TIMOROUS BEASTIES
Noted for its surreal and provocative textiles and wallpapers, the design studio Timorous Beasties was founded in Glasgow in 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, who had met while studying textile design at Glasgow School of Art. Timorous Beasties is shortlisted for the Designer of the Year prize in 2005. By depicting uncompromisingly contemporary images on traditional textiles and wallpapers, Timorous Beasties has defined an iconoclastic style of design once described as “William Morris on acid.”
Timorous Beasties was founded in Glasgow in 1990 by Alistair McAuley, born in Duntocher in 1967, and Paul Simmons, born in Brighton in 1967, who met as students at Glasgow School of Art. After beginning by designing fabrics and wallpapers for production by other companies, Timorous Beasties then started to manufacture its designs and recently opened a shop on the Great Western Road in Glasgow. McAuley and Simmons also execute special commissions, such as fabrics for Philip Treacy’s hats and for the interiors of the Arches Theatre in Glasgow and 50 Piccadilly, a London casino.
As their working practise as designer-makers has progressed, Timorous Beasties have become increasingly experimental in their approach to both hand-printing and machine production. These changes are reflected in their evolving aesthetic: from early wayward interpretations of naturalistic images of insects, plants and fish; to a searingly contemporary graphic style which, as Glasgow Toile illustrates, explores social and political issues.
2007 saw Timorous Beasties open their first London showroom on Amwell Street in Islington.
In 2008 Timorous Beasties have launched a new range of wallpapers and fabrics, the Decouper Toile, Bird Branch weave, Black Flower and Bloody Hell.
The Decouper Toile Collection is a contemporary take on the chinioserie and toiles de jouey patterns of the 18th Century. The literal meaning of Decouper in French is to “cut out”; it is also the source of the term “découpage”. The Découpage style became very popular in 18th Century Britain with the upper and burgeoning middle classes. Images were cut from valuable prints and lacquered onto hatboxes, gift boxes and even walls. Unlike the original sentimental patterns popular in this period, Timorous Beasties have used everyday images of contemporary urban life. The collection features young and old men, workers, shoppers, pregnant mothers, cyclists and tramps, all beautifully silhouetted on the decorative backdrop of traditional pattern. The Decouper Toile collection challenges both old and new ideas of class, wealth and taste. Bloody Hell is an experimental wallpaper design based on the theme of war and conflict in the Middle East.
Decouper Toile fabric
Decouper Toile 3
Decouper Toile 2
Decouper Toile 2
Decouper Toile 1
Bloody Hell
Bloody Hell
Black Flower
Bird Branch weave