50 years of Vanderhurd design: from bohemia to Baudelaire

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Christine Van Der Hurd is a grande dame in the world of carpets. For more than half a century, she has been designing flatweaves, rugs, dhurries, kantha-stitched bedspreads, textiles and cushions. Biba, Liberty, Louis Vuitton and many others have called on her designs.

The Portobello Road studio of her eponymous company, Vanderhurd, is a bright but orderly bazaar of wares, and open by appointment. Set in a 19th-century stable block and former garage, the space was once her family home, which her parents converted in the late 1960s when Portobello was at its bohemian peak. Hung with her own textiles and sketches, as well as her photography collection, the pale walls are punctuated by blasts of aubergine and orange paint, created with interior designer Rachel Chudley. 

Starting with a rug is really important

Today’s showroom lies in the former living room. In place of her parents’ Bargello tapestries and 18th-century European furniture, the interior is lined with shelves stacked with thousands of her colourful carpet and fabric samples. Her creations span psychedelic florals to graphic zig-zags and clean-lined chequerboard styles (from £140 for fabrics, from £388 per sq m for carpets). Designs often start with a pencil sketch before being depicted in gouache on paper, and then translated onto the computer by one of her small, six-strong team. 

Clients, including interior designers Rita Konig and Adam Bray, come to Van Der Hurd for her peerless understanding of textiles, and the sheer scope of the studio’s customisation capabilities – every piece is created to order. In collaboration with embroiderers and weavers in India, the carpets are handknotted and handwoven according to a client’s needs, and Van Der Hurd can design any item – whether curtains, cushions or an upholstered headboard – involving fabric on request. There is also a small collection of wallpapers available (from £420 for 10m) alongside off-the-shelf embroidered cushions in everything from geometric, stylised florals to restrained constructivist designs (from £200).

“I grew up surrounded by Persian carpets, textiles and tapestries,” says Van Der Hurd, whose father, an antiques dealer and decorative art specialist, ran two nearby galleries frequented by Margot Fonteyn and Princess Margaret. She began her own collection of fabrics, from Burmese silks to Rajasthan valkyrie embroideries, as a child. “Textiles lend so much warmth and colour to a room,” she says. “But more than that they have the power to bring memories and comfort.” Once immersed in her tactile, textural world, it’s difficult to leave. Clients come for a cushion and stay the whole afternoon.

This month, Van Der Hurd has joined with London designer Jermaine Gallacher to create Torch, a collection of seven handknotted rugs (from £4,130) and three runners, as well as stools (from £950) and cushions (from £360). It draws on her 1991 Elements and Beyond collection, which was inspired by 16th-century astrological engravings and wove in inscriptions of symbolist poetry by Baudelaire. The new handwoven collaboration dials down the original palette but dials up the patterns.

What advice does she offer for someone beginning with a blank canvas? “Starting with a rug is really important,” says Van Der Hurd, pulling out an eye-catching array of hemp flat weaves and silk moire. “More than a picture on the floor, it’s an heirloom that can inspire a whole room.” 

Vanderhurd, 17 Portobello Road, London W11; vanderhurd.com

Christine Van Der Hurd and Jermaine Gallacher’s Torch collection is available from 4 November