It’s a mist-wreathed December morning and Hannah Weiland is in her element. “I love winter because it gives me the chance to wear a coat or jacket all the time,” says the fashion designer whose label, Shrimps, is best known for its painterly, faux-fur outerwear. “Even at sweltering parties I’ll be the one in a coat,” she laughs as she greets me at her front door cocooned in one of her latest, guilt-free designs. It’s a glossy black jacket adorned with a jacquard-woven daffodil motif which, she tells me, was inspired by springtime in her parents’ garden.
Nature is a constant source of ideas for Weiland, 28, whose childhood was split between houses in London and the country. One of four children, she recalls a “fondly indulged” upbringing of “flowers, guinea pigs, ducklings and dogs. I love animals which is why I could never wear real fur.” There is a rural feel to the west London home she shares with her husband, Arthur Guinness (a descendant of the brewing dynasty) and Lionel McGruff, the miniature poodle. It is a mews house – the ground floor used to be a stable. Apart from taking down a wall, Weiland has kept the decoration simple. Tongue-and-groove panelling, a butler’s sink and a log-burning stove add to the rus in urbe atmosphere.
She has made it a highly personal home, filled with heirlooms and design by contemporaries who share her colourful aesthetic. Vintage lamps have scalloped shades by Matilda Goad; red mirrors by Balineum chorus from pink walls. “Pink and red is my favourite combination,” she says. It all has a resonance: a Luke Edward Hall portrait of her husband or the illustration by Fee Greening, who designed the menus for Weiland’s wedding, hang above a print of Dennis the Menace: “He reminds me of Arthur.”
