About Us

Ruth Stevens
In the 1960’s, while Ruth Stevens was still at Nottingham College of Art, she began working for a company called Birdcage, the first boutique in Nottingham. She crocheted various articles from ladies’ dresses to bikinis! Throughout the 60's and 70’s she also made items for the George Best boutique in Altringham and others throughout the country. In the 70’s she specialised in leather handbags. All of this was whilst working as a primary school teacher, as well as looking after a growing family.

Kitty Fisher’s Secret
Ruth started our Kitty Fisher story in 1983, when she decided to work with local Nottingham Lace after leaving teaching to give birth to her youngest daughter. She opened her first small retail units in what is now the trendy Hockley area of Nottingham, and later moved to larger retail premises on Friar Lane near Nottingham Castle. The shop specialised in selling goods manufactured from local lace including cushions, blouses, tableware, and eventually bridal wear. The company was named “Kitty Fisher’s Secret” in homage to the courtesan’s famous taste for fine garments and furnishings. 

In 1986 the company moved to Heathcoat Street where a separate bridal shop was opened, and larger premises were found for design and manufacturing. In 1988 we then opened a shop in the Lace Hall on High Pavement (now the Pitcher and Piano bar and restaurant) in Nottingham. This was a working lace museum set in a wonderful converted church, with Burne-Jones windows and lace made on the premises.

Kitty Fisher
After moving out of the Lace Hall, the company moved again to design and manufacture from its new base at Sir Richard Arkwright House, the original Arkwright mill in Woolpack lane. In the mid-nineties the name was shortened to simply “Kitty Fisher“. The company then moved once more to be based on Stoney Street, which in Victorian times was the largest lace making street in the world.

Today, we design and manufacture everything here in our own workrooms in Beeston, Nottingham. We still specialise in beautiful Nottingham Lace, and many of our goods are now made for export, where traditional English design and quality are most prized, especially in the USA and Japan. Our products have also been stocked by Harrods, Liberty, Selfridges, Bloomingdales, John Lewis and Debenhams over the years, and other leading department and specialist stores here in the UK and around the world.

We hope this gives you a good idea of the background and tradition behind the products we make here at Kitty Fisher. If you have any questions, then please feel free to contact us!