Arcana: beautifully woven blankets with a nature theme

For Ria Mishaal, a connection with nature has been part of her life for as long as she can remember. Growing up 'in the middle of nowhere' just outside Wickham, her idyllic childhood is full of memories of anthills, foraging and playing Pooh sticks.

'We had an enormous oak tree in our front garden.' she remembers. 'To me it touched the sky and it was very impactful. The forest was behind and in the front was this great oak.

'I have very happy memories of being in the middle of the woods. We moved when I was seven – it was like my world ended. Even though we moved to other places that were remote or in the countryside.'

Designer Ria Mishaal says a huge oak tree in the garden of her family home had an impact on her design ideas. (Image: Arcana) The nature of Hampshire remained in Ria's heart, and she grew up with dreams of becoming a National Geographic photographer or an explorer. With two scientist parents, Ria – who returned to her home county 12 years ago and has a house in Chandlers Ford – opted for the 'sensible' career choice, studying natural sciences at university and working as a career scientist for a number of years.

Having a ecologist husband, who she met while they were both doing a PhD at Cambridge University's Zoology department, science became the dominant factor in Ria's world, but her creative passions were never far away and a photographic hobby turned into a career move in 2011, when she found she was falling out of love with her science work.

'I've always done photography and am a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society,' she says, 'My work was mostly around natural history, when I was younger, but when I was doing my PhD, I was asked to shoot a wedding. It went really well, so I did it alongside my science work for a while.

Ria says her connection with nature is also beneficial to her mental health. (Image: Arcana) 'The wonderful thing about photography is you're very much in the moment. Very much experiencing the inclement weather conditions and just feeling much more.'

Ria's photography work continued until lockdown when, like so many of us, she found herself re-evaluating.

'Just before lockdown, I had my second child,' she explains. 'I had got to that place where I needed a new creative challenge. The world stopped for everybody and, having two young kids, you're very much more conscious of what you want to be in life.

The Indoor Jungle design was inspired by Ria Mishaal's mother's love of plants. (Image: Arcana) 'I ended up going back to where I started — went back to natural history and art, trying to convey how I felt about nature. I knew I wanted to do art again and be natural history focused. Two things struck me. The first thing was I would love to make something that was both beautiful and useful. That William Morris quote "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful” – I thought "why can't things be both?"

'I came across someone who had woven their art and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was very much an experiment – I did this piece of art and had it woven and absolutely fell in love. It was beautiful, it was tactile, you would notice different things. I thought "I can tell stories with this". That's when Arcana was born.'

Ria, who is currently splitting her time between the UK and her husband's native Belize, where he is running a three-year research project, launched the business in September 2022 with four collections of beautifully woven blankets, all depicting a different nature story. Each comes with its own education booklet, explaining more about the nature featured in the design.

The Night Garden blanket features 12 moths paired with plants they feed on. (Image: Arcana) 'I wanted them to speak to my passion,' she explains, 'so Wild Oak was speaking to my childhood in Hampshire. Night Garden was designed from moth traps we had in the gardens. It's 12 moths for each month of the year, paired with plants they feed on.

'Then we had Indoor Jungle. My mother is a scientist, but she loves plants – our house was always full of plants. In lockdown we were trapped, so it was that. The last one was Forest Flight, which is 21 species of Belizian birds, mostly from photos I've taken at Jake's parents' house.'

Keen for the business to be as sustainable as possible, Ria started off with small numbers of the blankets and has been re-stocking slowly. They are made from recycled cotton by a small, family-run weaving business which runs on solar power.

Ria Mishaal hopes the Intertidal design will appeal to those living by the coast. (Image: Arcana) Arcana is very much a family affair and one of the things, Ria explains, that actually made the idea possible.

'I got an iPad because I could draw while my daughter was going to sleep in the nursery when it was dark,' she says. 'I sketch on paper. Then put it on the iPad. It's very much a digital process, even though it's hand drawn. I could draw while she was going to sleep in my arms. So that's what made it possible.

'My eldest is always coming up with ideas too, it's very much a part of our family.'

Ria has expanded the range with new designs, including an inter-tidal theme and one based on different pollinators, alongside her latest creation, entitled Bramble. Never short of ideas, she also has plans for a gift collection, a range of scarves and a nature subscription for children, featuring screen-free activities and experiments for them and their parents to interact with and learn more about nature.

Ria is constantly inspired by the nature of Hampshire when designing her woven blankets. (Image: Arcana) ''The easiest way to do that is to talk to people about things that they already know,' she says. 'Expanding that and getting them access to learn more about it. The more they know about something, the more they're going to care about it.

'There's the mental health aspect of it, as well, which I very much believe in. The world has become increasingly difficult to manage on a day-to-day basis – there's so much information all the time. The presence of mind to step outside and notice things that can give you an inner sense of peace is so important.'

Ria admits running her own business is 'a rollercoaster', but is thrilled to see the impact it's already making.

The Wild Oak design was inspired by Ria Mishaal's childhood growing up in Hampshire. (Image: Arcana) 'One of the best things is I often get comments or a response like "we've had some great family discussions because the kids have found a squirrel or something on the blanket and want to know more about it. That's just the best thing – having an idea and a dream you put it out into the world so for that to come back to you exactly how you wanted it to be received.