WYNN CRAWSHAW,
WYNN HAMLYN
A kiwi-fruit farm in New Zealand
wouldn’t usually offer the most
fertile ground for a young designer
to learn their trade, but for Wynn
Crawshaw of Wynn Hamlyn,
growing up within such rural
surrounds paid off. “My dad was
always busy running the farm
and my mum was a horticultural
scientist, so my grandparents
had a big part in bringing me up:
my nana would just sew all day
and I would sit with her,” he
explains. While studying for a
university degree in land surveying,
his passion for those formative
experiences resurfaced – “I kind of
scraped through my course because
I was just over at the fashion
department all day long,” he recalls- and later, while working as a
surveyor by day, he would spend
his evenings designing. In 2015,
the pieces he’d created at home
evolved into his brand. Devoted to
championing artisanal techniques
within a contemporary framework
(think hand-turned wooden toggles
fastening streamlined tailoring,
and acetate buttons moulded and
dyed in his mother’s horticultural
laboratory), Crawshaw has since
built his business by offering
practical elegance crafted with
finesse. It appears the fruit of his
grandmother’s labours is paying off.
LEATHER BLAZER, £625. WOOL
SKIRT, £180. BOTH WYNN HAMLYN27309-19-WellWales.indd 273 05/07/2019 10:45