Laura Nolan Horgan: 'A tablecloth makes people sit longer at the table'

From vision boards to reality, Laura Nolan Horgan reveals how a health crisis helped her shape her dream life 

Laura Nolan Horgan, founder of LNH Edit, centre, and her latest collection.

When Laura Nolan Horgan started LNH Edit online four years ago, she thought she had bought enough stock to last for an entire season, but then sold out over a weekend. It was the start of her fast becoming the leading light in Irish tablescaping textiles for all of us interiors aficionadas who unleash our creativity on the blank canvas that is our kitchen table.

The Modern Palm look accents a fresh green motif set against a white background; tablecloth from €79.50, napkins, €39.50 for four; Olives Stripes ceramic planter, €19.50.

Since then, her tablecloth and napkin designs have evolved into cushion covers and removable lampshade covers to add an injection of colour, but are easily changed when you redo your décor. They’re eye-catching, as are her conversation-piece accessories and a nightwear range, the latter having just been picked up by Brown Thomas. 

“We have a vision board and BT was on it, but it’s now ticked off,” says Laura, who recently dispatched her 20,000th order, having had a booming Easter. “This year, we couldn’t keep up with tablecloth orders. I think there’s less pressure at Easter than Christmas as there are no gifts, so there’s more time to decorate.”

Given the age of the business, you might imagine it was lockdown inspiration which launched it, like it was for so many others, but it actually grew out of personal adversity when Laura discovered she carries the BRCA1 gene mutation. 

With its heightened risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer, she underwent a mastectomy and hysterectomy in her early 30s while raising three young children. It was during the course of her recovery that lockdown started. “My husband encouraged me to launch during covid,” she says. 

“It gave me something to think about other than my health, but my health has also made me shape my priorities and be more in tune with the smaller things in life now.

“I work between 9am and 2pm, and then I’m mom. When they’re in bed, I do a few more hours, and I’m growing the team, so I’ll get a bit more time.”

It’s also informed her wider ethos focusing on sustainability and ethical practices, including her relationship with two artisan families in India who make all her fabrics, a place which has also proved to be a source of design inspiration. 

“When we’re there, we stay at the Khoti guest house in Jaipur,” says Laura. “It’s a home from home for us, our hub, and it’s where the inspiration for one of our designs came from. The headboard in my bedroom has a vintage palm tree design, and it’s now in one of our summer designs.”

Laura's love of tablescaping with vintage tomato, olive and drinks cans and bottles has become a range of ceramic vases, planters and cutlery holders; from €9.50.

Back at home in Dublin, she launched the palm tree design this week, along with a second one featuring bold stripes with a crab motif printed from a mango wood carving. It’s all about summer entertaining or just making al fresco dining a bit more special. Both looks are the latest in what are four main collections annually.

“To brighten up the patio we also have cushion covers so you can match your cushions to your tablecloth,” says Laura, who also practices what she preaches, always having tablecloths as a feature of daily family life and one that seems to have a positive impact on her family, including Elizabeth, 11; Hugo, 10, and Toby, seven.

“We use a tablecloth every night, but my husband and I noticed that when one time I didn’t use a cloth that the children got up quickly from the table,” she says. “A cloth makes people sit longer at the table, I think.”

Blue and white are summer fabric colours ideal for a picnic or a relaxed lunch on the deck; Blue Crab tablecloth, from €79.50, with napkins, €39.50 for four, Lnhedit.com.

Maybe it’s the sense of effort and ritual, something she may have picked up from her mother, who she speaks of having an “amazing eye”, and how she always had a beautiful table.

Fabric is probably in her DNA, too, as her mother is Fran Nolan of the fashion retailer, Fran & Jane. It’s here Laura’s career started and where she became creative director, and later a buyer for Penneys. The skills and experience she acquired no doubt transferred to LNH Edit to create a curation of covetable home textiles and wares reflecting her personal taste rather than the vagaries of trends.

The Red Crab tablecloth with napkins injects subtle fun to a summer tabletop; tablecloth from €79.50, napkins, €39.50 for four.

“I don’t follow trends, but I have a style,” she says. “I adore colour, slightly boho, eclectic, English country garden meets Long Island, The Hamptons, New England vibe. Bits of happiness, and if you can add a little of this into your home, how bad.”

Instagram.com/lnh_edit/