We sit down to discover a little more about the brand with the illustrious design duo and Thornback & Peel founders, Juliet Thornback & Delia Peel.

How did it all come about?

DP: We were introduced by a very clever friend who sensed that we shared a fascination for the eccentric and surreal. I was working as a set designer at the Royal Court and Juliet as a florist, but at the time we met we were both looking to create a business by making something ourselves.  

I lived around the corner from Covent garden flower market and we’d meet there at crack of dawn for a sausage sandwich and a cup of very strong tea to plan our collections. The business began in that café and on our kitchen tables.  Eventually we graduated to a tiny studio space in Deptford with a desk as our print table and a few years later into the studio we’re in now in Bloomsbury.

 

Give us a little insight into the studio.

JT: We’re really lucky to be a part of the designer-makers collective Cockpit Arts. Our studio is a happily buzzing workspace of ordered chaos. The office, designing, printing and packing all happen in the same place with a giant print table dominating the space.
We print our handkerchiefs on site, so you’ll typically see tins of sardines being carefully screen-printed and laid out side by side, while the new design ideas cover the walls – hand-drawn ideas, inspiration and colour tests all go up side by side.

 

 

What are your favourite Thornback & Peel prints?

DP: The Lobster. I love these curious sea creatures – they have been in our collection in one way or another since we began 10 years ago.  We have woven them into an all over print in this Spring’s collection.

JT:  Always the new ones, the Pea Pod & Fish Supper are currently in my kitchen which has recently been renovated.

 

 

 

How would you summarise the design ethos?

‘”Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” So said William Morris and we both absolutely agree.
We like to draw on British humour in our designs, updating classic ideas from old tales we loved as children. By playing with colour, form and scale we produce prints with a little charm from the past. Sources for inspiration include anything from Mrs Beeton’s Household Management and Alice in Wonderland to 17th century microscope imagery of the natural world, and of course the great British countryside?

 

Bountiful British references permeate through the design process, will you share one of your hidden holiday hideaways?

DP: I have family in rural Norfolk but it’s the Ardnamurchan peninsula on the West Coast of Scotland that I go to, to properly switch off. The most westerly point on the UK mainland, the coastline, surrounding hills and light are so dramatic and we spend our holidays there exploring lighthouses, fishing and walking.

View the Pea Pod, Lobster & Fish Supper Collections >