kathleen ‘kay’ walker nee EARLE

Fashion Design, Graphic Arts

Suggested by Maisy-Sky Lumbers  
 
Kathleen (Kay) Earle was a talented artist who studied at the Forbes School of Art in Newlyn in 1911/12.  In 1912 Alec Walker had been given a small silk mill by his father, where he produced Vigil Silks which he began to sell in London. Alec advertised for a poster designer for his company and Kay submitted a design which subsequently introduced him to Newlyn and its artist community and prompted him to take up landscape painting. 
 
Kay and Alec married in 1918, moving to Newlyn where they set up Cryséde Silks. Over the years both designed for the company, though it was Kay that designed many of the early garments with spots, stripes, and plain colours. Throughout the 1920s Kay designed dresses and dress patterns to a very high standard and produced the early advertising material for the company. After the birth of her first daughter, Kay only produced designs for select clients, alongside working freelance as a graphic designer and portrait painter. Kay continued to exhibit paintings and illustrations, dolls, and leatherwork until the 1930s at Newlyn Art Gallery. 
 
Cryséde Silks’ stunning designs were hugely successful in the first half of the 1920’s, but financial crises and looming war took their toll on the company, leading to a nervous breakdown for Alec Walker and divorce from Kay in 1929. Cryséde Ltd struggled on in various guises until it finally closed in 1980. 
 
penleehouse.org.uk