‘I 100% always knew that I was going to do something creative’: Petra Palumbo on her design house, love of Scotland and consuming passions

Petra Palumbo reminds me of the cool blonde girl in the year above at school, who you were desperate to be friends with, but who was always socially out of your reach. Effortlessly stylish and unbelievably nice, the homeware designer’s sense of fun is infectious: her Delft tiles come decorated with everything from six-packs of beers and Henry hoovers to naked torsos complete with bad tan lines. Basically, she’s up for a laugh.

She’s also doing a terribly good job of being a shy aristocrat. Her father is Baron Peter Palumbo, the property magnate, art collector and former confidante of Princess Diana and her mother is Lady Hayat Palumbo, the creative mind behind South Kensington’s Tapisserie. Her half brother, James Palumbo, founded the Ministry of Sound and made headlines in the tabloids centering around various familial ‘feuds’. Her husband is Simon Fraser, the 16th Lord Lovat, a grandson of war hero Lord ‘Shimi’ Lovat, and descended from the Scottish clan that inspired the series Outlander. She never mentions any of this when I ask about her family.

‘I'm a cocktail of Lebanese, Italian and English,’ says Petra, who currently lives between Scotland, where she has a flagship store in Beauly, and London with her husband, an old family friend with whom she shares two daughters and two pugs — Watson and Raisin. One’s name is a homage to the famous detective’s stalwart companion. The other is the celebration of a grape in its most shrivelled and pathetic iteration.

Her Italian-English father was the last chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain, before it was divided into separate councils in 1994 and went on to become the chairman of the Pritzker Prize for architecture. He also sat as a Conservative Life Peer in the House of Lords from 1991 to 2019. His surname, which Petra shares, means ‘ring dove’ in the dialects of southern Italy. Over time, the translation has come to embody ‘the dove of peace’, which Petra has adopted as her brand’s logo. Her upbringing in west London was ‘very much inspired by my mum and her Lebanese culture,’ Petra says, recalling many family holidays to Beirut, where her mother is from. ‘She has an amazing needlepoint store called Tapisserie, which has been going for 40 years. So creativity has always been the sort of thread running through my life, and I think it was through her that colour and pattern became my language.’

‘I 100% always knew that I was going to do something creative. There was no question about it,’ she says of her school days. Her first gig fresh out of school was a boon: a job at Dior, working in jewellery. ‘I was supposed to be put in textiles, but they didn't have any space,’ she says. She worked under her now good friend, Camille Miceli, who is the creative director of the Italian fashion house Pucci. ‘That was a life lesson in detail, and in professionalism, and in the original and in je ne sais quoi.’

After two years at Dior, Petra returned to her roots, working for her mother in her needlepoint shop and moonlighting as a fashion model, socialite and all-round ‘It Girl’, after which she went to study printed textiles at Chelsea College of Arts. ‘That's where I really experimented and garnered my passion for screen printing,’ Petra says. She refers to it as ‘some of the best years of my life’.

In 2018 she left, setting up her namesake brand, ‘with the aim of bringing beauty and function together whilst treading as lightly as possible on the planet’, the designer says. That last part has perhaps been inspired by her Scottish husband, who traded a job in finance for one in renewables. I imagine he may also have been the inspiration for her brand’s tartan wallpaper and floor tiles.

Your aesthetic hero

Vera Neumann is someone that comes to mind. She was an American artist and designer who was celebrated for her joyful, optimistic textiles. I love the way that she had an extraordinary gift for turning hand painted drawings into everyday objects, like scarves, linens, tableware — she was making art both democratic, but also deeply personal. I would say that her aesthetic was defined by bold colour, playful motifs and painted brush strokes inspired mostly by nature, travel and modern art.

I'm always so uplifted when I see her work, and what I most admire is the way that she balances sophistication with accessibility. Her pieces are full of personality, but they never feel very out of reach, and her ethos is very much in line with mine: that good design should bring joy to daily life.

A book you’ve found inspiring

There's a coffee table book that feels quite personal, because the photographer is a dear friend and a collaborator, his name is Alex Baxter. It’s called A Place in Scotland, and it captures a sort of new confidence in Scottish style, with spaces and homes that feel both rooted in tradition and but equally forward looking. It's inspiring to see Scotland's story told in such a considered way, especially as it's a place I call home.

An exhibition that has really impressed you

The last time I was in London, I saw a major show of Emily Kame Kngwarreye at the Tate Modern. She is an Aboriginal Australian and I found her work completely overwhelming, but in the best possible way, I was sort of in tears the entire time. It was vast, powerful and deeply rooted in her connection to her country. There was such energy and colour and spirit in every piece, it felt less like looking at her paintings and more like being immersed in her world.

The best present you’ve ever received

This Christmas, I received a gift that moved me more than I can put into words. It was a really large donation to Save the Children Lebanon made in my name and in the wake of the most recent war, and that gesture went far beyond any material and speaks directly to compassion, empathy and a hope for a brighter future. So I was really moved by that. It was from my husband.

Your favourite painting

It's really difficult for me to pinpoint a single painting, but there's always one artist that I go back to time and time again, because his use of colour is just so dynamic and vibrant and full of life, and it's David Hockney. I've always loved watching the evolution of his paintings from the 1950s right up until the modern day. But there's one in particular, which is called Red Pots in a Garden, which was painted in 2000, which I just can't get enough of. I actually get a genuine dopamine hit every time I see his work. It just never fails to lift my spirit.

The music you work to

If I'm creating and drawing then I tend to drift between Afro jazz from the 1960s and 70s, for instance, the rhythms of Letta Mbulu and her contemporaries, because they bring such a warmth and energy that feels sort of grounding, but also uplifting. Then I'll lean into more of the moodiness of post punk and new wave music, like Joy Division, Talking Heads, Secure, that sort of thing. I just find that mix of introspection and edge always seems to spark new ideas that keep me in the flow.

A possession you’d never sell

I would never sell my mother's needlepoint archive. She has over 5,000 original designs — the work of her lifetime, basically. It's priceless to me, not only because of what it represents when it comes to her career and creativity, but also because I can't wait to keep breathing life into those patterns and turning them into wallpapers and tiles and fabrics, which is what I've been doing, and what I hope to continue to do.

What you’d take with you to a desert island

I would take with me a photo album filled with pictures of my family and friends. I've always been deeply nostalgic and very visual, so having those faces and memories with me would be an anchor, I think.

A hotel you could go back and back to

The Albergo hotel in Beirut, which is designed by my amazingly talented friend, Maria Ousseimi. Everyone just needs to go there. It's a place where east meets west in the most seamless and evocative way. Every corner tells a story — you have Ottoman arches paired with European elegance and rich textiles set against antique furniture, and walls with artworks that speak about Lebanon's layered history. It's a sort of act of resistance, the hotel. It's always been standing and no matter what happens around you, it's there, and it's just iconic. It feels opulent, but intimate and transporting, yet deeply rooted in its setting.

The last podcast you listened to

I really enjoyed listening to The Diary of a CEO. There was one episode that he did with Jefferson Fisher, and it really made me think about how I communicate day to day. He talks about dropping weak words and fillers that chip away at credibility and instead paying attention to presence, through posture, tone, eye contact — they often say more than words themselves. I loved his point about the power of a pause too: that silence can just be just as commanding as speech, and what to do in moments of conflict. His advice is basically to stay calm, set boundaries and ask clarifying questions, rather than letting insecurity and verbal incontinence take over, and that really resonated with me.

The last thing of note you bought yourself

I bought a pair of Belle Reve bedside tables by Rita Konig for The Lacquer Company in blood red, and they're my favourite piece ever. I look at them and I'm just completely obsessed. They're chic, practical, full of character, and they feel like the perfect blend of elegance and everyday use.

The person that would play you in a film of your life

Charlize Theron.

The thing that gets you up in the morning

Our kids, they're just our human alarm clocks.

The items you collect

I collect vintage embroidered samplers from the USA. So from the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and they're stitched with witty and heartfelt sayings, like, ‘No matter where I serve my guests, it seems they like my kitchen best’. I love them because they capture a timeless blend of humour, sentiment and domestic poetry, and they've got a naivety to the cross stitching. They’re such fun.

The most memorable meal you’ve ever eaten

At the Hotel Palmyra in Baalbek, Lebanon, which is a place as atmospheric as it is historic, with sweeping views of Roman ruins — and the hotel itself is utterly legendary. Lawrence of Arabia, Jean Cocteau and countless other artists, writers and travellers have passed through its doors. So dining there feels like you're stepping back in time, and with everything in the region and in Lebanon changing so quickly through violence and through wars, it feels so nice to be going back to a place that has stood the test of time. I had an incredible meal there. I'll never forget it.

Visit Petra Palumbo's website for more information on her homeware design brand.