Every piece we sell is made to order. That is the only way a shawl can carry your initials, or a tablecloth your family name, and still feel like one considered object rather than a stock item with a label ironed on. This is our process, from the moment you order on Etsy to the moment a cream gift box arrives at your door.
Lumen Atelier is designed in Buckingham, in the United Kingdom, by Akshay Patil, our founder, owner and designer. The textiles are hand embroidered and, where the design calls for it, hand block-printed by our artisan partners in Rajasthan, India. Customer support, including anything about the spelling of a name, is handled through Etsy Messages.
You place the order, and we read the personalisation with care
You choose a listing in our Etsy shop and enter the personalisation at checkout. That box is the brief we work from. A monogram shawl asks for up to three letters; a family stocking set asks for four names; a couples throw asks for two names and a date. Please type the wording exactly as you wish it to appear, and double-check the spelling. We embroider what you type.
If anything in the order is unclear — a letter that could be read two ways, a date format, a request in the notes that needs a little more detail — we will come back to you through Etsy Messages before the embroidery begins. That short confirmation is much easier than unpicking a name later, and it is the surest way to get the piece you had in mind.
You can also add a gift note at checkout. We will hand-write it for you, and we never include prices in a gift box.
The design is laid out on the cloth
Once the wording is settled, the lettering and any accompanying motif are set out on the textile. This is a quiet, practical stage: deciding how a monogram sits on the corner of a shawl, how four names share a set of stocking cuffs, or how a family name should rest in the corner of a printed tablecloth. The aim is always the same — the personalisation should feel as if it belongs to the piece, not as if it were added at the last minute.
Where a design is printed as well as embroidered, the cloth is block-printed first. Our family-name tablecloth receives its sage floral trellis from carved wooden blocks, and only then is the name stitched in.
Embroidery, and then the finishing
The cloth is worked by hand. Names and monograms are embroidered in cotton or gold metallic thread; botanical details — holly on a runner, snowflakes on a stocking, a small laurel on a couples throw — are stitched in the same careful way. Our personalised monogram shawl in cream and sage, for example, is finished with a refined monogram or initials of your choosing.
After the embroidery comes the finishing that makes a textile ready to use and to give: hems, linings, hanging loops, fringe, a ribbon-tie on a tree skirt, mitred corners on a napkin. These are ordinary workshop tasks, and they matter. A stocking needs a sturdy loop; a throw needs a hem that will sit well on a sofa for years.
A quality check, then packing
Before a piece leaves us, it is checked. We look at the embroidery, the finishing and the overall appearance of the textile. Because each item is handmade to order by our artisan partners, colours, embroidery and print placement will vary slightly from the listing images, which are design previews of the finished piece. Slight variation is part of handwork; what we are looking for is a piece that is well made and true to the design you ordered.
It is then packed in our signature cream gift box, with ivory tissue, a gold satin ribbon, a wax seal and a care card. If you asked for a gift note, it goes in as well. The luxury shawl gift set is built around that presentation: a personalised shawl, folded in tissue, ready to hand over with a card for your own message.
How long it takes, and how it reaches you
Timing depends on the piece, not on a single workshop clock we would only be inventing. Many of our Christmas listings — stockings, the tree skirt, napkins, the runner and the cashmere-blend wrap — are made to order in one to two weeks, then shipped. Larger throws, shawls, the heritage patchwork throw and the block-print tablecloth are typically made to order in two to three weeks, then shipped. For Christmas delivery, several of those seasonal listings recommend ordering by 30 November.
After packing, each order is sent with tracked shipping. Our shop policy lists UK delivery as 7–14 days after dispatch, with 10–18 days for Europe and 12–20 days for the United States. If you have a question while an order is under way, Etsy Messages is the best place to reach us.
That is the journey, in general terms: an order and a name, a confirmation when it is needed, the design laid out, the embroidery and finishing, a check, a box, and the journey to your door. If you are ready to start one, you will find the full collection at Lumen Atelier Textiles. Every piece is 20% off until 12 December 2026, with the code CHRISTMASSALE20.