a chance
encounter
“You’re lucky you found your way back down in this weather. Next time you should line your shoes with some Herdwick wool to keep your feet warm and dry. There's so much value in that wool, you know. If you had time, you could really do something useful with it.”
Little did designer Alli Abdelal know that a passing conversation with a local farmer in the English Lake District back in 2015 would set in motion the ideas that would ultimately lead to the creation of RUSKIN.
“I remember the day clearly — the familiar rain driving across the hillside as I ran down the valley, the paths soft underfoot and the visibility low.”
The farmer and Alli spoke about Herdwick sheep and their wool — the sort of unassuming exchange that so often comes from chance encounters in the Lakeland hills. The idea of lining shoes with Herdwick wool, and the value held within such a material, stayed with her.
Over the year that followed, she returned to the thought repeatedly, considering how a fibre so deeply connected to place could be reinterpreted for contemporary design and fabric development without losing its integrity and character. She began searching for artisans with the knowledge and sensitivity to work with such materials. Slowly, the search became a direction — not so much a plan, but a series of relationships, discoveries and decisions that gathered momentum.
RUSKIN Today
What began as a search for the right makers became lasting friendships. Years later, visits to the workshop are just as likely to end around a dinner table as they are at the workbench. Our families have become friends, brought together by a shared love of craftsmanship and a commitment to making beautiful pieces well.
Today, RUSKIN is a design studio devoted to artisan bag making, guided by a belief in material integrity, meticulous craftsmanship and human connection. Our collection of bespoke tweeds and crafted leather designs are defined by exceptional workmanship and a softly muted palette derived from nature.
MEET ALLI ABDELAL
Many of the ideas that have come to shape RUSKIN can be traced to the English Lake District, where Alli grew up. It is a landscape that encourages observation, particularly the changing colours and slower pace of life.
After living and working internationally, Alli returned from California to Oxford and established the RUSKIN studio.
Today, her work spans Oxford and Rome, where she works closely with artisans to create the collection.
Drawn to texture, colour, and the sensory qualities of materials, Alli has always been interested in the details that shape our experience of design. The softness of a fabric, the character of a leather, the richness of colour, and the evidence of a skilled hand - these are rarely the things we notice first, yet often the qualities we value most over time.
The RUSKIN collection