They have had commissions from some of the world's biggest brands including Nike, Fortnum and Mason and Famous Grouse. Their distinctive but diverse patterns have adorned book covers, grave stones, biscuit tins, chocolate boxes and gin bottles and buildings including London's V&A and the UK Supreme Court . However, there is one job that even now has the college friends behind long-established Glasgow brand Timorous Beasties laughing in disbelief.
(Image: Timorous Beasties) Just over 10 years ago they were asked to design artwork for Kate Bush's 2014 residency at London's Hammersmith Apollo. She had found out about us through looking at a friend's wallpaper," says Paul Simmons, who launched the firm in 1990 with Alistair McAuley when both were in their final year of a textile design degree at Glasgow School of Art. Alistair McAuley and Paul Simmons in their Glasgow showroom (Image: Colin Mearns/Newsquest) "Then had asked her manager to ring up the Glasgow shop and she rang up and she kind of wanted something but didn't really know what.
"In the end it was shoehorned into her residency at Shepherd's Bush. "The Hounds of Love album was constantly played when we were at art school in the studio - obviously you don't want to tell her that," he added. More than 30 years on, the multi-award winning and internationally acclaimed duo are still based in Glasgow at a large Victorian warehouse, where their designs are often handpainted.
Timorous Beasties was launched in Glasgow in 1990 (.