From rose-print oven gloves to strawberry-covered ironing boards, her hugely successful designs evoke a bygone age of traditional domesticity.
But it seems that is not a time Cath Kidston herself is keen to return to.
The businesswoman says she has never wanted to be “that housewife” who gets “supper ready in the evening”.
Despite making millions from products associated with old-fashioned homemaking, the designer insists she does not “aspire to that existence” and believes “it’s nice to have one’s own life and support oneself”.
Many of Miss Kidston’s highly popular products evoke a 1950s idyll of domestic life, when a woman stayed at home to cook, clean and care for her husband. So sought-after are her colourful sewing-kits, watering cans, tea cosies, baking trays and tablecloths that the business is now worth £89million (Dh496 million).
Yet the 54-year-old, who married long-term partner Hugh Padgham last year and has one step-daughter, says she has no desire to be a woman who is financially supported by her husband and left free to spend her time baking.
She said: “My mother didn’t work. My father even paid the housekeeping bills, so she was entirely dependent. Then she was widowed when she was quite young, and I think it was seeing her so vulnerable that gave me the motivation to do this.”
And while plenty of shoppers have Kidston’s products in pride of place in their homes, she is not keen to do the same herself — because she “doesn't like fussy things”.
She said her taste is “all quite clean”, adding: “People come to my house in Chiswick and say, ‘Oh, you haven’t got much Cath Kidston!’” She said she did keep her own range of mugs and tablecloths at home, but that they were stored in cupboards and not on display in her white Skandium kitchen.
When asked what decorative item she would not tolerate in her house, she said: “I would never have pebbles in a bowl. I just don't see the point of that.”
Miss Kidston is understood to be worth £25 million after selling most of her stake in her home furnishing company in 2010.
The designer, who suffered from breast cancer in her thirties, was inspired by her aunt, Belinda Bellville, a founder of the fashion house Bellville Sassoon, who suggested she go into interiors.
She moved to London from Hampshire aged 18, initially working as a shop assistant before landing a job with designer Nicky Haslam and then setting up an interiors business with a friend.
In 1993, she invested £15,000 in savings to open her first store in Holland Park, West London, following a “career crisis”. The shop sold hand-embroidered tea towels and brightly renovated furniture.
But Kidston, a cousin of property programme presenter Kirstie Allsopp, initially struggled in business.
“The whole vintage thing didn’t kick off until the late 1990s,” she recalled in 2008. “I remember feeling quite broke and making cushions myself to sell in the shop, and the embarrassment of a woman coming up to the counter and saying, ‘Excuse me, but this is really badly made — could I get a discount?’”
Her company has since grown to 113 stores across the world, including three in Japan which have proved extremely popular. The chain sells everything from scarves to iPad cases.
In 2010 she sold a majority share to private equity company TA Associates. She retained a minority stake and is still creative director.
Daily Mail
