Capturing the coast

CULT British homeware designers Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire don’t go in for cute and twee seaside prints, featuring colourful beach huts and bunting.

It was their childhood holidays and day trips to Whitby that inspired one of their latest, and best-selling, prints, of sturdy fishing boats in turbulent waters. Bold and vibrant, it is attracting buyers from all over the world.

Part of the charm of this pattern, used on everything from wallpapers to fabric, cushions and mugs, is that, like all their designs, it tells a story and it comes from the heart: “We don’t go in for the pretty, chocolate box type images. We have always loved Whitby because it is a proper working port, and such a big part of our childhood, it wasn’t just chosen off the map, there is a bit of us in it” says Keith.

They set out to create a nautical print that felt ‘real’: “We wanted to capture the rugged nature of the North-East coast, the drama of it, where the sea can turn from calm and sunny to extreme,” says Keith, who grew up in Guisborough.

The linoprint style repeating pattern, which grew from pictures of boats the pair photographed during a weekend break in North Yorkshire, was deceptively difficult to produce: “I think it has got some of the atmosphere sewn into it.

“It sells to people in Sweden, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and the US. People say they have been there, or if not, they know of Whitby and what an extraordinary place it is, so full of history and mystery, with the Abbey and dramatic cliffs, the whalebones and the Dracula and James Cook story threaded through it.”

While Mark, who was raised in Leeds, grew up enjoying holidays in guest houses on this part of the North Yorkshire coast, Keith’s parents, Hilda and Steve, took him on day trips: “Whitby was like a prize at the end of the journey across purple covered Moors. We are so lucky to have grown up with it on our doorsteps.”

Their contemporary design company, Mini Moderns, produces a whole range of other quirky and colourful, print driven collections, with a retro, vintage twist.

Inspired by everything from childhood TV programmes and toys, day trips and old textiles, every pattern tells a personal story: “We don’t do checks or dots, and create pattern for pattern’s sake. We draw on our experiences. It’s not about being on trend, we think ‘What does this mean to us?’ We care about what we do.’

Their Buddha of Suburbia collection, inspired by the Hanif Kureishi book, explores Seventies popular culture, from Bowie to the Buzzcocks: “We wanted to capture the Seventies vibe of the wallpaper we’d see in our friends’ houses, growing up.”

Another popular seller, C60, features tape cassettes. And a stamp collection print is called ‘Stevie’, in honour of Keith’s dad. Other patterns are named after ‘Nana’ and one of Keith’s mum’s friends, ‘Ruby’.

The wallpaper ‘Do You Live in a Town?, with high rise flats and Victorian terraces, echoes the opening line of the 1960s animation Mary, Mungo and Midge, which reflected the urban environment of the time: “We can still be found watching back-to-back episodes on DVD.”

They both grew up, says Keith, now 47, watching lots of TV: ““We have a real passion for social history and popular culture, TV had a massive influence. I would love to say I spent my days roaming the Cleveland Hills, but I was actually just absorbing everything on TV, like a sponge.”

The son of a jobbing builder and housewife, there didn’t appear to be a great deal of interest in art in Keith’s family. But, inspired by two successful and well-known cartoonists in Guisborough – Trevor Metcalfe and Robert Nixon, who both worked for Dandy, Beano and Krazy – Keith decided that he, too, wanted to be a cartoonist and his parents always supported him.

“I knew Trevor’s daughter and he took a real interest and encouraged me. He was a big influence.”

Keith, who has two sisters and a brother, went on to do a foundation course at Cleveland College of Art and Design, then a degree at Newcastle Polytechnic.

“I thought I might want to design record sleeves but, by luck, Newcastle was one of the best colleges for fashion and this broadened my horizons.”

He went on to work as a graphic and print designer in fashion, initially employed by Pepe Jeans in London, where he quickly rose to head a department of 15 people. Then he joined the Red or Dead fashion label: “Everyone did everything there . It exposed me to all sorts, from finding out about production to how to run a business and produce a brand on a shoestring.”

His designs were appearing in Vogue and Elle, glossy style magazines which reflected a world far removed from the environment he grew up in: “We were working class and lived in a council house.

“We weren’t spoilt at all and were always really encouraged. But my parents were quite progressive. We didn’t have to be in at night by a certain time, they were quite relaxed like that, we were left to our own devices. But none of us were tearaways,” says Keith.

He almost gave up his design course at one point: “My parents never told me what to do. They just said ‘If you want to give up, give up’ and, of course, that worked beautifully, I went straight back.”

He met Mark when they worked together at a branding agency and decided to set up their own company: “We worked well together and had a similar sense of humour. We had grown up exposed to the same culture, watching the same TV shows.

“If one of us says ‘I want this wallpaper to have the feel of the opening titles of Robin’s Nest’ we both know what we’re talking about.”

The first wallpaper they designed for a London boutique was shortlisted for a prestigious Elle design award in 2004 and their initial collection was snapped up by Heal’s: “It all took off from there,” says Keith.

The pair felt that much of the family-orientated homeware of the time was too staid so they set about injecting some fun: “We wanted to make something cross-generational, for use in children’s rooms, but also in grown-up parts of their home.”

They describe themselves as ‘soft modernists’: “We would love to live in a clean, white space but we’d get bored too quickly. We just can’t let go of the patterns,” laughs Keith.

Now their prints are used everywhere from sophisticated restaurants and bars to stately homes, nurseries and teenage bedrooms: “People of all ages come to us. We are constantly surprised by how different people relate to our stories,” says Keith, who was delighted when Kirstie Allsopp featured some of their products in her Channel 4 Vintage Home series.

Mini Moderns has a growing and loyal following, partly due to the integrity of their designs but also down to the integrity of the business itself, which is run on ‘eco-sensitive’ lines.

Using only environmentally responsible recycled paints and materials, they produce everything they can in the UK: ““At our first trade show, people came up and said we should produce in China and we suddenly realised manufacturing in the UK really means something to us.”

“Now our products carry the tag ‘Made in the UK by Nice People’ which is true. We’ve developed long-standing relationships with some great independent manufacturers,” says Keith.

The wallpaper factory they use is one of the last flexo printers in the UK, with designs engraved on rollers, and fabrics are hand-screen printed, requiring a highly skilled, artisan approach to production: “We don’t produce things digitally, so there is a warmth and depth to our designs.”

Based in London, the pair also own a stunning beach house, decorated with all their own wallpaper and prints in Kent: “We have always said, if we don’t love living with our products, why should anyone else?”

Since their beloved North-East coast is too far away for regular day trips and weekend breaks, they were drawn to Dungeness, with its large, expansive skies and unusual beaches: “And there are no donkeys,” laughs Keith.

They have created a bright and open, contemporary looking beach house out of a former Victorian railway carriage, left on the shingle after the line ceased to run in the early 1920s. It sits between two lighthouses, with uninterrupted views of the English Channel and recently featured in Channel 4’s Homes by the Sea

The kitchen is a customised Ikea model with stainless steel surfaces, reminiscent of a fishmonger’s preparation area, says Keith. Mid-century teak furniture, including a Guy Rogers sofa and chairs in the living room and a G-Plan headboard and side tables in the bedroom, set off the quirky Mini Modern prints perfectly.

They have even created their own Dungeness print, capturing this peculiarly desolate yet stunningly attractive landscape on fabric and wallpaper.

They still return to Whitby and the North-East when they can: “But not as often as we’d like,” says Keith.

“When do go back, what is lovely is it feels like it hasn’t changed. And there’s nothing like a bit of North Sea air to blow all your cares away.”

*Mini Moderns W: www.minimoderns.com