An internationally acclaimed and multi-award-winning studio is opening a major new retail showroom in Edinburgh.
Renowned for its unique maximalist designs, star power brand collaborations, and global fan base, iconic Scottish design studio Timorous Beasties will open its new showroom in the Scottish Capital on Thursday.
The entirety of the Timorous Beasties collection is now open to the public and includes more than 500 original designs in the two-storey showroom located on Northumberland Street in the city’s New Town.
Spanning 2,500 sq ft, the complete collection includes luxury wallpapers, fabrics and home accessories, as well as smaller gift items for the home – each design highlighting the unique cult status of Timorous Beasties, and allowing the public to take the designs home.
Speaking ahead of the opening, Co-Founder of Timorous Beasties, Alistair McAuley said they are excited to showcase the full collection in one location for the first time.
He said: “We are delighted to be opening this new showroom in Edinburgh, our second retail space in Scotland, and the home city of many of our loyal and longstanding customers.
“This destination two-storey space on Northumberland Street, in the vibrant and creative heart of the capital’s New Town neighbourhood, will allow us to showcase the full depth and breadth of Timorous Beasties’ collections.
“In addition to selecting our unique products for home interiors and receiving personalised one-to-one design and colour advice from our expert and passionate team, we hope our customers will enjoy the experience the new showroom will offer.
“With over 30 years of Timorous Beasties’ pattern and print heritage on display, this is a wonderful and timely opportunity for the public to view the studio’s body of work in its entirety for the first time and have the opportunity to purchase their favourite Timorous Beasties designs.”
Founded in 1990 by Alistair and Paul Simmons, Timorous Beasties focuses on hand and digitally printed fabrics and wallpaper designed in-house by the duo and then made in their Glasgow headquarters.
Timorous Beasties have always been known for keeping Scottish heritage and history at the heart of their designs, with their works appearing in several landmark locations like the Robert Burns Museum in Alloway, and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Throughout their 34-year history, Alistair and Paul have been commissioned to create many bespoke designs with iconic brands and names.
Their work includes large-scale architectural and interior projects for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Wellcome Trust and the UK Supreme Court as well as brand and creative collaborations with Kate Bush, Fortnum & Mason, Liberty, Harrods, Brintons, Ercol, and Nike among others.
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The work has seen the studio recognised for awards across the world and some of their prints have been held in collections at the Art Institute of Chicago, Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, and the V&A Museum in London.
Ahead of the opening in Scotland’s capital city, the studio has highlighted ten of their most memorable design moments to The Herald, which included their Royal Bank of Scotland notes, the exterior installation outside Glasgow’s Princes Square located on Buchanan Street, and the Timorous Beasties’ collaboration with Johnnie Walker Blue Label Limited Edition.
Speaking exclusively to The Herald from inside the new retail space as finishing touches were being made, Mr McAuley added: “Our hope from today is to welcome people who want to come to the shop to come and have a look at the products and designs, old and new that we have been designing and manufacturing from our factory in Glasgow over the last 30 years.
“This is our first venture over to the east of Scotland, and we are very happy with the space that we have found.
“We have been looking for years to get somewhere in Edinburgh, and it’s only in the last year that we have been a bit more earnest in getting it.
Co-creator Paul Simmons added that the new showroom is the perfect opportunity to “see real stuff, and not google it.”
Here are ten of the most memorable Timorous Beasties designs:
ROBERT BURNS MUSEUM, ALLOWAY
Timorous Beasties is named after the poem To a Mouse, so it is with a stroke of serendipity that the studio’s design signature can be seen at the Robert Burns
Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire. Marking the walkway from the Museum to Burns’ cottage, Timorous Beasties’ design motifs can be seen engraved on to polished granite over-slabs and crafted ironwork signage. The work is informed by the Robert Burns poems Ae Fond Kiss, And Then We Sever, and Death and Doctor Hornbrook.
THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND BANK NOTES
Illustrating new bank notes for Scotland was one of the biggest public design projects of its kind ever undertaken. ‘The People’s Money’ campaign by the Royal Bank of Scotland saw Timorous Beasties’ incredible illustrations roll out across the pioneering ‘Fabric of Nature’ series of bank notes. Considered to be pocket size works of art, the unique campaign sees notes that are full of meaning and part of a monetary family celebrating the people, achievements and nature of Scotland. In keeping with the unmistakable world of Timorous Beasties - where plants, animals and society are visually inextricable – the studio’s illustrative work can be seen across otters, mackerel, red squirrels, and of course, midges!
NIKE
When approached by Nike to create a fabric design for its Nike Golf team to wear at the 2019 Open Championships at Portrush, Northern Ireland, Timorous Beasties produced a remarkable design that was broadcast to a global audience. A traditional ‘Toile de Jouy’ was reimagined to reflect silhouettes of golfers, the landscape and history of Port Rush, and sea-gods and mythical creatures inspired by the nearby Giant’s Causeway. The result was a Timorous Beasties classic; idiosyncratic and contemporary in look and feel.
KATE BUSH
When Kate Bush – one of the most successful and influential British artists of the late 20th century – announced ‘Before the Dawn’, her first series of live shows in 35 years, an exceptionally high bar was set for all associated. With a residency of 22 dates which sold out in 15 minutes, this unforgettable sonic odyssey demanded something visually special as part of the promotional campaign. Cue Timorous Beasties. The studio created a fantastical seabed design for Kate Bush for the inner front and back covers of of the tour programme, along with the design applied on the ticket's artwork and lithograph.
PRINCES SQUARE
Housed in a Grade B listed building on Buchanan Street, Glasgow’s main pedestrian thoroughfare, Princes Square is a luxury dining and shopping destination. After two years in development, and overcoming the substantial planning and heritage concerns of a listed building, Timorous Beasties’ large scale decorative exterior installation was completed in 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 of the finished installation is a dramatic, beautiful, sensitive and timeless addition to one of Glasgow’s landmarks.
JOHNNIE WALKER
Showcasing the beauty of the flora, fauna and landscape found across Scotland, as well as one of the rarest natural scenes in the world - the Aurora Borealis (or Northern Lights) shining theatrically over the Scottish Highlands - Timorous Beasties’ collaboration with Johnnie Walker Blue Label Limited Edition is a true design collectable. A montage of three of Scotland’s rare large birds – the majestic white-tailed eagle, the unmistakable curlew and the rapid eider duck, alongside two of Scotland’s smallest rare wonders - the Bee Hawk moth, and Scotland’s smallest butterfly – the Small Blue, complete the evocative scene on the bottle and packaging.
THE GLASGOW TOILE
Timorous Beasties has always been enchanted by the story-telling power of the beautiful ‘Toiles de Jouy’. However, in what is now regarded as a Timorous Beasties cult classic, the studio’s own first toile – the infamous Glasgow Toile –caused a sensation when it was printed in 2004. It is a raw, sinister portrayal of Timorous Beasties’ home city, in which the arcadian wonder and scenery of traditional French 18th century toiles are exchanged for Glasgow grit and gutter, and displaced beaux objets for the déplaisant. Following the Glasgow Toile, Timorous Beasties explored how the world around us might be framed in a toile design genre, embracing different cities, wide-ranging occasions and subjects. Now, as the 20th anniversary of the studio’s first toile is being celebrated in 2024, Timorous Beasties’ groundbreaking toile interpretations continue to ignite debate and thrill the senses to a worldwide audience. The studio recently staged a major retrospective exhibition Toile Tales in Paris at the Musée de la Toile de Jouy, and presented a significant new collection of toile designs. Timorous Beasties’ storytelling power across time and place continues to resonate deeply across its legendary toile.
SCOTTISH NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, is one of Edinburgh’s most outstanding buildings. And so, when in 2011 the gallery re-opened following a period of dramatic renovation, Timorous Beasties was commissioned to create a collection of home accessories inspired by some of the gallery’s most iconic portraits. To help mark the union of old and new, Timorous Beasties included Robert Burns, Bonnie Prince Charlie, Queen Anne, Mary Queen of Scots, and James VI across the studio’s striking project.
HARRODS
It was a delicious affair when Timorous Beasties created the illustrations for Harrods’ Chocolate Boxes. Drawing inspiration from the whimsical and surreal worlds of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Rudyard Kipling’s short stories, Timorous Beasties created an ultra-luxe identity for the world-famous department store. Highly detailed drawings of a menagerie of surreal animals such as a Smoking Chameleon, a Party Parrot, and a Flying Monkey were brought to life in rich jewel tones and magnificent gold accents. A mouthwatering collaboration!
NETJETS
Timorous Beasties’ global presence went sky high – literally – when, in 2015, private aviation company, NetJets, commissioned the studio to create a tail-wrap for its signature Challenger 350 jet. Following NetJets’ red, white and blue signature stripe, Timorous Beasties replaced the stripes with a design championing the ‘unsung heroes’ of the insect world: moths. Applied in a striking geometric arrangement on the tail of the jet, a fleet of moths complemented the notion of air travel. The artful collaboration took two months to design, ten hours to apply, and made its debut at Art Basel, Switzerland – the world’s leading art fair - to significant acclaim.
LEGACY CREATION…
And now, as Timorous Beasties launches its magnificent new Edinburgh retail showroom, the legacy building continues. Signalling an exciting new departure of painted scenics, Timorous Beasties is counting down to the reveal of a new Panoramic Mural wallpaper at 35 Northumberland Street; a remarkable design which will scale out across future spaces and places to spectacular effect.
The final touches are being added ahead of the Edinburgh showroom opening to the public on Thursday the 18th of July at 10am.
The showroom experiences’ visitors will enjoy as they journey throughout 35 Northumberland Street include a showcase of Timorous Beasties’ new Stucco collection of elegant wallcoverings and fabrics, and lifestyle vignettes guaranteed to excite and inspire. The Timorous Beasties team will be on hand to offer a Design Consultation service with sample books available to browse, as well as a dedicated meeting space for trade clients.
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