Timorous Beasties

The name Timorous Beasties comes from Robert Burns’ poem ‘To A Mouse’. Founded in 1990 by Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons, both former textile design students at Glasgow School of Art, Timorous Beasties is noted for its surreal and provocative textiles and wallpapers. By depicting uncompromisingly contemporary images on traditional textiles and wallpapers, 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. They have designed for Boussac, Warner Fabrics, Liberty’s, and Sacho Hesslien. In 2005, Timorous Beasties were nominated for Designer of the Year by the London Design Museum, and their work has been profiled in numerous international media including The New York Times, Time Magazine, Vogue (UK, France, Italy and US editions), Abitare, Elle Decoration, The Sunday Times, The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and The Financial Times.

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InSite Arts projects

Cabot Circus, Bristol

Artists: Neville Gabie, Nayan Kulkarni, Susanna Heron, Timorous Beasties, Vong Phaophanit & Claire Oboussier, Esther Rolinson, Ralph Hoyte, Claire Morgan, Blackout Arts

At the heart of Cabot Circus is an ambitious and innovative series of site-specific public art works, the result of one of the largest and most diverse public art programmes of its kind in Europe.

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Cabot Circus permanent works

Artists: Nayan Kulkarni, Susanna Heron, Timorous Beasties, Vong Phoaphanit & Claire Oboussier, Esther Rolinson

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