Timorous Beasties was established in Glasgow in 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, who met studying textile design at Glasgow school of art. The pair founded Timorous Beasties, named after a line in the Robert Burns poem To a Mouse, straight out of finishing textile design degrees at The Glasgow School of Art in 1990. Timorous Beasties then later opened their first retail shop in 2004 on the Great Western Road in Glasgow. Their central London showroom opened in 2007 and their Berlin showroom in 2019.
Timorous Beasties has defined an iconoclastic style of design once described as 'William Morris on acid'. Their work is as graphic and modern as it is varied, with designs ranging from target and arrow motifs to large three-dimensional damasks. Their most notable designs feature swirling interpretations of naturalistic images of insects, plants and fish to searing commentaries on social and political issues manifested through a subtly subversive take on traditional graphic styles.
Their heavily illustrated designs often depict provocative and, in some cases, unsettling imagery inspired by urban landscapes and botanical gardens alike. Glasgow’s sights, sounds, energy and humour are woven into the very fabric of the company, in the form of their Glasgow Toile, one of Timorous Beasties most celebrated and controversial designs. Launched in 1994 in both fabric and wallpaper, at first sight appears to be the sort of twee decoration you’d find in country living interiors spread. Look more closely and the details emerge. With a backdrop of a gloomy cityscape you can see a young man urinating, homelessness, drug use, federal men and children and women pushes prams.
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