Corinne Caddy-Townshend is the founder and award-winning Creative Director of Bear & Beau, a company that specialises in luxury home decor for kids by creating hand-inked prints for wallpaper, cushions, and prints drawn with bespoke bamboo pens in her studio in South London. Art and design have been influential throughout her life – even from a young age, Corinne’s entrepreneurial spirit was evident when sold watercolour artwork to school friends as a hobby and won an art competition at aged 10 at Tate Britain, which was an exercise run in conjunction with an exhibition of the works of Beatrix Potter. Corinne spent hours locked away painting and drawing animals and plant life in her German Grandmother’s art studio during the summer holidays. Here we talk with Corinne about how she got into the business of wallpaper design…
NS: “Corinne, how did you find yourself in this particular industry? Was it simply a case of pulling all your talents together and marketing them to the right audience?”
CCT: “I always knew I wanted a creative career and feel blessed that I had that as a direction; I specialised in graphic design at university, subsequently gained prominent jobs in the design and advertising industry… during my career, I was fortunate to work with high-profile luxury brands across multiple markets – from fashion, retail, beauty to fragrance.”
The Sunday Telegraph featured us in Stella Magazine to coincide with the royal birth of baby Archie which was exciting…”
Corinne Caddy-Townshend
“After entering motherhood in 2012 my life changed forever and my perspective on life changed too. My twin girls were born very prematurely and sadly one of them, Betsy, died after five weeks; it was a difficult time that shaped who I am today. Once out of hospital my daughter Grace thrived and eventually I returned to work at the creative agency where I had been for many years only to discover my job had been ‘restructured’. A new job at a well-known online marketplace led to award-winning work but after nearly four years the business radically changed, my time there came to a crossroads, and I decided to look for a new challenge. Being suddenly free, I felt apprehensive about the future, and I remember I began drawing and sketching animals again to help lift my spirits just as I had done as a child. I knew that I had to take this opportunity to return to my creative origins and create a life where I could be there for my daughter more. I decided to create a brand using my illustrations inspired by our mutual love for the natural world, whether it is bunnies at the petting farm or being a little explorer and tracking down insects in the garden or foraging on woodland walks. I have always had a passion for interiors and enjoyed creating room sets for children in my previous role…”
Our ‘Bear & Beau’ products have been seen in The Sunday Times, Country & Townhouse, Country Living, Enki, The Sunday Telegraph – Stella, The English Home, Baby, Junior, Sheer Luxe, Real Homes, Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms, Homes & Interiors Scotland, Milk Magazine…“
Corinne Caddy-Townshend
NS: “Who or what provides the main inspiration for ‘Bear & Beau?’“
CCT: “All the collections I create for ‘Bear & Beau’ are inspired by the magic of the natural world originating from my own connections and experiences. For example, our Woodland Creatures collection which launched in 2021 was inspired by my family’s woodland walks during lockdown with our spaniel ‘Bailey’; I’m forever falling behind on these walks, taking pictures for inspiration at a later date!”
NS: “We love products on a natural or eco theme ie the Graphenstone paints collection that we often feature here in the online magazine; do you also follow through with the eco theme in your wallpaper collection?”
CCT: “At Bear & Beau we are very environmentally conscious; the wallpapers and cushions are all made by respected UK production houses and printed with water-based and non-toxic inks. The wallpaper used is biodegradable, recyclable and FSC and CE certified. The cushions are filled with eco fibre pads made from recycled bottles. After having premature babies, I was particularly aware of the impact of high contrast designs on the development of babies and small children, so I decided to incorporate this into my design style for the brand – hand-inked line work teamed with calming colour palettes. It’s a joy to watch children on our shoots explore and study the designs without being prompted…”
NS: “Who makes up your main client base – interior designers?”
CCT: “We have lovely clients all over the world, however we’ve decided to focus on the UK market for now and hopefully expand to the US and European territories in the future. Our current client base is a mixture of private customers and interior design professionals buying on behalf of their clients; we’re still small enough that customers are at the heart of the brand and get a personal service and customer support…”
NS: “Where can the ‘Bear & Beau’ products be viewed?“
CCT: “Bear & Beau’ is primarily an online business working with a selection of premium online marketplaces and online wallpaper stores; we’ve dipped our toe into wholesale with a few smaller boutiques and are still looking for the right partners for the brand. Most recently, we’ve collaborated with the fantastic interior designer Leoma Harper from ‘Style The Clutter’ on her own nursery project which looks stunning! She chose our very versatile monochrome ‘Rainbow Love‘ collection for a clean Scandi feel, which is fast becoming a designer favourite, and she has recommended our prints to her clients. The very talented Claire Totman is also a supporter of ‘Bear & Beau’ and is a fan of our ‘Little Bunny‘ collection! A selection of our products can also be seen at The Country House Group which is a network of plant centres, estate farm shops, restaurants and children’s play areas at some of the finest historic country house estates…”
We’ve been fortunate to win at the Junior Design Awards three years in a row, winning Gold for ‘Best Interior Design (Decoration)’ and ‘Best Children’s Interiors Brand’, both Silver and Bronze…”
Corinne Caddy-Townshend
NS: “What would be your dream project for ‘Bear & Beau?’”
CCT: “A dream project would be an immersive yet elegant, luxe woodland themed nursery /child’s room with a carved wooden swing, a bespoke cabin or treehouse bed surrounded by clusters of real birch tree trunks; I once used Birch tree trunks for a press day event in my former career and it looked amazing! Or, possibly a gender-neutral monochrome playroom using our ‘Mini Beasts‘ wallpaper with lots of interactive elements perfect for little explorers. I’d also love to have a royal commission, I guess that would be the pinnacle!”
WEBSITE: http://www.bearandbeau.com
