Why it belongs in ORBIS
Glasgow textile and wallpaper studio founded 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, Glasgow School of Art graduates; hand-prints its designs in a three-floor West End mill studio.
Timorous Beasties was founded in Glasgow in 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, who met while studying textile design at the Glasgow School of Art. The company began in a small studio on Raeberry Street before moving to its present West End site, housed in an old Glasgow mill-brick building and now spanning three floors, where its hand-printed fabrics, wallpapers, cushions, bed linen and home accessories are designed and produced. The studio is known for surreal, provocative motifs that subvert traditional decorative patterns. It has won industry recognition including the Walpole Award for Best Emerging British Luxury Brand (2007) and British Luxury Design Talent (2010), and now operates branded showrooms in Glasgow, London and Berlin.