‘Paper Cut Pigeons and Brass Boots’ was a bumper exhibition to mark the double celebration of 20 years of Tinsmiths and 60 years of Martin Clark at Tilley Printing.

Phoebe Clive first opened the doors of Tinsmiths in 2004, with only a small selection of ticking fabrics available, the shop has since grown to provide an extensive range of beautiful fabrics, an in-house made to measure service for curtains and blinds, together with a curated range of heritage crafts and exceptional homewares. 60 years ago, a teenage Martin Clark began his apprenticeship under Miss Tilley, learning the ropes in the ancient printworks, eventually graduating as master printer and later becoming the proprietor of the business. A number of specially commissioned posters printed by Tilley Printing and commissioned by Tinsmiths form part of this Tinsmiths exhibition.

The exhibition called on a number of makers and artists close to Phoebe’s heart whose work she loves and in many cases, have worked extensively with Tinsmiths over the years. Each maker or artist contributed particularly special pieces to the exhibition which opened on 6th September 2024.

As part of this exhibition, we ran guided tours of Tilley Printing. These tours were led by a member of the Tinsmiths team and included an insight into the daily running of the printworks and its history, as well as a chance to view some pieces from the mostly unseen archive of Tilley Printing.

Tinsmiths, 8 High Street, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8 1DS.