Amanda Pratt: ‘It’s vital for women to support each other’

Amanda Pratt, the creative director, head buyer and owner of the well-loved Avoca store for more than 20 years, has embarked on a new venture, Amo & Pax. The shop is an expression of what matters most to Amanda: slow and sustainable consumption, a connection with nature and one another, and of course, beautiful and high-quality design.

Amo & Pax – which means “love and peace” in Latin, encapsulates the raison d’être for the business. “It’s pretty obvious we need more of that in the world, isn’t it,” says Amanda.

Located in the old Avoca HQ in Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow, the shop is open just over a year and captures the sense of “connection to calm and to self” that Amanda describes.

Upon entering the stylish two-storey building, you are greeted by the sound of gentle birdsong and the soft whirring of a sewing machine. The large room is flooded with natural light and a carefully curated collection of items are on display – enamel crockery in colours like postbox red and sunflower yellow, books and stationery, soft throws and cushions.

Products from Irish makers are there to browse, including Amanda’s own ceramics range developed through her collaboration with Wicklow potter Geoffrey Healy. Further afield, there are artisan products like Provence baskets handmade by a supplier in Morocco.

Outside, the building is partially enclosed by a redbrick wall with huge farm gates leading to a 2,000-year-old Yew tree. “I wanted to bring in the feeling of a walled garden and I salvaged these gates. There’s a slightly religious feeling about it,” says Amanda.

Amanda is one of the six members of the Pratt family who owned Avoca until its sale to the US company Aramark in 2014. Amanda left the business one year before Avoca was sold. She bought the building around five years ago and completely renovated it.

“I was very specific about what materials we used – the floorboards are a sustainable material and the building runs by solar,” she says. Amanda sourced doors, furniture and fittings from auction rooms.

It feels like Amo & Pax has been designed to bring visitors behind the production curtain. Shirts hanging on the rail are made from the fibres of the flax plant, like the one propped on a display table. They are created by seamstress Collette Howlin who is working on the sewing machine just a few feet away. It’s a reminder to visitors of how clothes are made and who makes them.

Sustainability

“I’ve been involved in clothes and making them for such a long time. With Amo & Pax, it’s not just about what we’re doing, it’s being allowed to talk about it. When I started Amo & Pax, I’d been away from Avoca for eight years. I did lots of other jobs in between and a few philanthropic things. Eventually I thought if I’m fortunate enough to live to old age, then I better do something that matters,” says Amanda.

“One of the things that matters to me is how our homes are – what products are in them, what the colours are. All that stuff has an impact on how we feel.

“Some 98% of what I’m stocking – if you buried it in your garden or it fell in the sea – would disintegrate without doing harm,” explains Amanda. “That means it is wood, linen, cotton, metal, pottery and wool.”

Over 60% of textiles are made from materials derived from fossil fuels, including fabrics like polyester, nylon and acrylic, and Amanda is passionate about natural fibres and materials.

“People are wearing petroleum-based clothes. We’re dressing babies in petrol,” she says. “It is beholden on us to dig in and start understanding how clothes are made. Women are the ones who tend to buy more fast fashion and we have the power to change it.

“The whole cycle of fast fashion and us feeding into it, it’s a kind of frenzy that seems to have got worse and worse. The big question is are we going to become more conscious or not? Lots of people are.”

Amo & Pax are one of the only Irish companies designing, cutting and sewing on site. Amanda buys linen from an Irish linen mill in Co Wexford. She has a “big obsession” with it.

“Linen is the oldest textile in the world. What’s really interesting about the linen plant is that the whole plant is used, even the seeds. We add linseed to our cereal. It also uses very little water.”

Amanda explains that she cuts the rolls of linen at night on her kitchen table, and the following day passes them onto Collette, who is responsible for sewing garments and running the alterations and repair service in the shop.

“We’re introducing the idea of fixing things and chatting to people about it,” she says.

“People love it,” Collette agrees. “When I finish these [shirts], Amanda will decide on the buttons but customers will also have their say on which ones they like. We’re thinking of doing repair classes and there’d be lots of interest.”

Collette is one of six staff that Amanda employs and the two women used to work together in Avoca.

“Collette was in Avoca for as long as I was,” says Amanda. “We sat in this building. She met her husband in this building. He was handweaving over there,” she says, pointing to the corner of the room.

“Collette was on a machine and I was handknitting. I started here winding yarn and hand knitting yarn for suppliers around Ireland.”

Since stepping out on her own, Amanda has encountered new challenges in running her business. “There is definitely such a strong feeling of being on your own with it all. That’s what I don’t like and I’m finding that very challenging. Mostly I bounce ideas off my friends and husband. In Avoca, there were six of us [involved in running it] and we had 1,000 employees, I had so many people to talk to.”

Female founders

Amanda also reflects on the barriers women face as business owners and why they often struggle to reach the top salary bracket.

“One of the things that really interests me is that many CEOs and the richest people in the world are mostly men. Women are still by far the poorest sex,” says Amanda. “I feel it’s really important for us to support each other, and money is power.

“I’ve always been a working woman. I had twins at 32 and I went back to work when they were about a month old. My mum was a founder of the Women’s Political Association, she was the first chairperson and Mary Robinson was the second. I was brought up with a strong batch of female role models and it was really formative for me.

“I think it’s so important to encourage other women to have businesses and to support one another. The majority of the employees in Avoca were women.”

Amanda is focused on using her space to build that sense of community. Above the retail shop, she has a large space where she hosts “happenings”, events like breathing workshops and yoga classes.

“Part of me is trying to work out what is useful to people, whether it is creative, emotional, or spiritual. We’re trying to think about how we can be of service to each other.

“I’m not going to get it right all the time but all you can do is try and make decisions one at a time. I’m trying to do my best and be useful and not detrimental.”

See amoandpax.com