BEHIND CLOSED DOORS - TIMOROUS BEASTIES

Welcome to a fantastical world of colour, pattern and creepy-crawlies that has spread from Glasgow’s west end across the globe

- Natasha Radmehr

All roads lead to Anniesland. Or at least, they do in the world of Timorous Beasties. The luxurious, fantastical textiles and wallpaper brand does a fine line in what co-founder Paul Simmons terms “savage beauty”, where creatures rarely admired for their looks – eels, lizards, beetles – are upheld as marvels of evolutionary architecture, worthy of slithering and crawling across fringed velvet cushions and damask wallpaper. Where else could these intricate designs germinate but in an old brick building up an alley in an unassuming part of Glasgow?

Though its wings have spread since its inception in 1990, Timorous Beasties has never flown the nest of the city that birthed it. Paul met co-founder Alistair McAuley in the 1980s at the Glasgow School of Art. They specialised in printed textiles and made full use of the facilities, printing on anything they could find: concrete slabs, wood, glass, cork. “It was just about making stuff,” says Alistair. “When we graduated, we wanted a studio so we could keep designing and making. At that age, you’re full of yourself – you think you can take on the world. Or you’re stupid. Same thing, really.”