Growing up as the great-grandchildren of Winston Churchill, surrounded by antique heirlooms and vintage pieces in a home that was a stone’s throw from London’s Pimlico Road Design District, it was only natural that sisters Flora and Gemma Soames would gravitate toward style and interiors. Flora had a background in the art and furniture worlds before launching her eponymous design firm in 2009, and subsequent fabric line in 2019. Meanwhile, Gemma’s career has included marketing for jewelry designer and Artemest founder Ippolita Rostagno, plus a stint as a style and fashion editor at The Telegraph, before moving to Hong Kong.
In a bittersweet twist, their journeys brought them back together in the U.K. due to loss and illness (the sudden death of Flora’s partner and Gemma’s battle with breast cancer), and an opportunity to collaborate unexpectedly arose when Flora, who was writing a book for Rizzoli, asked her sister for help. “From the beginning, it was very evident that this book was going to slightly become a beast of its own, and certainly a sort of more personal story than I’d anticipated, and calling on Gemma and her extraordinary skill set and ability to write was a very natural coming together,” the designer tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “It was an unspoken dialogue, as only siblings can have. But over that period of nine months, it evolved and became very apparent that there was the demand and place for a much more formal role for Gemma to step into, should she wish to do so.” In 2023, Gemma officially joined the business and has been running the day-to-day of the fabric brand ever since.
Whether through the projects in Flora’s book, The One Day Box, or the fabric lines inspired by the antique prints and textiles the siblings were immersed in during childhood, the duo embrace the comfort and storytelling approach of English design. “I think that speaks to how I strive to decorate, which is about the way that a house makes you feel when you cross the threshold—the result of someone who, in a very uncontrived way, has created a house that tells the story of everyone who lives under that roof, as well as the people who have gone before,” says Flora. “Gemma and I refer to a dresser that has moved with our family, which says everything about what our mother celebrates: It’s [covered with] the wallpaper of our lives—photographs, letters, birds, eggs, feathers, you name it. And I think that’s a way of decorating. It’s celebrating the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.”
Crucial insight: As Flora Soames Fabrics is expanding into the U.S. market (first with representation in Texas, now in Los Angeles and New York, and soon Atlanta), the sisters are making sure to stay out in front of the customer to share their story and help these new markets understand the brand. “We are very focused on our direct sales in America,” says Gemma. “Getting out and meeting people and having that conversation has been vital to the growth of the business. … There are now so many different touchpoints that you can have with your clients, whether that’s via our website, on social media—but also in terms of initiatives other people are running. We’ve done the Design Days talks, and events in Palm Beach and Newport, which have been incredibly valuable. We’ve been to the Design Social Pop-Up. We also had a fabulous pop-up in Paris at Déco Off, during which we met so many American designers who hadn’t come across our line before, and went home and started spreading the word. Getting in front of people and meeting our customers directly alongside [interactions at] our showrooms is really important.”
Key quote: “I think we want our homes to say something about us,” says Flora. “Whether it’s the picture that’s hanging on a wall, the photograph that’s leaning up on a mantelpiece, the books I can see sitting behind you. Now that’s really what a home is there to do—it’s there to uphold the lives we’re living and promote who we are and what we love and the people we want to take along with us. I think the more that you’re willing for your interior to speak to that, the more interesting a time I hope you will have when you cross my threshold. That and promptly being offered a drink, and feeling like there’s no right or wrong as to where you sit, how you sit, what you say.”
This episode is sponsored by Loloi and Hector Finch. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
The Thursday Show
Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world, including the tariffs targeting the home industry, MillerKnoll’s latest earnings report, and what’s behind the enduring popularity of millennial gray. Later, designer Alexa Hampton joins the show to talk about the Kips Bay Decorator Show House—including her family history with the event, how it benefits the local community and what it can mean for a designer’s career.
This episode is sponsored by Chelsea House and Newport Brass. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
