From youthful forays into dipping our Mother's old bridesmaids dresses into a washing machine full of RIT to more recent experiments with grown-up-feeling shibori tie-dyes, we have always had a long fascination with the transformative power of dye. When we met Minneapolis-based botanist and artist Libby London we knew we had found a kindred spirit.

Have you ever wished that you could wake up in an English farmhouse, sprigs of heather and primroses in a vase on the bedside and the smell of fresh-baked cardamom scones and just-brewed tea wafting up through the perfectly weathered old floorboards? Sigh. Us too. Luckily, until our "dreamhouse in the Cotswolds" becomes a reality, we've got just the thing for bringing some of those beautiful English countryside vibes into our everyday: John Julian's exquisitely crafted porcelain.

Every gardener has her favorite tool (Lillian gravitates towards the spade, Susannah the hand-mattock), and when we stop and think...why? It all comes down to the feeling that you get when you pick it up.