Out of the Blue: Fifty Years of Designers Guild

Out of the Blue unravels Tricia Guild's unique and creative approach, focusing in on her inspiration, her intuitive design methodology and the techniques, processes and materials used. Frustrated with the lack of truly contemporary fabrics and wallpapers for interiors, Tricia's vision was to create a lifestyle. Tricia showed people how to put the different elements of a room together; how colour, pattern, texture and form can combine to create a harmonious space.

Juxtapositions are key to Tricia Guild's style. Like an artist employing collage, her judgment of each composition has led to hugely diverse results. However, what has remained consistent is the boldness with which she brings together patterns, colours and materials to striking effect. She has consistently remained true to this vision and her initial philosophy is still paramount to the company's work today.

Readers will be able to see where Tricia's inspiration comes from - her travels to India, Japan and Scandinavia - and how this is translated into collections of fabrics, wallpaper, furniture and accessories. Her inspiration may come from ancient Indian textiles, Renaissance-style velvet or a Swedish Gustavian wall treatment, but the resulting interiors are never drawn solely from one traveller's tale and are never just a reworking of an old document. Instead, each is an eclectic amalgam in which a harmony exists between East and West, present and past.

Designers Guild is perhaps known best for florals and botanicals, but plain fabrics in a multitude of shades and textures, alongside a vast range of geometric and abstract designs, are also vital to the mix. Tricia is renowned for her confident and vivid use of colour, but the natural and neutral palette enjoys equal prominence in the company's collections. Founded by Tricia Guild OBE, Designers Guild started life in 1970 as a small section of a single shop in Chelsea's King's Road. The brand has since evolved and grown into a global enterprise, whose products have changed the way we view colour, pattern and texture in our homes.