Threads Of Home

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In a landscape where creativity often chases the speed of the capital, Northumberland-born fashion and textile artist Meg Fletcher is carving out a slower, richer, deeply personal path. In conversation with Elysia Fryer, she reflects on place, performance, identity, and the power of creating on home ground.

There’s something about Northumberland light. The way it spills across the coastline, and the grounding stillness of its landscapes. For artist and designer Meg Fletcher, this is more than a backdrop: it’s where her creativity breathes — where it becomes itself.

“For some artists, myself included, the creative mind excels when the world around them is stable enough to begin interpreting it,” she reflects, describing her home county.

“Within the peaceful surroundings of my home in Northumberland, where the fashion industry capital is hustling and bustling 300+ miles away in London, I can stand back and take stock of what’s important to me.”

Time is the thread that runs through every part of Meg’s thinking. She identifies herself not just as a designer, but as a Fashion and Textile Artist — and she stresses the importance of that last word.

“Followers of a fashion designer expect new and exciting creations at least twice a year. An artist is granted time to reflect, to find a spark, and to connect emotionally with a piece,” she explains. That sense of space, permission, and unhurriedness is something she finds in abundance at home.

“Here in the North East, I feel that time is being granted to me,” adds Meg. Her relationship with London is affectionate but fleeting — a place for brief creative pilgrimages but never for planting roots.

“I often wish I could tolerate London for more than three days,” she laughs. “But that moment when I get on the East Coast train and hear the announcer say ‘the next stop is Alnmouth,’ a deep sense of belonging and coming home washes over me.”

It’s not about retreat, but return — return to quiet, to clarity, to familiarity, to a landscape that doesn’t overstimulate but instead nurtures ideas into being. And though she was lucky enough to travel extensively as a child, the world only confirmed what she already felt: home, for her, is here.

Performance has also been a lifelong companion. Before there were textiles, there were scripts, stages and costumes. Meg’s eyes brighten when she recalls it.

“I have performed in youth groups and local amateur theatre since I was four. There’s no aim to get bigger and better with it, but just to join in for the pure love of it.”

It has shaped her artistic approach more than she ever expected. She speaks with fascination about costume as a gateway to character.

“There’s a moment when you don a costume where the character you’ve gotten to know through rehearsals suddenly entirely exists. The costume hanging on a rail isn’t yet fully formed, and neither are you until you’re zipped into it.”

This is where her philosophy of dress comes alive. Clothing, for Meg, isn’t decoration — it’s communication.

“I’m fascinated by how clothing becomes a language of identity. How the act of getting dressed allows us to step into different facets of ourselves.”

Her work explores this idea of fluid identity — how each of us holds many characters within us, each with their own style, their own visual vocabulary, their own story. It’s a concept that has evolved into her newest venture, a brand called CHARACTERS.

“It encourages a community to ask ‘Who shall I be today?’ rather than ‘What should I wear today?’” she says — inviting people to choose expression before aesthetics.

Her path into the industry didn’t follow the typical ‘London calling’ route. Instead, it unfolded here in the North East: Newcastle College for an art foundation, a year away to reset and study short courses in London, and then Northumbria University for her Fashion Design degree.

“My creativity thrives here in Northumberland,” she reflects.

A brief placement in a London bridal studio only confirmed that her artistic perspective needed space — not speed — to grow. Staying rooted in the North East has since become a defining part of her identity as a creator.

“Since deciding to develop my creative businesses here, I have made sure that being in the north is a key part of my brand’s identity.”

What she found around her was more than just comfort — it was community.

“A deeply motivated circle of creatives who do the same. I’m grateful to be able to collaborate and lean on these individuals as we grow the northern fashion landscape."

“I will shout loudly and proudly from the north,” she says, with a smile.

Her days, when she’s not working, are focused on deadlines and passions. Her sewing studio, nestled in her childhood home, is where much of the magic happens. Some days she’s shaping her own brand, other days she’s completing commissions.

Evenings are for grounding: the gym, walks with her partner, amateur musical theatre rehearsals, or catching a performance at The Glasshouse or stand-up at The Stand. And after all the movement and noise of the day, she returns to her favourite ritual: “There’s nothing I look forward to more than putting on my PJs and sitting in front of the fire, designing and sketching.”

This pace — measured and meaningful — isn’t accidental.

“You can’t force anything, or it will break,” she says.

“Creativity falters under pressure when driven by external expectations rather than authentic expression.”

Framing herself as an artist, not just a designer, grants her the freedom to let ideas unfurl naturally, without panic or haste. This slower, natural approach aligns with the wider movement towards slow fashion — pieces with story, soul and staying power.

“A piece that’s been considered, thoughtfully made and deliberately released feels more like an artefact than a mere product,” she explains.

Her work grows as she does, and because personal growth is a slow unfurling, her garments become part of that evolution.

“A narrative-led process ensures the garment holds purpose, not just product value.”

That storytelling instinct is at the core of her collection HOME GROUND, a project that feels both intimate and sweeping in vision. Its beginnings were cinematic: a car journey, an autumn afternoon and BODIES’ Requiem for a Queen playing through the speakers.

“I often get my ideas from daydreaming to music,” she says.

The spark arrived not as a garment, but as a vision of how an audience might feel. And once she visited the courtyard at Alnwick Castle, the pieces began to assemble themselves.

“Everything flowed so easily from there,” she says.

HOME GROUND became Meg’s declaration of place — an ode to northern strength and to the idea that being rooted doesn’t restrict you; it fortifies you.

“The aim has remained the same: to show the fashion industry some northern grit, to move my audience with a memorable experience, and finally — if slightly self-indulgent — to realise my daydream.”

She speaks of northern creative energy with real excitement: “Creatives who choose to stay outside big cities all have unique perspectives on new ways to build brands and communities,” she says. They’re not bound by the traditional rulebook; they’re reshaping it.

“More opportunities and funding are being invested in the North East, so I can only anticipate bigger and better things coming our way.”

There’s a sense of momentum — a wave of new voices rising, each with their own stories to tell.

And when the world gets a little too loud, Meg returns to the landscapes that raised her.

“The place I go to retreat and switch off is always Corby Crags,” she says without hesitation.

The view along the road from Alnwick to Rothbury has witnessed some of her life’s most defining moments: receiving university results, grieving the loss of her dad, seeing the northern lights for the first time.

“It’s a particularly grounding place for me. I have an image of the view tattooed on my side so I can always carry the power of that view with me wherever I go.”

Not all resets are profound; some are simply joyful. Beach walks — Alnmouth or Seaton Point. A browse in The Accidental Bookshop in Alnwick. “A visit for non-guilty purchases will always lift my spirits,” she smiles.

Meg Fletcher is a rare creative voice — intelligent, grounded, instinctive and deeply connected to the landscapes that shape her. Her artistry doesn’t bow to the speed of the industry; instead, it listens, absorbs and emerges slowly, honestly, and with narrative richness. In her world, style isn’t something you chase — it’s something you uncover, character by character, story by story, on the home ground that inspires her most.

Photographer: Jack Herron