PEOPLE
Interesting individuals with fascinating stories

Photographs Tom Griffiths
Text Virginia Fraser

Lifestyle :
THOUGHT PATTERNS

Inspired by her nomadic upbringing and love of nature, MIA REAY’s collection of printed wallpapers – born out of a personal project at her Lancashire family home – is now a thriving business, with plans to expand into fabrics. The Lancashire mills have been at the heart of the English spinning and weaving industry for centuries. Companies specialising in printing on cotton and paper sprung up near the mills, and many remain active. In 2022, in Kirkby Lonsdale, near Lancaster, a bold new wallpaper brand was added: Mia Reay Ltd. The company’s headquarters are at Whittington Hall, the home of its founder, which is surrounded by northern Lancashire’s undulating hills and overlooks the Lune Valley. The beauty of the countryside is a source of constant inspiration for Mia, as are fragments of antique textiles, ceramics and old designs that might cross her path.

Born and raised in Finland until the age of eight, Mia then lived with her family in Saudi Arabia and England, as well as spending time at their holiday house in Spain. This melting pot of different cultures has informed her taste and brought a wonderfully fresh approach to her designs, which display a blend of elegance and whimsy.

From an early age, Mia had an interest in painting:  fascinated by people’s faces, she started painting portraits at the age of 12. She considered going to art school, but was then offered a place at Trinity College, Cambridge to study Social and Political Sciences, which her parents insisted she took up. After graduating, she joined Apax Partners, a private equity firm, and she later worked for Hermès. But the landscape of her world changed completely in 2010, when Mia married Aeneas Mackay, who is of Scottish and Dutch descent and is now the 15th Lord Reay and Chief of Clan Mackay. When Aeneas’ father died in 2012, the couple inherited Whittington Estate. Mia was in the throes of building a guest cottage beside her family’s Scandinavian holiday house on the Baltic Sea, which they still have, but this event led them to reassess their plans and they decided to split their time between London and Whittington. A romantic castellated house, with large reception rooms and tall elegant windows, it was designed in the 1830s by locally based architect George Webster. It felt as though there was no better place to bring up a family, as their eldest son Alexander had already arrived by this time. The house had been decorated with great sophistication 25 years earlier by Aeneas’ stepmother Victoria with the interior designer Piers von Westenholz. However, when the couple moved in, asbestos was discovered around the plumbing and a general overhaul was needed. “I didn’t want to change the feel of the house, so I tried to introduce light touches and subtle additions,” says Mia. “I love beautiful hand-painted wallpapers and realised it would be more cost effective to create my own. Friends wanted them, too, so I started producing them and my business was born.”

Seeking help from a friend, the painter and designer Graham Carr, was the crucial first step. “He has a great eye and is one of the best painters of furniture of our time,” Mia says. “He is really knowledgeable about scale, pattern and sizing, and I’ve learnt a huge amount from him.” The designs all start as paintings, with no pattern perfectly matching, which gives them an old-fashioned charm. Mia’s creative team also includes antique dealer Arthur Ratzat, who lives in one of the estate houses at Whittington. “When I have an idea, I’ve usually identified the colours I want – mostly broken ones that add softness and depth – but I look to Graham and Arthur for confirmation,” she says. “Sometimes, we can work for up to 14 hours on one shade.” Mia launched her business with a collection of 33 papers and is gradually releasing a handful of other designs every few months. The colours can be combined easily. ‘Drottningholm Tree’, for instance, featuring a winding tree of leaves and blooms and inspired by a paper from the 1600s found in the King of Sweden’s palace, blends seamlessly with ‘Linen Stamp’. Leaf green ‘Picot Stripe’ has recently been hung in what is now known as the Tent Room at Whittington, since Mia decided a few months ago to use this on the walls and ceiling, creating a tent-like effect. ‘Ainu’, a modern design influenced by the lining of a 17th-century Japanese kimono, was used by Rita Konig in her London home (as seen in the October 2024 issue of House & Garden). It has proved immensely popular.

Surface Print in Accrington, a fourth-generation south Lancashire company known for its detailed craftsmanship, has the precious task of printing the papers – digitally, on ethically sourced, parchment-like, textured paper. “Andrew Lyth, the highly skilled and experienced technician there, is wonderfully patient,” observes Mia. “Sometimes, we print seven or eight times before finding exactly the right shade.”

Thanks to her captivating energy, Mia draws collaborators effortlessly into her orbit. At Whittington, two other vital members of her merry team are Joe Wright-Patterson, who helps with everything, and Jon Cheetham, in charge of marketing and the website. Jon is in constant touch with Simon Playle on Langton Street, SW10, through whom Mia sells her papers. A flurry of orders came last year via some of the eight US distributors that Mia has secured over the past two years. They include the James showroom in New York and Wells Abbott in Chicago and Texas. Family life continues in parallel and revolves around the couple’s three children, Alexander, 15, Iona, 13, and Harry, 10, and Basil the Labrador. There are weekend house parties, often with over 20 people to stay, including a pack of teenagers. The extensive grounds and gardens are in the capable hands of Philip Skipworth, who trims the hedges and prunes the fruit trees. Kirsty Rothwell looks after the organic vegetable garden and cut flowers for the house.

The business is growing at pace. Though all the design and production is done in Lancashire, Mia has expanded her reach recently with a new by-appointment showroom on Pimlico Road, SW1, and has plans for fabrics and tiles: “My team is happy to pitch in with whatever is needed and we have such fun.” And really, that is what it is all about.

Picture credits
Page 1 ~ Mia Reay’s ‘Utopia’ wallpaper in emperor yellow brightens the walls of the designer’s office at Whittington Hall, her family home in Lancashire.
Page 2 ~ Built of sandstone in the Jacobethan style in the 1830s, Whittington Hall was designed by local architect George Webster and has a battlemented tower with a corner turret.
Page 2 ~ Mia in her light-filled dining room, choosing painted colour options for new wallpapers to be launched.
Page 3 ~ In the library, Mia’s ‘Utopia’ wallpaper in underglaze green, inspired by a 17th-century Persian tile, showcases landscape paintings and an antique chimney piece brought over from Ophemert, the family castle in the Netherlands.
Page 3 ~ Dutch family portraits in the green hall hang above wooden panelling carved with Lancastrian roses, in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Pea Green’. Formerly the main entrance area, this is now used as the family sitting room and leads into the dining room.
Page 4 ~ The Scandinavian-style kitchen scheme includes inherited antique Wedgwood creamware platters and Ikea chairs painted an off white.
Page 4 ~ Mia with gardener Kirsty Rothwell. Mia’s ‘Picot Stripe’ in leaf green lines the Tent Room. ‘Pichwai Lotus’ in antique gold picks up on the original antique marble basins in the downstairs loo.
Page 4 ~ The hallway is brightened by the small-scale version of her ‘Bukhara’ design in steppes blue.
Page 5 ~ Mia with Labrador Basil and (standing from left) Philip Skipworth (gardener), Arthur Ratzat (creative and logistics), Katarzyna Fondalinska (housekeeper), Kirsty Rothwell (gardener), Jon Cheetham (marketing and website) and (on bench from left) Beata Setkowicz (head of house-keeping) and Graham Carr (creative).
Page 5 ~ Discussing colours with decorative painter Graham and antique dealer Arthur in the dining room. With Simon Playle, through whom Mia sells her wallpapers, in his Langton Street shop, SW10, with ‘Bukhara’ and ‘Picot Stripe’.
Page 6 ~ ‘Drottningholm Tree’ on the far wall is framed by ‘Linen Stamp’ in underglaze blue, beside ‘Pichwai Lotus’ in parchment in Mia’s showroom at Newson’s Yard on Pimlico Road, SW1.
Page 6 ~ Mia inspects a print-off with Abigail Watson, creative director of family-run Surface Print in Accrington. The designs are printed digitally on ethically sourced, textured paper.
Page 6 ~ With Surface Print technician Andrew Lyth.

House & Garden, June 2025
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