FRIEDA GORMLEY — HOUSE OF HACKNEY

One half of the east London design duo on breaking design rules and giving print and colour a rock ’n’ roll vibe (while loving white bedlinen)

When Frieda Gormley and her husband Javvy M Royle launched House of Hackney in 2011, the brand’s exuberant wallpapers, fabrics, and accessories soon gained a loyal following of designistas enthralled by the couple’s unapologetic maximalist approach. Their instantly recognisable creations, inspired by historical botanical prints but infused with a modern wit and colour palette, are now sold worldwide as well as at House of Hackney’s flagship store in Shoreditch. The fashion crowd loves them, too, snapping up last year’s collaboration with & Other Stories, which used some of the brand’s most iconic prints. Here, Frieda shares her design inspirations…

When did the design bug first bite?

While studying law at Trinity College Dublin, I worked at a vintage clothes shop and loved the buzz of buying and selling. So I applied for a trainee buyer programme at Dunnes Stores. At 24, I went to work as an assistant buyer at Topshop in London.

How did House of Hackney start?

After we met, Javvy and I were living in a minimalist Scandi space but we’d grown bored with all those white walls. We were working in fashion and noticed print, jacquards and wallpapers creeping into fashion shoots and ad campaigns, but when we started to hunt it down, we couldn’t actually buy it anywhere.

What inspired the brand’s distinctive style?

My grandmother Peg has been key. I’ve inherited her magpie eye for textiles and colours. We also visited lots of historic houses – we loved the stories of their past – and antique markets such as Kempton. Hackney, where we live, has always played a big part. But we’ve never wanted to just create a pastiche of the past, we wanted to give the brand a modern, sexy, rock ’n’ roll edge.