LONDON — Jonathan Anderson has opened a window onto his world, and his customers are finding treasure in every corner. He’s laid bare his love of craft, passion for the ancient world and for objects that endure, and the products have been flying off the virtual shelves of the new website.
The physical JW Anderson stores haven’t even reopened, but the site has recently launched, with bestsellers including Murano jugs and sunglass chains made from ancient Greek and Roman beads that the designer bought himself at auction.
The chains, which are hand-threaded in London, cost 510 pounds each, and have sold out entirely. The jugs cost 600 pounds, and have already been restocked due to demand.
Jonathan Anderson Opens a New Curiosity Shop in London’s Soho
Courtesy of JW Anderson
“We have been selling everything from chairs to cashmere to jugs to ceramics. We have never done better — ever — in the history of the brand. The team has done an amazing job, and I am really happy,” Anderson said in an interview ahead of the reopening of his Soho and Milan stores, which have been completely transformed, along with the brand.
“It’s an exciting moment, things are changing and home has become more important than ever. If we sell something, I want it to be beautifully executed by the right craftsman, by the right person,” he added.
Anderson, who revealed his new, lifestyle approach in July, said there are more store openings planned in London, Paris and New York. All of them will be different and replace the brand’s seasonal runway shows as a platform for newness.
Jonathan Anderson new tea cups
Courtesy of JW Anderson
“Each time we open a store, it will be like us doing fashion week. So we will have multiple different [iterations of the brand], different art and ceramics in each store,” he said.
Fashion and accessories are still in the mix, but they’re no longer seasonal, and the real focus is on one-off objects, limited-edition pieces and — in the designer’s words — a “slow-moving feast” of creativity and ideas. “It’s all my obsessions” in one place, he said.
Anderson, who will show his first womenswear collection for Dior on Oct. 1 in Paris, made the decision to reboot his own brand last year when he turned 40.
“I wanted to kind of work out, ‘Who am I today?’ I also wanted to consolidate everything I had done, and then add on all the things that I enjoy today, which is art and fashion and interiors and making,” he told WWD in July.
Jonathan Anderson Opens a New Curiosity Shop in London’s Soho
Courtesy of JW Anderson
The result is a minimalist, and amusing, website, with models who move around, sit on handmade chairs, fiddle with their hair, and play around with the clothes. There are also fun cameo appearances from celebs including Bella Freud, Ben Whishaw and Luca Guadagnino, who model the clothes or play with the crafty objects.
The website, Anderson said, “has been incredibly well-received. It’s a really new take on how to deal with e-commerce. Each week, we are uploading different things, and so it’s starting to evolve and build. Since launching the website, we’ve already quadrupled” the projected sales.
Anderson is clearly having fun, but there’s also a gravitas to the operation.
This fall, he’s launching a special collaboration with Wedgwood to make a collection of teacups, coffee cups and saucers designed by the late British ceramicist Lucie Rie in 1964. They never went into production “because they couldn’t make them the way that she wanted them to be done,” Anderson said.
He approached Wedgwood with the idea of reviving Rie’s original designs “making them locally, and with different craftspeople. It was a kind of anchor point for me to be able to do this collaboration. I wanted Wedgwood to do them as she wanted them,” he said.
Jonathan Anderson Opens a New Curiosity Shop in London’s Soho
Courtesy of JW Anderson
The collection has been colored in Wedgwood’s signature Jasper blue with white inlays. Each piece is formed by hand, then high-fired to create a matte, tactile finish, according to Wedgwood.
Anderson describes Rie as one of the greatest potters of the 20th century. “I’ve been collecting her work for many years, and I think she would be thrilled to see these pieces finally brought to life, especially in a charitable context.”
Emma Glynn, creative director of Wedgwood, said the main reason why Rie’s pieces were never produced is because of the complexity of the white inlay technique they require.
“It’s incredibly delicate and skilled work, but we’ve proven with this collaboration that those challenges can be overcome. It just takes time, care and a level of commitment that this project has really allowed us all to embrace,” Glynn said.
Glynn had already worked with Anderson many years ago, and said he “has this ability to completely pull you into his world. He’s a genuine collector of ceramics, but what makes him unique is his honesty. His ideas are instinctive, intuitive, and that’s what makes them resonate.” She said his “energy is infectious, and it’s why this collaboration feels so relevant.”
The collaboration is raising 200,000 pounds for the Lucy Rie estate, for a catalogue raisonné, and to support the work of the Lucie Rie and Hans Coper Foundation. Coper, a potter and ceramicist, was close friend and collaborator of Rie’s.
The money will also go toward providing creative and academic scholarships and grants to support emerging artists in ceramics and related fields.
Jonathan Anderson new tea cups
Courtesy of JW Anderson
The collaboration will be available in China, Japan and the U.S., Harrods and Selfridges, wedgwood.com and at JW Anderson from Friday.
Anderson is also doing a separate project with Wedgwood that speaks to his fascination with the ancient world.
Wedgwood is creating a series of mugs inspired by fifth-century Greek creations selected from the designer’s personal collection. They’re done in bold color combinations such as chocolate brown and black, and contrasting shades of yellow.
Anderson said he’s always loved Wedgwood and has long admired its founder Josiah Wedgwood, a designer, pottery manufacturer and abolitionist.
“He was probably one of the biggest modern thinkers of the 18th century. He changed the landscape in Britain, and was very important in the abolition of slavery. And the way in which he reinterpreted Greek mythology within ceramics was revolutionary,” he added.
Anderson said he’s been collecting different styles of Greek mugs for years, and is fascinated that “something which is thousands of years old can have such a contemporary edge. And I also wanted to do two shades of color because Wedgwood is very famous for doing these explorations on color.”
Anderson has an endless love of craft.
During his tenure as creative director of Loewe, he let his passion for craft run free. In the past, he has worked with artists, sculptors, and even the Japanese animation experts Studio Ghibli on shows, campaigns and exhibitions.
Jonathan Anderson Opens a New Curiosity Shop in London’s Soho
Courtesy of JW Anderson
In 2016, he established the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, which pays tribute to the Spanish brand’s roots as a leather-making collective and supplier to the Spanish royal crown.
He told WWD earlier this year that his aim with the new JW Anderson is to make the “perfect” cashmere sweater in Scotland, “and then understand the people behind it. I want to find things that I love, or what I wear myself, and then articulate them in the world we are in today.”
Anderson also wants to look at “the imperfections in things, and make it a personal story.”
Over the past year, he’s been working with a variety of companies, including the London-based Postcard Teas on a new kind of dark roasted tea that tastes like coffee — another obsession of his — and with Ferguson’s Irish Linen on a series of dish cloths with different messages and colorways.
Other products include Windsor chairs handmade in Lewes, East Sussex, England, by a company called Hope Springs; replica wooden Mackintosh stools made in Perthshire, Scotland, and vintage watering cans made from French copper and antique gardening tools restored by Garden & Wood Ltd.