Jim and Sheena, his wife and business co-owner, began the business you see today from humble roots at their kitchen table in 1994. As time passed and orders increased, business outgrew the farm buildings it was housed in. Customers, staff and delivery men struggled daily down a bumpy farm track to find it. Since most of the staff came from the nearby market town of Hadleigh, Jim moved the company there in 2008, taking over an empty bottling factory on the outskirts of town that came with lots of room for workshops, offices and a warehouse.

We’ve shared a tour of the stunning historic Walcot Street, the location of our new showroom, but realise we hadn’t shown you around our first home. Time to give our Suffolk location a little love…

You will find our beautiful Suffolk showroom in the historic market town of Hadleigh where our shop and workshop is located on Lady Lane just off the A1071 Ipswich Road. Our showroom houses our entire range of over 8,000 products. You can see how stunning our lights look in situ and use our displays to find inspiration for your window, door and bathroom accessories. While you are here you could pop into the centre of Hadleigh for a coffee and bite to eat and wander along the old High Street, marvel at its beautiful old buildings and eclectic mix of shops, services, restaurants, cafés and pubs that are known for their individuality, quality and care.

Hadleigh is an ancient market town full of character and history, set in the lush and fertile valley of the River Brett. Once an immensely wealthy wool and cloth town, the manor of Hadleigh was given to the Priory of Canterbury Cathedral in the 13th century meaning it was under direct control of the Archbishop of Canterbury for hundreds of years. These days you will find many attractions such as local treasure Ferguson’s Delicatessen, go-to brunch spot the Jet Lounge and of course the nearby Marquis Hotel & Restaurant, which features many of our Jim Lawrence lights.

If you want to get your teeth into the local shops, there’s no better place to start than Hadleigh’s Old Bakery, now a vintage Emporium, stuffed to the brim with unique and antique finds. Along the highstreet you will find a selection of independent clothing and gift shops to enjoy too. In the tucked away Maiden Way just off the main thoroughfare you will find The Little Grey Bird,  who are stockists of lovely hand-painted furniture. Here you will also find Mung Bean, Hadleigh’s local organic wholefoods store.

If there’s one place you need to pop your head into, it’s the Adnam’s shop. Adnam’s brew amazing beers and spirits from grain-to-glass in the nearby coastal town of Southwold, and their shop is stocked with their finest drinks and barware. You can even pop in for a tasting after visiting our showroom, why not?

If you’ve come by for the history, Hadleigh retains many of the 15th-century brick and timber framed buildings. Suffolk is famous it’s historic architecture, and Hadleigh has no less than 246 listed buildings; four of them Grade 1 – The Guildhall, St Mary’s Church, the Deanery Tower and the Coffee Tavern in the High Street where you can see beautifully detailed 17th century decorative plasterwork or ‘pargeting’. The town lies in the heart of Constable Country, so called because it produced two of our most famous artists – John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough – who were born and lived nearby and whose paintings celebrate the beauty of our big Suffolk skies and idyllic countryside.

As many of our lighting designs are inspired by our Great British heritage, we feel it’s our duty to appreciate the history of our surroundings. You’ll notice that many of our products are named after nearby locations across Suffolk and Norfolk. From hints of the coastline in our Scallop Wall Light and delicate strands of wheat in our Sussex Lights, the surroundings from which we built our brand upon are ever present in our design work.

Whether East or West, we hope you can visit us in one of our beautiful showrooms where we do our utmost to honour the modern country style we know you love.

Come and say hello to at The Ironworks, Lady Lane, Hadleigh, Suffolk, IP7 6BQ. To see a little more of our showroom online and learn a little more about how we operate behind the scenes, read our interview with the showroom team. Feel free to give us a call on 01473 826685 or drop us an email at sales@jim-lawrence.co.uk. We hope to see you soon!

For all of your home inspiration needs, be sure to keep up to date with our Instagram @jimlawrencemade and all of our mood boards on Pinterest. Don’t forget to tag us in all of your interior updates – we love seeing our products in their new homes.

With our new Bath showroom styled in our favourite modern country style, we thought we’d give the Jim Lawrence Suffolk showroom a bit of a makeover too.⁠⁠ We chat with Laura Mobbs and Laura Faulkner from our showroom team about their essential role in making your Jim Lawrence experience the best it can be. As Christmas is just around the corner, it felt like just the right time to show off our twinkling lights too…

Hi both, can you tell us who makes up the Suffolk showroom team at Jim Lawrence?

Laura F: Alongside me there’s Sophie Brouillet – our manager, Sarah Waskett, Laura Mobbs, Sharon Compton, David Smith, Charlotte Ruffles and Rachel Miller. We’re all part of the Jim Lawrence Customer Services team, so as well as manning the showroom, we’ll be on the phones taking orders and helping our customers with any advice they need or enquires they have.

Can you talk us through your typical day?

Laura F: Generally, we arrive any time between 8.30 and 8.45 and start getting the showroom ready for visitors. We turn on all the lights – checking the display lights are all working – and then the heating or aircon (in the summer!). We get the till and computers up and running, check the customer toilets are clean and tidy and turn on the coffee machine before opening the doors at 9am.

Laura M: Our customers are our first priority. Some will come straight over to talk to us if they need something sorting out, or else they’ll want to browse, so we make sure we say hello and check if they need any help. We’re often asked for advice on fittings and styles and as we are all part of the customer services team, when its quiet we’ll be on the phones taking orders, helping customers with their enquires or catching up with our emails. We’re also responsible for posting brochures.

You have to have a lot of product knowledge to cover all the products here, what’s the best part of helping people choose the items to style their homes?

Laura F: A lot of our customers come into the showroom to glean ideas for a new build or renovation project they are working on, so we do spend a lot of time discussing ideas and making suggestions which is great fun. I particularly like it when they bring in a photo of a kitchen, bathroom or extension they are building as you can really get into it. I had one gentleman who spent two hours with us. He wanted four floor lamps and needed help deciding on what size, shape and colour lampshades to choose.

A lot of shopping is conducted online now, so it’s lovely we can still take a personal approach with customers in this way. Do you find people come from further afield than Hadleigh to see our products and get a feel for them in person?

Laura F: We deal with customers who have come from all over the world, particularly from Australia and New Zealand. Most of the time they will have a connection to the area, perhaps visiting family, but they make a point of coming to see us while they are here. Some customers drive hours to be with us. We have a lot of visitors from Cambridge and Norwich, which are both an hour away.

Laura M: We also get people from places like the Peake District, Cumbria and Yorkshire who want to see our products ‘in the flesh’ so they make a weekend of it, staying at a local hotel or B&B and visiting the wider Suffolk area while they are here.

Going from a smaller farm forge, to our workshops here and now with our showroom in Bath, your roles and responsibilities must have changed. How does it feel to see the business grow beyond these four walls?

Laura F: I’ve been at Jim Lawrence for 15 years now. I’ve grown up with the company as I was only 16 when I started working full time in the sales office at the farm. Back then we were a sales/admin team of eight, now there are about 20 of us. I’m still working in the customer service team but the job is a lot more varied now as we different roles to fulfil between us. I’ll be in the sales office one day, the showroom the next and sorting returns the one after, which is great.

It’s really exciting to be part of a company that is successful and growing and to see how much it is appreciated by other people. I think that because everything is handmade, we invest a lot more it in – as do our customers. We know the people who design and make our products, so we know how much care and attention goes into them and that makes us feel proud of its success.

Of course we have many ‘customer favourites’ on display, but what’s your favourite, possibly lesser known Jim Lawrence product that people might not have seen?

Laura F: I love the Harleston Table Lamp with fluted glass. I have one at home and it is just such a pretty lamp that reflects light everywhere.

Laura M: My favourite is the Cowley Pendant Light in Polished Lacquer because it’s quite a ‘raw’ design with an industrial edge that is unusual for us.

We’re edging very close to Christmas now! Which Jim Lawrence item would you love to see under the tree this year?

Laura F: I would love to see a Heart Door Knocker under the tree. I think it is such a cute product that looks fab on a front door. But it’s also pretty weighty and feels great to hold.

Laura M: I’d hope for the Walcot Pendant Light in Polished Lacquer. It’s my favourite finish because it’s a lovely dark grey with a slightly mottled pattern to it. I love the simplicity of the Walcot and know it would look fantastic in my kitchen!

Finally, many of our employees have been here long term, including most of you! What’s the best part of working for a family business like Jim Lawrence?

Laura F: For me it is that I feel valued here. Although it is not the small family business it was when I joined, it still has a family feel about it and you work as part of a team where you know you have something to contribute and your contribution is important. People listen. I also appreciate the fact that we can bring our dogs in my Cockerpoo Biscuit loves coming to work with me, she sleeps under my desk all day.

Laura M: I like the fact that we all have time for one another, not just my for colleagues but for our customers as well. It is great being able to talk to customers face to face when they come into the showroom where you can engage them better than perhaps you can on the phone.

Using a selection of Farrow & Ball shades paired with our range of unique finishes, and new backdrops with Georgian-inspired detailing, we’ve created a subtly chic pared back look whilst embracing neutral tones and textures throughout. We’ve used Farrow & Ball across the board, in shades Wevet, Purbeck Stone, Pointing, Cromarty, Blackened and Bone. These chalky off-whites and grey variants are perfect for showing off the details of our finishes, and fresh enough to make the showroom feel invigorated and new.

We were looking to create a simple, classically inspired back drop with neat panelling designs to underline the understated elegance of the wall lights. We know lots of you use Farrow and Ball paint to get that period look, so we thought it would be fun to marry a variety of tones of paint with some of our most popular candle shades in subtly coloured linens, velvets and cottons.

Embracing the natural patina of Antiqued Brass and the unrefined texture of the Isabelle Linen shades shows off our products in their best light, highlighting the quality craftmanship of our Suffolk workers. Our neutral linen and silk fabrics are also a great accompaniment, letting the lights themselves do the talking whilst complimenting each finish beautifully. We chose to use the Royal Oyster Silk and Cream Kilowen Linen together on these displays, as they lend themselves wonderfully to our antique, classic and botanical inspired collections.

The Botanical Collection is inspired by the great British countryside we love. From hints of the coastline in our Scallop Wall Light and delicate strands of wheat in our Sussex Lights, the surroundings from which we built our brand upon are ever present in our design work. When it comes to period style, whether swaying towards classic or contemporary, we feel that what goes into a home should respect the history of the land and architecture – manmade or otherwise! We try to embrace this notion as much as we can when designing products to suit those homes.

If you’re inspired by our style, please do come and say hello at the Ironworks, Lady Lane, Hadleigh IP7 6BQ and browse our lighting and homeware to complete your look at home. Our showroom houses our entire range of over 8,000 products, and our team will be here Monday – Saturday to help you find your match. You can see how stunning our lights look in situ and use our displays to find inspiration for your window, door and bathroom accessories.  Happy shopping! ⁠

With our Bath showroom sadly having to close its doors again, we thought we could share with you a digital exploration of our second home: beautiful Walcot Street. Packed with period charm, the Georgian buildings sweep and stand tall with their limestone fronts, the grey flagstone pavements gently warped with footsteps of curious shoppers over the years.

The shop itself, 114-116 Walcot Street, is a grade II listed building built in the 1700’s.  Famous for its curved frontage, this was designed to allow horse drawn carriages to turn around in the street. Bath has long been a fashionable destination for city folk seeking a more relaxed pace of life, and it has built up a reputation as the second home of interior design outside London, so where better to locate our latest showroom?

A suburb of Bath, Walcot is located at the North-East of the city centre. Famous for its ‘Paragon’, a street of listed stoned buildings leading out of the city, this area grew around what is believed to be an original roman road.

The other main thoroughfare is of course Walcot Street. The area has always been a hub for creatives and trade, and today is full of independent shops, restaurants, galleries, artists and makers. The variety of expertise on the street mean you really can get everything you need for a period home from paints, carpets and antique mirrors, to upholsterers and interior designers.

Also a go-to for local and artisanal produce, the street is dotted with cafes like The Fine Cheese Co, offering the best of British and European cheeses. You will also find our new favourite coffee shop, Café Walcot, alongside the exquisite restaurants and bars such as historical co-operative free house the Bell Inn and the exclusive Walcot House.

We are fortunate to be surrounded by other hand crafted artisans such as Bath Aquaglass, an independent glass production company specialising in beautiful and lead-free handmade fused glassware. For us, one of the most exciting parts of this new shop is meeting like-minded people also passionate about preserving age-old crafts.

Bath is home to many traditional trades, a lot of them scattered alongside us on Walcot Street. You will also find classic picture framers, jewellers and artists, as well as your favourite contemporary brands such as Farrow & Ball who also cater to the modernised period home. Whatever you need for your interior…Walcot Street will deliver.

“I have always loved the Georgian architecture of Bath. When we were looking for a location to open our first showroom outside Suffolk, we were drawn to Bath as it is such a natural fit with our lighting designs. Walcot Street, in Bath’s artisan quarter, has a fantastic variety of independent shops with a passion for interiors and we are thrilled to be joining them.” – Jim Lawrence.

Perfectly picturesque and bursting with character, we are so looking forward to getting back into action in this lovely location and being a part of this wonderful community. We are looking forward to the day we can greet you in store once more and enjoy everything this lovey city has to offer.

Find us at 114 – 116 Walcot Street, Bath, BA1 5BG. Access wise, there is a small lip to step over into the shop but the interior is all on one level. The nearest car park is the Cattle Market Car Park at the bottom of Walcot Street. Come and say hello, and be sure to pop into the other delightful businesses along the way when you can.

To stay up to date with all our Bath and Suffolk news, follow us Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Don’t forget to tag your Bath visits and purchases – we love seeing our products in their new homes!

We’ve shared some teasers with you in the past few weeks, but are thrilled to finally be able to reveal more about our stunning new shop location. We have officially completed, got the keys, and are beavering away to renovate this elegant building as we speak. There’s a fair bit to do (as you can see!) but we hope Jim Lawrence Lighting & Home in Bath will be up and running early autumn. The adventure starts here…

Opening our first regional shop right in the middle of Bath like this is only possible thanks to everyone’s amazing work and commitment, helping grow the company to where it is today. This includes you, our lovely customers. There’s nothing more rewarding than meeting you face to face at shows and in our Suffolk showroom and headquarters, so we’re very much looking forward to meeting our dedicated audience in the West!

We love getting stuck into a project, particularly when it involves decorating a unique period setting with all of our lights and home furnishings. We promise to keep you up to date with the progress, but first we want to walk you through the history of this beautiful space. A grade II listed building built in the 1700’s, the new shop is located in Walcot Street, the traditional artisan quarter of Bath.

Walcot Street has always been a hub for creatives, and today is full of independent shops, restaurants, galleries, artists and makers. The amazing selection of interior shops and expertise on the street mean you really can get everything you need for a period home here from paints, carpets and antique mirrors, to upholsterers and interior designers. There is also a fab flea market on Saturdays, so if you love vintage interiors style there’s plenty to explore after popping in and saying hello to us!

The unique curve of the shop front is what initially drew us to this spot. Reputedly it was built as such to make space for the coaches turning from the Bell Coaching Inn opposite. We were also excited to learn that we would be following in historic footsteps at 114 – 116 Walcot Street. Previously owned by much loved Richard Hathaway Lighting, we are pleased to be carrying on the tradition for showcasing beautiful lighting in this iconic location.

Looking back a little further, we couldn’t help but share these remarkable shots from the 1930s – its hardly changed a bit! We are honoured to be taking charge of this listed building to continue to celebrate and preserve its historical and cultural significance to the area. We just can’t wait to get all our classic lighting and home furnishing designs on display in this beautiful space soon.

We look forward to opening our doors this autumn, so please stay tuned for more exterior and interior updates as we restore this beautiful building into our first shop in the West. We will be sharing regular posts under the Walcot Street category, as well as on our social media platforms.

Would you like to be part of the adventure? We are on the lookout for a team with a passion for retail, period homes and high quality artisanal British design to help us launch our unique brand in the West country. Find out more online at jim-lawrence.co.uk/career-opportunities. Good luck!

If you live in the Bath area and can’t wait until later in the year, why not get a taste for our brand and browse our online shop? In the meantime, you can sign up to our newsletter here, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest