Patricia Denise Guild OBE (born 1946[2][3]) is a British designer and the founder and Creative Director of Designers Guild an international home and lifestyle company. She is known for her fabric and wallpaper collections and her work as a designer and manufacturer on a range of home interior products. She was awarded an OBE for services to interior design in 2008.[3]
Tricia Guild | |
|---|---|
| Born | Patricia Denise Jeffreys June 1946 Marylebone, London, England |
| Education | |
| Children | 1[1] |
Background
editBorn Patricia Denise Jeffreys (later Kaye) in Marylebone, Guild married her first husband Robin Guild (1939-2006) in 1969.[3] Some of her earliest memories are of gardening with her grandfather and these images inspire her floral works and design, reminding her of that early sense of wonder. She has degrees from the Royal College of Art, Winchester School of Art and Loughborough University.[4]
With Robin, Tricia Guild established Designers Guild, in 1970. The couple split in 1973, and she continued to run the company.[3][5] By re-colouring a collection of Indian hand-block printed textiles, the first collection was established. She opened her store on the Kings Road, at the age of 22, with her first collection of fabrics, also selling ceramics and furniture.[6] In 1974 she started working with artists such as Kaffe Fassett and Lillian Delevoryas among others. Since 1986, her brother Simon Jeffreys has been a business partner in the company and Chief Executive.[4]
Throughout the 1990s Guild expanded her range as Designers Guild grew in the UK and overseas. The flagship store and showroom are on the Kings Road, London. In 1985 the company's turnover was £3.0m and in 2010 it had grown to over £50m[6] with over 250 staff and offices and showrooms in London, Paris, Munich, Milan and New York.[7] The company operates in over 80 countries.[8]
Guild received an honorary degree from the Royal College of Art in 1993. She was given an OBE for services to interior design in 2008.[9][3] Various of Designers' Guild textiles are held by the V&A.[10]
Guild's second husband, the international restaurateur Richard Polo, died in 2019.[11] They lived together in Notting Hill and also owned Le Contesse, a home near Cetona in the Chianti region of Tuscany from 1988. The property, set on four acres of their land, was featured in several of her books. Polo is survived by Polo and Guild's daughter and their grand-daughter.[12][13]
Honours and awards
edit- 1989 Textile Institute Gold Medal for her outstanding contribution to International Textiles, UK.
- 1991 Queen's Award for Export Achievement [14]
- 1992 The Export Award for Smaller Businesses.
- 1993 Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Art, London, UK.[3]
- 1993 Honorary Master of Arts Degree from Winchester School of Art, UK.
- 1994 A winner of the European Community Design Prize.
- 1995 'Excellence de la Maison' for Bedlinen, by Marie Claire Maison Magazine, France.
- 1996 Queens Award for Export Achievement (Second time to be awarded) [14]
- 1999 Honorary Degree of Doctor of Technology, Loughborough University.
- 2007 The Homes & Gardens Classic Design Award – Lifetime achievement.[15] [4]
- 2008 Tricia Guild appointed an OBE for services to interior design.[3]
Books
edit- 1982 Soft Furnishings
- 1986 Designing with Flowers
- 1988 Design and Detail
- 1989 Design and Garden
- 1990 Tricia Guild New Soft Furnishing
- 1992 Tricia Guild on Colour
- 1994 Tricia Guild’s Painted Country
- 1996 Tricia Guild in Town
- 1998 Cut Flowers
- 1999 White Hot
- 2002 Think Pink
- 2004 Private View
- 2006 Pattern
- 2008 Flower Sense
- 2010 A Certain Style
- 2013 Colour Deconstructed
Further reading
edit- Design Journal, June 1974 Issue Number 306, pp37-43, "Guild family fortunes", by Hilary Gelaon
References
edit- ^ Blackburn, Janice (19 February 2020). "The Mistress of Modern Colour". The Eye Doesn't Life. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
- ^ "Tricia Guild". Nationalencyklopedin (in Swedish).
- ^ a b c d e f g 1500 Designs from All Ages and Cultures (2018) Running Press, Elizabeth Wilhide p159
- ^ a b c "Designer Profile: Tricia Guild" Homes & Gardens 17 December 2021
- ^ Celebrity Gardeners: Tricia Guild's garden – Telegraph
- ^ a b Tricia Guild's top tips for inside your home – Telegraph
- ^ "Designers Guild Opens New Showroom, Tabs Newman to Head Sales | Home Furnishings News".
- ^ City Am 21 February 2020 "Designers Guild at 50"
- ^ Colour crusader: How Tricia Guild become an interiors icon – Interiors – Property – The Independent
- ^ "Tracer (Design Code F294/02)" Furnishing Fabric 1992 (made), V&A
- ^ "Richard Polo obituary", The Times, 8 May 2019
- ^ "Living", The Guardian, June 25 2006
- ^ "Tuscany With a Designer’s Touch", New York Times. 30 January 2014
- ^ a b The Bruno Effect Magazine. "The legendary Tricia Guild reveals the secret to creating designs that thrill". 26 May 2022
- ^ Homes and Gardens magazine, interior design ideas