Our Approach

 

– Our history –

Penny Morrison is a British design house creating textiles, wallcoverings and lighting for interior designers, shaped by over forty years of interior design practice. The business has grown directly out of real projects, and everything it produces is informed by how rooms are built and how they are lived in.

It began with a simple frustration. Much of what was available felt lacking in colour — palettes were flat, prints overly controlled, and it was difficult to find fabrics with the depth and subtlety needed to create rooms that felt comfortable, layered and alive. Rather than compromise, Penny Morrison began designing her own.

– A Fabric-Led Approach to Design –

Penny's interior design style was very much focused on scheming a room from a fabric-first approach - Fabrics represented the starting point as opposed to the finishing item. Colour, pattern and handle established the atmosphere, and everything else followed. The process was instinctive rather than formulaic — a balance of high and low, of boldness and restraint — where contrast is not avoided, but carefully held. The result was a more relaxed way of building a room: layered rather than assembled, considered without feeling contrived.

What emerged was a collection of fabrics with a fresh ground and a soft, loose, handle — deliberately imperfect in their handwriting. Often described as “floppy linens”, the designs epitomise the unexpected combinations that can be found in pattern and colour,  creating a sense of creative tension that feels resolved rather than forced.

There is a natural balance between stronger and quieter elements, allowing designs to layer in ways that feel intuitive rather than prescribed. Individually, they can carry a room; together, they create something more cohesive, more interesting, and ultimately more enduring.

– Style & Provenance – 

We continue to draw on the tradition of the British country house — comfortable, characterful and built over time — but is reinterpreted with a lighter hand. Colour is fresher, often gently distressed. Pattern is softened and fluid with a natural playfulness - an embodiment of Penny's character. Historical references remain present, but are reworked so that everything feels entirely at ease in the way people live today.

Over decades, Penny built an extensive archive (which we continue to add to today) of antique textiles, documents and objects, gathered through travel and a long-standing interest in decorative arts. These references, alongside a growing body of collected works, are studied and reimagined — refined in colour, adjusted in scale and simplified in composition — so that they retain their character while feeling relevant in a contemporary setting. The influences are wide-ranging, but the outcome remains distinctly British: relaxed, layered and quietly assured.

– Considered Collections– 

There is a strong sense of conviction behind what is produced. The collections are tightly edited — nothing is released unless it feels entirely right. This balance of judgement and playfulness runs throughout the work, giving it both clarity and personality.

What defines Penny Morrison is not a pursuit of perfection, but a particular sensibility — one that embraces contrast, unexpected combinations and a confident use of colour and pattern, balancing playfulness with control and instinct with experience.

The result is rooms that feel warm, layered and full of life — where fabrics and wallcoverings lead, where everything sits comfortably together, and where a sense of ease and personality comes naturally. Considered, but never overworked. Rooted in tradition, yet entirely at ease in the present.