Encore TB Ercol collaboration! The New York Toile Ercol couch will be on display this weekend at ICFF in New York. So if you’re across the pond, please go check it out.

For their Spring 2013 issue, Cover magazine is featuring TB’s latest creations.

All will be revealed at the Interiors LDN exhibition at ExCeL 19-21 May, stand number W32.

See you there…

Keep an eye out for posters and billboards for new Sky Arts 1 Playhouse presents advertising for 'The Call Out'. Look closely for our 'London Toile' design in the background.

'Rock the Casa' indeed in this month's Vogue US photoshoot of Florence Welch's London home.

We spotted a bird print by John Gould on her wall, the book ‘Will Odlham on Bonnie ‘Prince Billy’, and one of our cushions!

The girl has got taste!

Our Oriental Orchid wallpaper is featured in ‘Sharing Space’ exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, on view April 6-August 18, 2013.
Sharing Space: Creative Intersections in Architecture and Design showcases the depth of the collection by presenting works selected with an eye toward mutual creative concepts and strategies rather than the typical categories of media or period. By doing so, the exhibition creates exciting new "conversations" between works that are organized into six creative ideas or themes: color, geometry, structure, hybrid, surface, and technology.

Read all about it! TB fabric for Ercol sofa featured in last night’s Evening Standard

We're delighted to have our Birds 'n' Bees and Napoleon Bee design featured in the Livingetc's Style Directions supplement May '13 edition.

Ercol's studio couch in special show fabric by Timorous Beasties is now on display in Milan. If you're in Milan do go and visit the Ercol stand: Stand C6, La Pelota, Via Palermo.

Ercol are once again teaming up with Timorous Beasties to produce some special editions of the iconic Ercol studio couch. The special editions will be shown at the Milan International Furniture Fair later this month and at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York in May, both of which Ercol will be exhibiting at. The first version is a special mixture of two Timorous Beasties fabrics, “Blotch” and “Damask” done especially for Ercol. This striking fabric lives up to its name, looking like a multicoloured paint blotch. We’re very excited that this studio couch will form part of the ICFF window display at fashion store Bergdorf Goodman on 5th Avenue and 58th Street in New York.

We are very pleased to see our New York City Toile Blue fabric in Elle Decoration's Spring Pattern Book this month.

We love the paper it's printed on too!

Did you miss it? Fear not, the next collaboration is due this Spring!

Timorous Beasties have had a double whammy in this month’s Dazed & Confused Magazine, which features Dinos Chapman at home in front of our ‘Euro Damask’ wallpaper; and Louise Grey has chosen one of our cushions as ‘a must have.’

Linking Art and Fashion? – We’d like to think so. Fluke? – Yes, probably!

Timorous Beasties are exhibiting at Interiors UK, Birmingham NEC, as part of the fabric pavilion in Hall 1. Our stand is FP1. The show runs from Sunday 20th January until Wednesday 23rd January. Open daily 9.00-18.00 except Wednesday which is 9.00-17.00. Kate Mitchell from our London Showroom will be there for the duration. As well as fabric, we are exhibiting vintage furniture upholstered in TB fabric.

Our Ruskin cushions are featured in the January '13 edition of LivingEtc, out now!

When our local football team, Partick Thistle, approached us about designing a logo for their shirt, a modification on our popular thistle design was the perfect match (excuse the pun). It's a funny old game, apparently with two halves, but is it just coincidence that the stylish 'Jags'  are now top of the Scottish First Division? At the end of the day, all things considered, it's a t-shirt with scoring potential - on and off the pitch.

Although we were not exhibiting in an official capacity, Timorous Beasties was very much on display at the 2012 Sleep Exhibition. Our designs were on displays with Alexander James International and Northern Lights LTD. Some designs that were featured were our Ikat Damask panels in Grey and our Chic Blotch fabrics in lovely lampshades, as seen above. Thanks to the guys at Alexander James and Northern Lights for using TB.

Timorous Beasties are pleased to announce we are now shipping to the European Union online!

So all you out there in the EU, celebrate with us today by getting in touch with us via our Site, Showrooms, Twitter or Facebook and receive a free Euro Damask wallpaper sample in the colour of your choice.

Offer will only last today, 13th of November 2012, and the first 10 will receive 3 free postcards.

We are delighted to have been nominated for the 'Retail Exterior Surface' category of the Surface Design Show Awards 2013 http://www.surfacedesignshow.com/Finalists.  Our aluminium, trailing leaves design was installed on the outside of the prestigious Princes Square shopping centre in Glasgow as part of a £6 million upgrade at the end of 2011.

Among our latest collection of restored, vintage furniture pieces is this beautiful rocking chair, updated with our brand new Chic Blotch Damask fabric.  Each item is a one-of-a-kind piece and a potential family heirloom. Our restored furniture turns over very quickly so it's worth visiting our Glasgow and London shops to see which new pieces are on display.  Check out some  more of our previous restoration favourites http://pinterest.com/tbeasties/furniture/.

“What we love about toiles is that they are traditional designs that have stood the test of time. All we have really done is re-interpret them so that they speak to us more directly in the present.”

(Paul Simmons, Timorous Beasties)

Almost exclusively rural in setting, mid- to late-18th century toiles broadcast imagery of diverse subjects and scenes – bucolic idealism, moral abandon, and even contemporary warfare. By reversing the pastoral context, we have transformed the traditional toile device to create an exclusively modern urban genre with a balance of architectural, human, and floral pattern repeats.

In 2004 we unveiled our critically acclaimed Glasgow Toile. London and Edinburgh toile patterns followed and now, we present the fourth, and perhaps our most dramatic toile pattern in the collection, the New York Toile.

The New York Toile will be launched on the 13th September 2012 at the Ted Boerner Showroom in New York

Timorous Beasties has been nominated for the Elle Decoration British Design Awards 2012 for our Birds 'n' Bees design. Please follow the link and vote our print at - www.demographix.com/surveys/2KVG-RM5T/LM69N8AC/

 Timorous Beasties made its own contribution to the London Olympics with a thistle themed makeover of Scotland House. ‘Scotland House’ on Pall Mall is a dedicated facility to promote Scotland during the London Olympics.  Similar to the Scotland House facilities at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006 and Delhi in 2010, the facility will host over 40 events - a mix of formal events as well as a base for business meetings and the families of Scottish athletes. Scotland House is a partnership between the Scottish Government, VisitScotland, EventScotland, Scottish Enterprise, Creative Scotland, sportscotland, with input from Glasgow 2014, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Marketing Edinburgh and Scotland Food and Drink.

During the 2012 London Olympics, Lancaster House in London will be transformed as a showcase for British art and design.  Ercol will be furnishing one of the rooms and have teamed up with Timorous Beasties for the second time to produce a special edition of the Ercol Studio couch.

The ‘Westminster Skaters’ design for the couch, reflects the diversity of London city life in Victorian-Toile, silhouetted images.  Highly patterned foliage frames the images of the urban South Bank and Westminster and echoes the pastoral scenes of traditional toiles.  The ‘mash-up’ of traditional and edgy, grafitti elements of the Timorous Beasties print, mirror the traditional and contemporary aspects of Ercol’s design.

We're so pleased that Elle Deco Hong Kong have chosen Team TB to represent Britain for wallpaper in their ‘GO BRITAIN’ page in the July '12 edition. Jolly good show!

Timorous Beasties will be one of forty-five leading furniture makers and interior textiles companies from across Scotland joining forces later this month to create a unique one-off exhibition at Clerkenwell Design Week in London from 22-24 May.

Leading well-known interior textiles designers and manufacturers will be presented alongside internationally-recognised furniture makers. In addition, a number of never-seen-before bespoke collaborations will be unveiled, created exclusively for the 2012 event.

The design week, situated in Clerkenwell – an area renowned for more architects and interior designers per square mile than anywhere else in the world – is a three-day festival celebrating design's creative richness, social relevance and technological advancements through an exciting programme of workshops, presentations, product launches and debates.

For customers seeking a truly, unique item that cannot be found on the High Street, our restored furniture pieces are well worth a look.

“I started this project really as an excuse to keep going to auctions, because I’ve no more room left in my own house,” Paul Simmons, Designer/Company Owner.

Quirky finds are transformed at the Timorous Beasties Studio and re-upholstered with Timorous Beasties fabrics.  Often, as is the case with this current footstool, they are upholstered with custom, hand-printed fabrics.  Pieces vary from week to week and have included a beautiful chaise lounges and a restored Edwardian screen as well as armchairs, dining room chairs and stools.   These one-of-a-kind pieces can be bought from the Timorous Beasties stores in Glasgow and London.

Timorous Beasties is currently exhibiting in New York as part of Scotland Re:Designed from the 9th to the 12th of April. If you're in New York, please do check it out otherwise enjoy the following questionnaire completed by Alistair and Paul as press for the event -

How do you describe your creativity/style, and how is it different (or not) from yourself?

Traditionally modern, we like to take products and ideas that people are already comfortable with and push them around.

How do you bring your inspiration into reality?

Pencil and paper then scanner and computer then printable or factory.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of being a Scotland based designer?

The accent works for both.

If you couldn't be a designer what else would you be?

A failure.

Have you a hero or muse?

Tarzan

What makes you different from other Scottish designers?

We are not ginger.

Are there any up and coming designers you admire?

Tommy Hilfiger

Have you an investor or business support team in place, and if so how did you develop that?

We have always had help and encouragement from Glasgow in general.

What advice would you give a young designer starting out?

Do what you feel is right and get a book keeper.

What motivates you to keep persevering with a career in this industry?

Apart from not being able to do anything else there is always a line of carrots on the horizon.

10 years from now where do you see yourself and what do you have hoped to have achieved?

Too depressing.

Do you try to keep up with the trends or do you create your own?

We prefer to look for what is not there rather than follow any trends.

Do you try to send out a message or theme in your products?

Take me home and lie on top of me.

What do you wish people would understand about working in the Interior industry?

It’s the oldest  industry after agriculture but before prostitution.

What is the most difficult aspect about running your own brand?

Being consistent, challenging and fresh.

What do you find most rewarding about your career?

We get to do what we trained for.

 What are your future plans for the brand?

To be stronger and better known for what we do, to be recognised for our difference or indifference.

What do you hope people wearing your clothes/buying your products will get from it?

A feeling of individuality and that they have made the right decision.

Have you made a fashion faux pas or produced a fashion faux pas?!

Probably, but people have been too kind or too embarrassed to point it out

And Finally: List 3 things nobody knows about you? (Only one needs to be true!)

Pauls is psychotic (not good in crowds)

Ali is neurotic (not good on his own)

We were both slapped by Karl Lagerfeld in a lift in New York for being flippant.

Timorous Beasties welcomes our new London Showroom Manager, Kate Mitchell.  Kate, a fellow graduate of Paul and Alistair’s from Glasgow School of Art, has a wealth of experience in printed textiles and interiors.  Most recently Kate worked as a Senior Designer and Project Manager with Brintons Carpets and previously with Stoddards, Ulster Carpets, Edinburgh College of Art and as a freelance designer.  Kate is busy getting up to speed on all things Timorous Beasties and is looking forward to catching up with our existing customers and introducing lots of new ones to Timorous Beasties London.

Elle Decoration have once more used our Birds 'n' Bees - Ochre wallpaper in their April 2012 edition. Check out 'Flights of Fancy' now for all the birds and beasties your could ever want!

We're totally in love with our spread in the Living Etc March '12 edition. It really speaks to or maximalist  tendencies.

Are you a maximalist too? Check out our Edinburgh Toile wallpaper and join the club

This year Timorous Beasties celebrated our annual Burns Supper on the 28th of January '12.

Eventually this space will be filled with a little something from our "Artist in Residence", Stevo, of our London Showroom but until then - We thought the event poster was worth a share too

Our favourite Burns’ verse  - 'To a Mouse', 'Ae fond kiss', 'Death and Doctor Hornbrook', inspired the design for a 21ftx8ft carpeted artwork now installed in the café of the Burns Museum in Alloway.  The rug was produced by the world class local craftsmanship of Turnberry Carpets, described as ‘artisanal’ (not our word!) in Ayrshire.  This is our second installation at the impressive Burns museum, this time last year we installed two engraved overslabs on the walkway leading from the museum to the Burns cottage.

For the refurbishment of the iconic National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, we were commissioned to design a range of home accessories.  The portraits themselves provided the inspiration for a collection featuring Scottish monarchs and other famous Scottish figureheads.  Rather than re-produce the various portraits ‘straight-up’, parts of the paintings were cropped and enlarged, revealing only sections of the portraits and in some cases only hinting at the famous identity.

“A friend of mine once said she recognised someone on the London Underground from seeing their hand holding onto the carriage rail, and I liked the idea of not being able to see the whole portrait, but being able to guess who it was from a small section.” Paul Simmons, Designer.

Within the beautifully, quirky collection is ‘Well Spotted’ - a contemporary spot design with portrait details contained within random spots that give classic paintings a mid-century design twist.  Other designs have an irreverent touch – a portrait of Mary Queen of Scots with a red serrated edge along her neckline, and a ‘Bonnie’-fied, Bonnie Prince Charlie portrait using his medals and medallions as borders and details within the design.

Two years in development (including four weeks on the scaffolding for Ali) and the exterior decoration of Princes Square, the upmarket shopping centre on Glasgow's Buchanan Street, was finally completed in November 2011.  Taking inspiration from the faded grandeur of many of the city's Victorian buildings the design reflects foliage that emerges from neglected historical buildings.  The trailing leaves design was produced locally in powder coated aluminium and moulded on site by Glasgow sculptor, Kenny MacKay.

“Working with Ali gave a new dimension to our design aspirations for the refurbishment as well as helping to overcome the not inconsiderable task of satisfying planning and heritage concerns on a listed building within Glasgow’s showpiece shopping street. The finished installation catches the eye, attracts attention and arouses curiosity and is a beautiful, sensitive and timeless addition to one of Glasgow’s landmarks.” Adrian Higson, Design Director, Three Sixty Architecture.