Sarah Andersen of fen and ned interview

I start the week with Sarah's (aka fen) interview. This Monday reminds me of her, the pale greyish blue sky, the fresh air and the breeze of this September Monday. Sarah not only is the mind behind one of my favourite on-line shop, she's also a silver-smith. I haven't met her in person yet but sometimes we spend hours on the phone and we always have a good laugh.
Ned is her daughter and she's the muse behind fen and ned.

Who are you?

My name is Sarah, I'm 38, and I live with my daughter 'ned' who is 18 years old. We have a dog called Sam.

I'm originally from South London, but moved to the Isle of Wight five years ago.  

I started fen and ned in 2009.

As a child you were?

Always drawing.
How does your day start?

Dazed and confused mostly! I like to wake up early, but I can't usually string a sentence together for at least an hour.

The day will start rain or shine with me on my bike taking Sam out for his run. Back home for breakfast, some quick chores, then work begins around 9am.

When you go to sleep?

Before I can settle, I have to make a list of things to do the next day. The list always includes things from previous nights lists that were not done, so it ends up looking more like a scroll really!

The nights that ned is at home, she'll usually come in to my room and we'll chat and have a good laugh until about 2, 3 in the morning. Other nights, I'll listen to music to switch off from the day.

Your home is?

Always my favourite place, wherever it is, I have moved a lot, 23 times. The house that I've been renting for the past 2 years is the longest that we've lived in one place since ned was 3. We used to enjoy moving, we moved to France twice over the years, but nowadays we're too tired!

Me and ned have lived on our own for the past 15 years, and we both like our own space. We are very similar in a lot of our ways, except for I'm much tidier than ned.

We also like a lot of the same things, so our home has a lot of books, camera gear, records, and possibly too many plants.

How do you relax?

Anything to do with gardening, reading about it, a trip to the garden centre, listening to gardeners question time on radio 4 even though I don't understand the half of what is being said, it always relaxes me! Also in my local town is a shop that only sells vinyl records, it's packed from  floor to ceiling with them, the shop has a really relaxed atmosphere, and hours pass by looking through the records on a Saturday afternoon.

Favourite things?

The camera that used to belong to my dad, the bottle of perfume that used to belong to my mum, good memories, and ned's company.

Best place you have ever been?

For beauty, Cape Town. For fun, Disney Paris with ned.

What is your dream?

To visit all the places in Europe that I would love to see.

Thank you Sarah.

Sarah will contribute to the knots collective pop up with Fog Linens products and her jewellery.

fen and ned

*All photos by Sarah Andersen.