My life, my style

Romantic details and playful accents abound in the elegant Edinburgh home of the cult accessories designer Leeanne Hundleby.

- CLARA STRUNKK

“We live in the centre of edinburgh, but our home is an oasis—you wouldn’t know it was here,” says

Leeanne Hundleby, one half of the husband-and-wife team behind the luxury Scottish accessories brand Strathberry. It’s true: one could easily walk straight past their Palestine, 19th-century house, hidden behind wooden gates that lead to an expansive garden, which is currently coated in midwinter frost.

Two stone labradors stand sentinel either side of the front door, both wearing tartan Strathberry collars. “They’re a bit faded now,” says Hundleby of their finery, “but I don’t want to take them off—they’re one of the first products we ever made.” Hundleby and her husband Guy have just celebrated a decade since the brand’s launch. In that time, its expertly crafted leather hand-bags and cashmere knits have garnered legions of fans, from members of the Royal Family to Hollywood stars including Margot Robbie and Katie Holmes.

When the couple, both 51, met at the wedding of mutual friends in 1998, they were working in different industries—she for Scottish Power and he running an ethical-production giftware company. But as their family grew to include four children (two boys and two girls), they began to seek more flexibility in their working lives. “When I was pregnant with our youngest, we went to Xàbia in Spain for three months during my maternity leave,” Hundleby recalls. “On Saturday nights, we would visit the market stalls, which sold the most incredible wallets, purses and bags.” Three months turned into almost two years while the pair explored the region’s leather workshops.