Hannah Cecil Gurney was just two years old when her father, Claud Cecil Gurney, founded de Gournay wallpaper company in 1986 in the basement of their home in Kensington, London. Today, it is world-famous for its hand-painted Chinoiserie, paradise gardens and panoramas. “Nothing from de Gournay ever comes close to a machine,” says Gurney, now 33, who, after working as a trainee in the world of finance, now works with global marketing and development in the family business.
Gurney lives in a two-bedroom flat by Kensington Gardens, making it easy to walk her two dogs. She also has a husband, Eddie Harden, who does not oppose living in a “colour shock”. “Eddie’s conception of good decoration is limited to a big flatscreen television set, so I had to decorate. I…
