative endpapers found in many of the museum’s historical books inspired the Marbling creative direction, which can be seen across bathroom accessories, blinds and home décor.
Hot on the heels of its success at the 2023 Brand & Lifestyle Licensing Awards, where the collaboration picked up the Sustainability Award, the team is hoping to build on its initial success with this eye-catching new offering. Have exceeded expectations in terms of sales, all whilst raising awareness of key issues facing the natural world, there is a continued consumer appetite for heritage inspired homewares.
Maxine Lister, head of Licensing at the Natural History Museum, said: “Our previous collections with Dunelm have shown us that the Dunelm consumer appreciates bold prints and quirky pieces, and we are keen to continue delighting them with stylish homewares, inspired by the natural world, that help make a visually stunning interiors statement.”
Debbie Drake, Design director at Dunelm, added: “The Dunelm design team continue to find amazing inspiration from the rich variety of the museum’s collections – it’s a privilege to have such unique access to an extraordinary archive and to be able to use it to create homewares that both inspire and inform our customers.”
As well as inspiring nature-themed homewares, the museum’s collection of over 80m specimens is also used by the museum’s 350 scientists to inform their research. The museum is committed to opening up its collection to help to find solutions to climate instability and biodiversity loss. Readers can find out more about the Natural History Museum’s licensing strategy in an exclusive interview appearing in the March issue of Toy World.
