Decorating & Design
August 27, 2020
Shops We Love: Poodle & Blonde Satisfies The Dog-Obsessed Design Lover
Whinnie Williams’ love for pets is no secret. The British pop singer (left) has an impressive 18 animals (poodles, guinea pigs, rabbits and chickens… oh my) in her whimsical home in Margate, England, just 90 minutes east of London. Fittingly, she has decorated her house in a retro animal theme, and it’s attracted the attention of photographers and filmmakers who frequently use it as a set. “It’s my creative madhouse,” says Whinnie.
As her passion for interiors and design grew, Whinnie was eager to start her own homeware brand, so she partnered with the London-based interior consultant Kierra Campbell to start Poodle & Blonde — an online store that ships to Canada and beyond. “We both have quite different styles,” explains Whinnie. “I am a lot more feminine and Kierra’s style is bolder and sexier, so we complement each other well. We also get on like a house on fire which makes working so much fun.”
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Seen on this lampshade, The Money Tree was Poodle & Blonde’s first print and serves as an ode to Whinnie’s grandfather. “He used to throw money in the tree for me to find,” she says. “He was a great entrepreneur and businessman and inspired me to hustle.”
Poodle & Blonde’s pillows are sustainably made with recycled plastic bottle filling. They work with UK-based, family-run businesses in small-production runs. Sustainability and a cruelty-free approach have been pillars of the brand’s business since the beginning.
“We always create both a fabric and wallpaper in each print to give options for how you will use it,” says Whinnie. She’s always been a fan of combining mediums and multiple prints in the same room, proving that sometimes, more is more.
All of their wallpaper has seams built into the design. “We wanted our wallpaper to create the illusion of a bygone age when textiles were used on walls,” explains Whinnie. “Keeping the seams in creates this look.”
Whinnie’s miniature poodle, Brian, was painted by her friend’s mother, artist Keren Luchtenstein. The Poodle Parlour collection features images of two of Whinnie’s poodles: Brian and Peachy.
For this print, Whinnie and Kierra wanted to modernize the classic Dalmatian pattern to make it fun and funky. It’s named Tottenham, after the area in London that Kierra comes from.
The Tea Room print is part of Poodle & Blonde’s Pavilion collection. “It takes its inspiration from bamboo furnishings and the Chinese art of The Royal Pavilion in Brighton,” says Whinnie. “The Pavilion remains true to our love of the mid-century, this time with an extra serving of luxury and detail.”
It took Whinnie three weeks to hand-embroider the chinoiserie design for their Food Babies print. The design’s name is a fun twist on the classic tale of storks dropping off newborns. “I changed it to storks dropping off takeaway food, and so we have Food Babies,” she says.
This whimsical shoot features Whinnie’s own poodles and the Poodle Print wallpaper in the background. “I was driving past a trophy shop the night before this shoot and had a eureka moment,” says Whinnie. “The owner let me borrow the trophies and the rest is history.”
Courtesy of Poodle & Blonde