Charlotte Bland is a photographer who specialises in shooting interiors, food and travel on film. After an Art History degree she developed her photography career with clients including The Guardian, Penguin Books, Bloomsbury and Chatto & Windus. A commission for Selfridges department store's Our House campaign saw her photos of everyday interior moments displayed on the store’s windows on London’s Oxford Street. Book credits include, La Vita è Dolce by Letitia Clark,  Flavour by Ruby Tandoh, The Cornershop Cookbook, The Set Table: The Art of Small Gatherings and Frontières: Food and Cooking from the French Borderlands by Alex Jackson. Charlotte will lead photography walks at Villa Pia, sharing her tips for developing your own photographic style inspired by the beauty of the Italian landscape and the incredible natural light. 

Visit Charlotte’s website and Instagram to explore her creative vision.    

Ros Badger is a designer and craftswoman with a design career that spans more than 35 years. Having learned to crochet and knit at the age of eight, Ros has made things all her life; sewing, customising clothes, restoring old furniture, and generally using her unique vision to collect and repurpose. Her jewellery brand Badger’s Velvet incorporates this, she designs unique contemporary pieces, creating through the blending of precious metals with antiques such as Roman coins and Georgian brooches.  

Beginning as a textile graduate of Chelsea College of Art, Ros’ career has involved designing for Betty Jackson, Johnson’s La Rocka, Margaret Howell and Marks & Spencer, among many others. She has made bespoke hats for U2’s The Edge and was the knitting expert on TV’s Big Breakfast. In 1994 Ros launched Little Badger, designing and making hand knitwear and T shirts for children. Selling internationally, the company pioneered the use of logos, text and imagery previously unassociated with children’s clothes. Ros’ passion for creating, alongside her extensive knowledge and experience, has resulted in the publication of 9 books and her contribution to numerous publications such as The Observer and Telegraph newspapers, Country Living, and The Idler magazine. Ros will share her vast expertise as a designer teaching a creative workshop at Bland Badger 2024.

Amy Merrick is a writer and floral stylist who creates narratives from nature. She has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times: How To Spend It, Kinfolk, House & Garden UK, and Pleasure Garden Magazine. Her floral styling has been published in Vogue, Architectural Digest, Martha Stewart Living, Broccoli Magazine and others. She has created installations for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and MoMA PS1. T: The New York Times Style Magazine has named her one of their favorite florists to follow on Instagram.

Her first book On Flowers: Lessons from an Accidental Florist was published by Artisan in 2019. In it she gathers her film photographs, intimate essays, inspirations and a fresh perspective for living with and loving flowers. It was named a Best Gift Book of the Year by InStyle and praised in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, and Flower Magazine.

Christobel Kent was born in London in 1962 and educated at Cambridge. She has lived variously in Essex, London and Italy. Her childhood included several years spent living on a Thames sailing barge in Maldon, Essex, with her father, stepmother, three siblings and four step-siblings. She has had seventeen novels published: the first four being standalone thrillers set in Italy, followed by the six novels in the Sandro Cellini Florentine detective series. Since then she has written seven psychological thrillers roughly in the ‘domestic noir’ genre including the Sunday Times bestseller The Loving Husband. Christobel now lives in both Cambridge and Florence.

Letitia Clark is a chef, writer and illustrator. After graduating in English Literature, she trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine, before going on to work in London restaurants including Spring at Somerset House. In 2017, she left London for Sardinia and began writing, illustrating and cooking from home. Her first book, Bitter Honey, was published in 2020 and her second book, La Vita è Dolce, was published in June 2021. She is currently trying (very hard!) to set up her own Agriturismo in rural Sardinia, where she hopes to host guests and teach cooking classes, and have a goat. Her latest book Wild Figs & Fennel: A Year in an Italian Kitchen was published in April 2024. She is fanatical about lemons and has a book about them coming soon, too.

Louisa Dunn is a textile designer and mixed-media artist living & creating in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Louisa has a BFA in Fibers, with a background in textiles. She designs with a keen sensitivity to colour and shape interactions using sewing, collage and drawing. Louisa began her Bland Badger journey as a guest and impressed us so much we brought her back as a tutor. 

Nadine Gibbon is a floral designer based in St Albans, Hertfordshire specialising in weddings and events. Drawing upon her lifelong love of flora, she creates unique and whimsical arrangements, showcasing an intuitive practice. As an extension of her passion for the craft, Nadine teaches work-shops, including Christmas wreath making in her enchanted woodland studio and family home, Spinney Cottage.

Kate Ridyard is a London based calligrapher and designer. Having studied graphic design she went on to study calligraphy at London’s Roehampton Institute. Her portfolio includes extensive commissions in weddings and events for venues such as Petersham nurseries London, advertising and brand design, packaging, television and film. Kate’s work ranges from small handmade books to large canvasses, artworks and commemorative pieces for personal occasions, be they commissions for weddings, family insignia or family trees. Kate also runs the No11 Super Club.

Lucy Brazier is a writer, for herself and for others, focusing on memoir, food and lifestyle. As a ghostwriter she works with high profile people to put their story on the page, including a fashion designer, male sports personality, spiritualist, scientist, social media influencer and TV star. Lucy worked alongside chef and broadcaster, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from 2006, on cookbooks, campaigns and media output. Her own book ‘Christmas at River Cottage’ (beautifully photographed by Charlotte Bland), full of recipes, stories and crafts, has been a successful seasonal seller since 2021. Her next book ‘The Honesty Box’ is a journal of a year in her kitchen, garden, village and marriage and will be published by Bloomsbury in February 2025.on

A day trip to Florence
Pressed Flowers with Amy Fielding from Jam Jar Edit
Photography with Charlotte Bland
Creative workshop with Ros Badger
Floral workshop with Nadine Gibbon

A day trip to Arezzo’s vast antiques market, held on the first Sunday of every month.
Photography with Charlotte Bland
Creative workshop with Ros Badger
Floral workshop with Nadine Gibbon
Collage workshop with Louisa Dunn