How a yellow runner prompted a successful niche décor business for a former tech sector producer.
Sophie Cooney is one of a new generation of decorators who came to the industry from the tech world.
She was a producer at Google and was prompted to start her business when she couldn’t find what she was looking for.
She was doing up her own home at the time.
“I always loved design and doing up houses,” she explains. “When I started, I couldn’t find anything wow enough.”
The first runner was Rudis Via in yellow, a more traditional aesthetic, with structured side borders framing a calm, open centre.
Her rationale was simple.
“The stairway is the first thing you see. It is the artery of the home, where everything flows from, and yet it is so often the last thing people think of.”
She’s right. Many clients run over budget, and so the stairway often gets neglected. But no longer. She launched the business in 2014.
“It’s definitely becoming a thing,” she says. “People want to make an artistic centrepiece of their stairs.”
She now has an appointment-only shop in the conservation area of Brook Green, between Shepherd’s Bush and Fulham, featuring her Kilim-inspired flatweaves for stairs.
She’s also one of the select partners at Bert & May, the handcrafted tile specialist’s newly opened concept store, The Mix, in a characterful canal-side warehouse on Vyner Street, in London’s Bethnal Green.
Immersive room sets have also been created with Farrow & Ball, Pluck, Curiousa, Kréte, Whitebirk Sink Company, The Water Monopoly, Popham Design, Armac Martin and Thomas Crapper to help showcase inspiring and fully-rounded interiors for both retail customers and design professionals.
Cooney’s collection includes two distinct ranges: The wool collection is handwoven in Turkey.
These are bespoke pieces that create lasting impressions, whilst also being incredibly hard-wearing to endure a lifetime, she explains.
The raw cotton range, from India, offers excellent value with vibrant colours and a more lived-in look due to the fact that it will fade slightly over time, much like a pair of well-worn, well-loved denim jeans.
Many of her projects are high-end residential ones, and her clients don’t want them photographed.
She’s also done a couple of hotels and just completed a chalet in Verbier.
These are statement pieces, she says. Hand-woven in Turkey.
It looks like a kilim rug and will literally last generations. It is a high-quality, interior-designed product.
She’s married a second-generation Irish man who grew up in Yorkshire but whose family hails from Cork and is about to install a new runner in her home.
It’s a new design called Odina. She’s opted for the navy colourway, which features rainbow-coloured chevron trims.
She’s starting to do some projects in the U.S., where the staircases are often wider and grander.
But she really likes typical period homes in the UK and Ireland.
“I love how it transforms it. It’s something bright and cheerful, a safe way to add colour. “
