HAPPY HOUSE

The founders of artisan textile company A Rum Fellow, which has a cult-following thanks to its use of standout pattern, were always going to have a home filled with uplifting designs that make you feel good

- KARA O'REILLY

Ten years ago, Dylan O’Shea and Caroline Lindsell set up their boutique textile brand, A Rum Fellow, specialising in marrying abstract contemporary designs with artisanal production methods. The fabrics, rugs and cushions in their spot-them-a-mile-off graphic patterns, which are handmade in Guatemala, India and Nepal, instantly achieved a cult following. A decade later, they have just opened their first stand-alone shop in London’s Portobello – ‘A kind of long-term pop-up, which allows us to test the water,’ says Dylan. And somewhere in between the blur of founding and making a success of their socially conscious business, they moved into this house and had their two daughters, Coco and Juno.

The house is a classic Victorian terrace – one of the many that pepper the residential streets of London. Unusually, the couple haven’t embarked on a radical rebuild, extending up, side and back, as is often the approach owners take with these types of houses, because the building as it was felt right for their needs. Instead, they have chosen to infuse it with their signature prints – well, it would be rude not to – and punches of bright colour, in the process crafting a well thought-out family space that feels upbeat, happy and welcoming.