Meet the Maker: Harriett Grist

This season, we are delighted to welcome a new maker into the Rowen & Wren family. Harriett Grist is the talented creator behind our joyful Lambswool Hot Water Bottle covers, each one knitted, washed and sewn in her garden studio in Winchester. Her work is full of warmth in every sense, and we could not be happier to share her story.

There are people whose love of making begins so early and runs so deep that it feels stitched into them. Harriett Grist is one of those people. Long before she founded CHICKPEA, long before her garden studio in Winchester became a small haven of colour and wool (and the place where each of our hot water bottle covers begins its life), she was a child trying to clamber onto her mum’s sewing machine, determined to make something soft and cheerful with her own two hands.

Harriett’s mother was a dressmaker. Talented, patient and endlessly creative, her influence sits everywhere in Harriett’s work. “She has passed on so much,” Harriett says. “Her skills, her love of handmade bits, and the belief that the things we make with care really matter.” You can see that inheritance clearly. In Harriett’s fondness for cushions, which began with tiny ones sewn in childhood. In her instinct for pattern. And in her quiet belief that slow craft becomes its own kind of comfort.

CHICKPEA itself grew from that same sense of home. The name comes from a family in-joke between three sisters - one pea and one chicken - which naturally became chickpea. The brand began in the garden shed of Harriett’s parents’ house. You can feel that rootedness when she talks about her work. “Home and family mean everything to me,” she says. “Starting a business in that space feels as if those values are woven right in.”

Today, that little shed remains the heart of her practice. The ritual is reassuringly consistent. Two cups of tea, always two. Then a walk down the garden path to her studio, where the lambswool and knitting machine await. The hotwater bottle covers are knitted, washed, felted, pressed and stitched with the kind of attentiveness you only get from someone who genuinely loves the process. “Lambswool changes as you work with it,” she explains. “After it is knitted, it is washed so the fibres can felt slightly. That is when the patterns really come to life. It is so satisfying to see.”Her designs, joyfully striped and full of warmth and personality, come from everywhere. The geometric charm of stationery, the colours she collects on walks, the shapes she notices while travelling. Harriett is one of those makers who absorbs inspiration without ever forcing it. It all simply finds its way into the work.

There is something instinctively comforting about her pieces. They look cheerful perched on a chair and feel even better in your hands on a cold evening. Nothing fussy, nothing overworked. Just wool, warmth and the simple pleasure of something made with real attention. Her work has that rare quality. It settles quietly into your life and feels as if it has always been there.

You can discover Harriett’s handmade Lambswool Hot Water Bottle here.