A deeply inventive Gloucestershire barn conversion by the founders of Rapture & Wright

The couple behind Rapture & Wright fabrics and wallpapers are used to combining their talents to creative effect – not least in the design of the Gloucestershire barn conversion where they live and work.

By Liz Elliot

1 December 2023

Charred ash cladding on the barn and dark-framed windows from Met Therm are balanced by treated larch on the ‘room of requirement’ (left) and the main bedroom and snug.

Paul Massey

Not many people can say that nearly everything in their house – rugs, wallpaper, lights, furniture, not to mention the building itself – has been made or designed by them. But such is the case for Rebecca Aird and Peter Thwaites, the highly creative pair behind Gloucestershire-based hand- printed wallpaper and fabric company Rapture & Wright.

In the hall, above a painted 19th-century English chair hangs a framed 1960s silk scarf; the colourful runner was picked up at an auction.

Paul Massey

The couple met more than 20 years ago. Rebecca had diversified from designing packaging into making mosaic artworks (for swimming pools, bars, cruise ships etc), while Peter, who had shared a Glasgow studio with fabric company Timorous Beasties, was painting murals and working on stage sets. After they became a couple, they began helping each other out on various projects and eventually decided to combine their talents and set up a business together.

Paul Massey

Various interior designers with whom they had worked told the pair that they wished they could find wallpaper and fabrics representing a more artisanal approach to production. In America, a number of smaller firms had started hand-printing designs to order, but there were no such companies to source from in the UK. Peter had been creating a lot of hand-painted murals that were designed to imitate printed fabric and had hundreds of examples in his portfolio. The couple swiftly realised they could fill a gap in the market for small-batch, responsibly produced, hand printed fabric. In 2004, Rapture & Wright – which is an amalgamation of family names – was born.

In the kitchen, Rapture & Wright’s ‘Albaicin’ wallpaper and ‘Medina’ rug, produced with Amy Kent, set off the dresser in Little Greene’s ‘Baked Cherry’ which, like all the cabinetry, was made to the owners’ design by Steven Booker – and Carl Hansen & Søn chairs. These partner a larch table made by Mornington Day below a 1930s chandelier. Ash units are enlivened by Little Greene’s ‘Olive Colour’, custom shades of peach and yellow, and Farrow & Ball’s ‘Stone Blue’, echoing the Belgian factory lights.

Paul Massey

Getting started was not easy and advice was hard to come by. At that time, no one in the UK was hand-printing to order, and much of the industry was moving to production abroad. Since workspace was so expensive in London, they initially worked on a rented table at Camberwell Art College, which could be used only when it was not needed by the students. Fortunately, Rebecca’s family – who had always farmed in the village where the couple now live - eventually offered them a rundown barn that was, according to Rebecca, ‘freezing in the winter and boiling in summer’.

In the sitting room, a pair of 1930s armchairs reupholstered in Rapture & Wright’s ‘Kuba’ linen in burnt sienna and an ‘Albaicin’ rug, from a collaboration with Amy Kent, are juxtaposed with a trio of lacquered tables from France. Curtains in bronze green ‘Tabriz’ and a sofa in palm ‘Delft’, both from Rapture & Wright, pick up on a hand-painted cabinet beside the chimneypiece. Artwork, including a Fifi Charrington landscape above the mantelpiece, stands out against rough-cut, washed wooden panelling

Paul Massey

And so began a period of the couple having to shuttle between Gloucestershire (where the fabrics were made) and London (where they were being sold), while they were both simultaneously finishing projects from their previous businesses. Life was pretty exhausting and when Rebecca became pregnant with the first of their two daughters, they decided to move, lock, stock and barrel to the country.

In the TV room, walls in layers of blue-grey glaze are the ideal foil for the vibrant suzani wall hanging and a David Seyfried sofa in C&C Milano fabric, with cushions in new bronze green ‘Delft’ by Rapture & Wright. An onyx and red-painted side table found in Pakistan tones with the antique rug bought at auction.

Paul Massey

At first, Peter and Rebecca rented a house some distance from their original barn, which had anyway grown too small for their increasing orders – by now, they were employing three people. Fortuitously, Rebecca’s parents’ farm had a redundant barn too small for modern tractors, with a sheep dip running alongside and a cowshed next door no longer in use. Despite no one believing they could make something of the barn, they were confident that it was an ideal place in which to build a sustainable workshop and home.

In the main bedroom, Rapture & Wright’s pale celadon ‘Iznik’ wallpaper and trompe l’oeil panelling, painted by company co-founder Peter Thwaite, are the backdrop for his charcoal of hydrangeas and an armchair in their cinnamon ‘Moorish Maze’, with a Willy Guhl concrete planter used as a side table.

Paul Massey

The project took seven years to complete, but the barn now has six bedrooms as well as a wonderfully named ‘room of requirement’ that has multiple uses: yoga studio, photographic studio, party room and a place to play ping-pong.

The colour of the Italian bedcover in the spare bedroom, is repeated on the woodwork, which, like the walls, has been glazed to look like linen. The 1970s French lights add colour above a 1930s dressing table with a stool in Rapture & Wright’s rose ‘Hana’.

Paul Massey

The main part of the barn is now a kitchen with a dining area and a sitting room. The kitchen, with cabinet doors in varying coloured blocks, was designed by Peter. To break up the long space, they had the clever idea of using slim, horizontal beams on the ceiling and rough cut, washed boarding on the walls of the sitting room. Throughout, curved walls were introduced to soften sharp edges and add interest, alongside artwork by the couple and many of their family and friends. Distinctive carpets are the result of a collaboration with rug designer Amy Kent, and the wallpaper and curtains are from Rapture & Wright. The whole house reflects the company’s signature style and is completely cohesive. ‘We enjoy the process of designing and making things – whatever the material,’ says Peter.

Paul Massey

The house and the workshop are largely self-sufficient. Neither are connected to mains drainage, so they installed a system of living ponds to treat all the water. This has, at the same time, introduced a growing habitat of water-loving plants to the surrounding gardens, as well as dragonflies and ducks. The house is heated by a ground-source heat pump and an array of 134 solar panels provide power for the print room and house, with excess electricity exported back to the grid. The company’s fabric is all woven in the north of England, printing is still done entirely in-house by hand and each design is printed to order, so the impact of their operation on the world is minimal. The workshop has successfully achieved its intention of being environmentally responsible. A gap in the market well filled.

raptureandwright.co.uk

Paul Massey
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Beside a shelving unit with rattan and etched gesso panels, made by Steven Booker, a leather armchair has been revitalised with a seat in ‘Kuba’ in plum and a cushion in old gold ‘Serendip’ – both fabrics from the owners’ collection. A West African drum serves as a side table.
Paul Massey
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Vanderhurd’s ‘Ponti’ rug extends from the sitting area to the bed. This has a painted plaster headboard made by Peter and cushions in their cinnamon ‘Serendip’.