Truthfully, I hadn’t the faintest idea. I was immersed in culture from a very young age. My mother worked in the Foreign Office and my father was an army officer, though he was also a wonderful painter. He always taught me to look up and absorb the world around me like a sponge. I taught my children, and now my grandchildren, to do the same.

I began my career at Citibank, which proved unexpectedly useful later in life when I found myself managing the financial side of Thorp. But creatively, I was always drawn to beauty, craftsmanship and the way people live.

Not at all. I studied fashion textiles and spent time in finance, but I quickly realised I had little interest in the relentless cycle of trends. Fashion was constantly demanding reinvention for reinvention’s sake, whereas I was far more interested in longevity and timelessness. The turning point came when a dear friend announced she was starting an interior design company and I immediately thought, ‘well, count me in’. That was more than 40 years ago. I sold some jewellery to help fund the business in the early days. It sounds romantic in hindsight but was a big decision at the time.

I knew absolutely nothing about the industry, so there was a great deal of learning extraordinarily quickly and diving in at the deep end. My art degree helped creatively and my finance background gave me commercial confidence, but so much of business is learnt through experience. Shortly after founding the company, I became pregnant with my eldest daughter, followed quickly by two more. I was running a business, raising three girls and financially supporting the family simultaneously. It was a great deal to carry, but when you are pragmatic and driven, you simply get on with it.

No two days are ever quite the same. If I’m in London, I wake early and listen to Times Radio while getting ready. I stride across Kensington Gardens to our offices in Sloane Street and the day begins at full pace. We are unapologetically a work-from-the-office company. Creativity thrives on conversation and energy. You cannot properly bounce ideas around a room through a screen.

The days are generally filled with meetings, site discussions, clients and endless decision-making. My favourite part is drafting floor plans and understanding the flow of a house.

I attempt to clear my inbox in the evenings, usually with sheer determination otherwise I feel frantic the next day. I can have 200 emails in an hour. If I am in London I’ll also try to add something cultural into my week, whether that’s theatre, an exhibition or music. Design cannot exist in isolation from culture.

Thorp is not simply an interiors company. We operate across interiors, architecture, landscaping and art curation, but structurally we function far more like a private family office. We are deeply involved in the lives of our clients and the stewardship of their properties. It should be their house, entirely tailored to the way they wish to live, and my skill is drawing that out and bringing a confidence to our clients they didn’t know they were missing.

For more than four decades the business grew almost entirely through word of mouth. We never particularly felt the need to market ourselves because the work spoke for itself. But, after 40 years, one realises there is a rather beautiful story worth telling.

The best part is undoubtedly the people.The artisans, craftsmen, clients and families we work with all have remarkable stories. Houses become deeply intimate portraits of people’s lives and it is an enormous privilege to be trusted with that.

I adore meeting craftsmen who have spent decades mastering something by hand. Those skills, often passed quietly from generation to generation, possess a kind of magic that cannot be replicated. I can’t stand this ‘cookie cutter’ concept in design today! If it is a honed craft, it will last longer and our whole mantra is to ‘build well, once’.

As for the worst part, it is probably the growing culture of unnecessary bureaucracy and regulation. I grew up in the Rivals era – it was a different time. A lot more fun and a lot less frankly unnecessary compliance. Our word was our bond back then.

There have been so many moments, but I think client trust is key. It leads to repeat work, always. We are currently working on a vast estate in Connecticut for a client we first worked with in London 25 years ago. We are reworking a house in Cap Ferrat for a client who bought it off our previous client whom we designed it for 20 years ago. Clients return to us not simply for design, but because they trust us. We have designed everything from private jets to horseboxes, members’ clubs to family homes. That breadth keeps life endlessly interesting.

About 20 years ago I went through a divorce while simultaneously running the business and raising my three daughters. It was an enormously demanding period. The greatest lesson I’ve learnt is that softness and strength are not opposites. You can remain kind, empathetic and emotionally open while still being resilient.

If you run a company, you never entirely switch off. I’m afraid that is simply the reality of it.
The team has set up a book club in the office and I’m desperately trying to find time to read the latest literary pick. Might have to skip to the next one and get a head start.

Walking. Completely and utterly walking. I love it. My black labrador, Wilbur, sadly died recently and I’ve realised how much those walks gave me mentally. Some of my clearest creative thinking happens while walking. I suspect another dog may be required for both companionship and sanity.

I am fortunate to come from a long line of formidable women. My mother worked in the Foreign Office before giving up her career to raise our family. Looking back now, I realise just how intelligent and capable she truly was and I wish I had the opportunity to tell her and to thank her.

My godmother worked in MI6 and at Bletchley Park during the war. She was engaged to marry a German prince before he was killed at the outbreak of the Second World War. She was one of the most fascinating women I have ever known.

Kindness. Humility. Responsibility. Lead from the front and show by example.

Enormously. Though I’m not entirely convinced if we have solved things. Women now often feel expected to simultaneously build successful careers, raise children, run households and look glorious and glamorous while doing it all. It is an impossibly high bar.

I think the real issue is structural support. The Nordic countries seem to understand this far better than we do. Affordable childcare is not simply a women’s issue, it is an economic one.

Radically. 40 years ago people were grateful for a job and there was often greater loyalty and trust on both sides. I still believe deeply that your word should be your bond. Covid fundamentally altered working culture and, personally, I think creativity and productivity suffer when people become too disconnected from one another.

Motherhood, without question. We should be making it easier for women to return to work if they wish to do so. Affordable childcare should not feel unattainable. There are brilliant examples internationally of how this can work better and I think Britain would do well to pay attention.

Save. Save. Save. Money matters. Every penny counts.

Never stop educating yourself. Read constantly. Visit exhibitions. Attend lectures. Stay curious. A well-developed mind is one of the greatest luxuries a person can possess.
And surround yourself with excellent people. A strong support system is profoundly underrated.

Lastly, develop resilience. Running a company can appear terribly glamorous from the outside, but behind every beautiful thing is an extraordinary amount of hard work.