Behind the Design: Buddleia

There’s something quietly joyful about spotting a buddleia bush growing wild along a railway line or tucked into an overlooked corner of the city. Often referred to as the butterfly bush, it has an incredible way of bringing life and colour into urban spaces — a small but powerful reminder of nature’s resilience.

When I had my studio in Southeast London, I would often see these beautiful plants growing in the smallest cracks in the pavement on my walks. I always loved that contrast — the softness of the flowers and butterflies against the toughness of the city. More recently, I bought a dark purple buddleia bush for my new home in Oxfordshire, which made the inspiration behind this design feel even more personal.

The Buddleia print began as a reflection on these moments — the meeting point between nature and urban life, and the beauty that can appear in the most unexpected places. Reimagined in a refined palette of green and white, the design captures the elegance of the buddleia while allowing delicate bursts of colour to shine through in the form of its visitors: monarch, peacock and swallowtail butterflies. These pollinators bring movement and vibrancy to the composition, adding gentle storytelling to the print.

Illustrated digitally using Adobe Illustrator and my Wacom tablet, the design balances precision with a hand-drawn feel. Each cluster of buddleia blossoms and every butterfly wing has been carefully considered to create depth, rhythm and flow across the pattern. The result is a design that feels both sophisticated and full of life.

Printed on 100% cotton fabric, Buddleia translates beautifully across a range of homeware products, including cushions, table linens and kitchen textiles. Its versatile palette gives it a fresh yet timeless quality, making it easy to style in both modern and classic interiors. The design also works beautifully across stationery, where the fine detail and sense of movement can really shine.

At its heart, Buddleia is a celebration of everyday beauty — a design inspired by the places where nature and the city quietly meet.

Buddleia Design Inspiration and Moodboard

Buddleia, often spelled buddleja, is commonly known as the butterfly bush for good reason. Native to parts of Asia, Africa and the Americas, it has become a familiar sight across the UK, especially in unexpected places such as railway embankments, derelict buildings and urban walls.

Its long, cone-shaped clusters of flowers are rich in nectar, making it a magnet for pollinators. Butterflies in particular are drawn to it, which is how it earned its well-loved nickname. There is something so striking about the contrast between the plant’s hardy, almost unruly growth and the delicate beauty of the butterflies it attracts.

When planning and designing, it is always important to consider how a new print relates to the wider collection. Colours, scale and imagery all need to feel recognisable as part of the brand, while still allowing the design to stand confidently in its own right. That balance can be quite delicate, but it is a very important part of the process.

Before I start designing, I gather images, reference points and ideas, creating moodboards and colour palettes that stay with me throughout the whole journey from concept to finished product. With Buddleia, I wanted to capture both the resilience and elegance of the plant — something wild and free, but also refined enough to sit beautifully within the home.

Photo shoot Plan

When it came to the Buddleia photoshoot, I wanted to create a beautiful space for a modern interior filled with houseplants, layered textures and a calm botanical feel. Styling is such an important part of bringing a design to life, especially when you want people to imagine how it might look in their own homes.

A lot of planning goes into every shoot before the day itself. Timings are mapped out, image ideas are collaged together, and compositions are considered in advance so that we can make the most of our time in the studio. We tend to plan the biggest and most important shots first, which gives us flexibility if anything needs to change during the day.

We always try to create scenes that feel like real home settings. That helps show how the products can be used in everyday life and how they might work within different interiors, whether styled as a subtle accent or as part of a more layered scheme.

Behind The Scenes on Shoot Day

We photographed the Buddleia collection at Yeshen’s studio in Islington. He has photographed so many of my interior shoots over the years, and I always love working collaboratively with him. With the help of the wonderful studio team, we created a setting that felt fresh, modern and full of natural character.

Shoot days are often busy and a little hectic, but they are also one of the most rewarding parts of the whole design process. After spending so much time developing a pattern, refining colours and seeing it translated onto products, it is always exciting to watch everything come together in front of the camera.

The photographs have so many different uses too — from the website and blog to brochures, press and other marketing materials — so each shot has to work hard while still feeling beautiful and effortless.

Final Images

And of course, Jenkins was the star of the show. He has such a lovely way of making a still-life set feel real, lived in and homely. He brings warmth and personality to the images, and always seems to know exactly how to charm the camera.

The final Buddleia images capture everything I wanted the design to express — softness, movement, resilience and a sense of quiet beauty. Whether seen on fabric, homeware or stationery, it is a print that feels elegant, uplifting and easy to live with.

I hope you love Buddleia as much as I do. For me, it is a design that celebrates those small, often overlooked details in nature that can end up being the most inspiring of all.