Leith Clark Meets Commune

Left to Right: Rémy Paringaux, Kate Neal, Leith Clark

Delve into Liberty’s 150-year legacy as editor, stylist and creative director, Leith Clark curates a selection of 150 pieces from Liberty’s past and present, each with their own unique story to tell. Liberty’s 150 for 150: Curated by Leith Clark amalgamates musing on the tales of artistry, history and modernity shared by our collective of brands, to explore the story of Liberty anew.

As part of this milestone collaboration, Leith visited a selection of Liberty’s creative founders – old and new – at their studios and workshops across the globe, to discover the stories and craft that makes each unique.

Somerset-based Commune may be one of the most recent arrivals into Liberty’s Halls, with their bath, body and wellbeing collection finding a home on the Fourth Floor, but their commitment to craft, design and heritage is as enduring as our longest standing names.

Here, we join Leith Clark in conversation with founders Kate Neal and Rémy Paringaux at their picturesque village home in ancient, almost mystical Somerset surroundings, where pagan history and artisanal modernity come together as one.

First, can you explain the name of the brand, and who is in your commune?
The name, really, is what came first. We moved to Somerset at the beginning of the Covid pandemic and lived just outside the town of Bruton, in what felt like a commune.

It was a tiny little hamlet, with probably about 20 houses, and at the time it really felt like a small community where people were coming together. People were going on walks together, people were cooking each other, and there was this kind of sense of community.

We moved to the area without really knowing what we were going to do here. What we did say though was, whatever we do, it’s going to be called Commune. The dictionary definition is like-minded people who have common interests, thoughts, values and beliefs and that's really why we're doing this. It’s about bringing together these like-minded people.

It feels right for this area. A lot of people are moving here to create. It's a very special place; there's a certain energy and mysticism to the land.

So, when you arrived in Somerset you had the idea of creating something already?
Yes! We used to work in completely separate areas, so we'd wanted to do something together for a long time. The idea for Commune started really, when we lived in Canada before the pandemic. I started studying natural perfume with an incredible perfumer. Really, I was doing it as a hobby, it was a way of thinking with your heart, not with your head.

But you don't have to work seasonally like you did in fashion: you do as you wish.
That is one of the reasons why we are doing this kind of work. After all those years in fashion, when we were consumed by the cycle of seasons, it just was not something we wanted to do here.

Sustainability was also very important to this decision. It was important that we could create something that didn't have a shelf life, where we weren't reinventing the wheel every season. We have found there is something really refreshing about working with something that has this longevity to it.

Today the brand is really anchored in this community in Somerset, why is that and how does it come through?
Arriving in Somerset was a moment where had a chance to think. We did so many walks in nature at the time, peaceful walks around where we lived in a little hamlet called Bratton Seymour: hence the name : Seymour, which was our first scent.

For us, it was all about anchoring the brand in Britain and in Somerset, because that's such an influence and inspiration for the brand.

In and around Somerset there are so many incredible, places where you can see old pagan sites and all sorts of places of worship, a lot of which have inspired us. The idea of bringing people together and going on a walk or going on a pilgrimage to one of those sites is a big part of what we want to do with the community here in the future.

There really is that feeling of community feel in the products. I wonder how you go about developing the fragrance and the formulas themselves?
We have a perfumer’s approach to our formulations. We designed the fragrance itself like a complex perfume, and then we apply that same approach to all the formulations.

For us, Seymour is a very personal scent. It’s about that feeling of nature waking up. We wanted to capture the sense of springtime. It has top notes of grapefruit and lemongrass, invigorating notes that are paired with really earthy notes on the base, with Japanese Hiba Notes and Cypress oil.

For us, it’s April in the countryside: after a shower when the ground is a little bit wet and the sun is just coming through. April was also the first month of everything coming together for Commune as it is today, when we surrendered to the idea.

It seems you have a personal connection to each product: making sure each piece is exactly what you want it to be. Tell us a little about them, and what’s important about them to you.
All our formulations comprise 95% naturally derived ingredients, there's no synthetics or oils – it’s all natural. That’s across everything. We have the Seymour scent across body and bath, and more scents for candles, which fall into three scent families: osmanthus, vetiver and nymphea, which is the water lily.

We call the candles Lux and Nox, the white vessels are Lux and the black are Nox. The idea is that you burn the white, Lux, candles during the day, and the black, Nox candles at night.

So we have a base and a heart note, and we stretch the notes into a more floral blend for the Lux in the day, going a little bit more woody and heavier for Nox at night.

Do you have a commune of people who you experiment on who test your creations?
I often find that what you love is very personal to you. When making a new scent, I want the actual scent to encapsulate a very personal feeling, so I don't really want too many comments early on! With Seymour, we only really put it out there when I felt confident and at the end of the day we can never control people's reactions. We, of course, get people that like it, people that don't. And we always remember that a scent changes on different people, which is complicated.

When it comes to the aesthetics, can you talk a little bit about the logo and the illustrations you use?
The designs are inspired by Gothic architecture. We walk around a lot, and find all sorts of old buildings in the area. The Glastonbury Tor is probably the most famous building around here, but there are a lot of other, smaller ones too and our graphic, language really kind of stemmed from there.

We saw the design as a doorway, and it's very much a metaphorical gateway into nature. Our message is that nature is our reprieve. That's where we find balance. Of course, that’s reflected in the products themselves.

I first discovered the brand when I was staying at Estelle Manor, and a few weeks later I came across it in Liberty. I’ve felt a really intimate connection with what you’re doing. A comfort. In terms of your aesthetic universe, Liberty makes so much sense. So, how did that happen?
Liberty is such a natural fit for us. There is a legacy to the place, where you go to discover you find something new.

Like us, Liberty also brings like-minded people together. It’s a community. It’s a place for tastemakers, people that feel confident to try something new.

When I moved to London I discovered Liberty. I did spend quite a bit of time there, educating myself around the around the brands and the latest collections and designers. There used to be an Oyster and Champagne bar in the basement, and I used take refuge there from the bustle of the West End, it was quiet and beautiful with very low lighting, and I spent a lot of time there.

And is this the first time that you’ve worked with a store to create your own space?
Yes, it was super exciting that we could bring our identity and vision to life working as more of a collaboration. Liberty gave us free rein, to a certain extent, to bring some individuality and brand expression. If you go into store, you’ll see the arch which is also the arch in the bottle. The space, to us almost it feels like an altar.

You’re still quite young as a brand, but what are some of the lessons you’ve learned along the journey so far?
Everything takes time. I think that's the been the big lesson for us. Doing things well takes a long time. That’s probably a lesson the world needs to learn too. You can't always go fast. If you want something really good, you have to be a little bit patient.

We have to make sure we feel really confident and comfortable with anything that goes out there, and that takes that takes time.