Absolutely catches up with label designer and founder Hannah Weiland ahead of the new Shrimps Habitat collection
By Pendle Harte
Pendle Harte: How would you describe Shrimps signature style?
Hannah Weiland: Shrimps is feminine, colourful, playful and fashion forward.
PH: Had you thought of transferring Shrimps’s style to interiors before?
HW: It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and always thought my prints and illustrations could look amazing on rugs and bed sheets. I always have so many ideas and I’m so happy that I’ve had this opportunity with Habitat, whose homeware I’ve always loved!
PH: Where did you begin with the collection for Habitat?
HW: I went into the Shrimps archive and picked out my favourite doodles and prints that I’d always thought could work perfectly for homeware. The colour combination of red and pink is one that I keep returning to, and is very present in this collaboration for Habitat – it is quintessentially Shrimps!
PH: What is your own home like? And your dream home?
HW: My home has lots of colour and pattern, however I would say that it is not over the top, there is still a feeling of simplicity which I think is important for creating a sense of calm. I love particular colour combinations in both fashion and homeware, red and pink is one that I’ve definitely used a lot in my house and my collections, including our Habitat collection. My dream home would be a bigger version of my current home, with more tiles and more outdoor space, I love the feeling of greenery coming into a house, tiled indoor courtyards are my favourite thing, I would love one of those – very Italian!
PH: Your background is in textiles. How are fashion textiles different from interiors ones?
HW: To me they aren’t that different, interior textiles always inspire my fashion collections, and vice versa.
PH: What are your favourite pieces from the collection?HW: I love the Doodle rug, it is one of my favourite Shrimps prints and just looks so beautiful as a rug.
PH: Tell us about the creatures and characters.
HW: The characters are all from my imagination and I have been making them up and drawing them for as long as I can remember. The Doodle print was literally created from my drawings on a piece of paper that I had been doodling on over a few weeks, I often doodle in important meetings. At the time I was researching nursery rhymes and the work of the artist Paula Rego, these doodles were definitely, subconsciously inspired by that.
