Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Fanny Shorter grew up in a house festooned in frothy florals by the likes of Laura Ashley and Sanderson. “We had proper 1980s-style wallpaper and textiles absolutely everywhere,” says the Wiltshire-based surface pattern designer. “My mum was into embroidery and made our clothes. A love of textiles was always in the background.” Fittingly, her childhood home in Winchester was briefly lived in by Jane Austen, also an avid seamstress.Today, Shorter has developed a range of fabric and wallpaper that flirts with old-school florals, yet is not overly flouncy. Patterns based around lily pads, oak leaves and fig trees lean towards cottagecore yet, in their graphic finish and bold colours, still feel contemporary. “They’re not run-away-from-it twee,” she says of the designs that have been chosen by interior designers such as US-based David Netto (for a project in the Bahamas) and Firmdale Hotels founder Kit Kemp (at the Covent Garden Hotel). Shorter trained in illustration. “I wanted to be a children’s book illustrator,” she says. Instead, “I started doing surface design for various companies — wrapping paper, greeting cards, something for Twinings . . . ” Her first attempts at textiles were cushions that she screen-printed by hand. But “it was such a slow burn”, she admits of the process. It wasn’t until three years later that she launched her first by-the-metre design: Calathea, based on the tropical Calathea Corona plant, in a choice of vibrant cobalt blue or chartreuse green. “And it has grown gradually from there.” At the heart of the burgeoning brand is a focus on British craftsmanship and traditional printing methods. Most of the fabrics are screen-printed at Ivo Textiles in Southall, west London. Her wallpaper, launched last year, is produced by Anstey in Loughborough, an operation owned by the Sanderson Design Group that includes Morris & Co, founded by Arts and Crafts designer William Morris in 1861. “It’s in the old Ladybird Books printing factory and they have a beautiful archive that includes all the old William Morris printing blocks,” says Shorter. She is currently working on prints inspired by the gardens at Mount Stewart, a 19th-century house in County Down, Northern Ireland, and Powis Castle, near Welshpool in Wales. “They’re places I’ve been to a couple of times and absolutely loved,” she says. Often, books provide a starting point; both Margo and Fig, for example, were inspired by Gerald Durrell’s autobiographical My Family and Other Animals, and a trip to the writer’s home on the Greek island of Corfu. In the hands of interior designer Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay, the vivacious pink Margo floral was used to surround a four-poster bed with extravagant swags and tassels. For a Dorset country house, designer Sarah Vanrenen chose the lemon yellow version of the print for curtains. “The attic room felt like something out of an Enid Blyton book so we wanted to embrace that whimsical feel,” says her partner, Laura Hanbury. “Fanny Shorter’s fabrics are full of fun and magic.” In his Herefordshire home, Edward Bulmer, the interior designer and the co-founder of a plant-based paint company, put Shorter’s Mill Pond pattern on bedroom curtains and a headboard. “It has this big presence,” he says of the print of deep-green lily pads, interlaced with pond life, including newts, dragonflies, water boatmen and frogspawn. “Her designs are captivating and original.” Shorter’s home, meanwhile, is far from a showcase for her fanciful aesthetic. “There’s a real element of disappointment when people come into my house,” she laughs. “We’re currently living in a massive beige barn conversion with hideous curtains. But one day . . . ” Fabrics from £135 per metre; wallpaper £159 per 10 metre roll; cushions from £75; fannyshorter.comFind out about our latest stories first — follow @ft_houseandhome on Instagram
