If you haven’t heard of Celia Birtwell, you will almost certainly have admired, worn or sat on one of her designs, because since the sixties they have been in such high demand that even gardening tools, cushions and tents bare her signature patterns.

For me they conjure a delicious mixture of English quintessence - tea on the lawn, tennis, cupcakes, wild woodland animals, oak trees, gooseberry bushes, green gages, barn owls, croquet, hedgehogs, grandfather clocks, Pimms…you get the picture.

If you are unaware of the greatness of Celia, you are about to be educated. She was - and still is - the leader in textile design; with her classical style adorning everything from couture dresses to gardening aprons, she is highly sought-after. Her collaboration with Topshop delivered them their greatest success to date, with girls pouncing on her retro tea dresses like a kittens on a moth.

Even if tea dresses don’t quite float your boat, you can’t help but be enchanted by Birtwell’s style, which seems to ooze nostalgia like a sepia toned photograph of your infant-self at the seaside. The fun and imaginative world consists of paisley bracken, polka dot rabbits, chequered reindeer, and swallows, swooping from the sky like falling sycamore keys. These designs have been transferred onto silk cushions, upholstered onto antique chairs; printed onto books, stationary sets, wall paper, and even a complete camping kit for Millets.

Nowadays, floral tents and address books may instantly call to mind the name Cath Kidson, but Celia Birtwell is the originator of floral kitsch. She is constantly drawing inspiration from her eclectic surroundings from the V&A museum, to Kew Gardens, the Ballet Russes, to her life in Notting Hill, with her more recent work influenced heavily by grandparenthood.

Celia Birtwell has lived a life of bohemian, swinging sixties, and of catwalks and international heraldry, dressing everyone from the Beatles and Hendrix to Twiggy and Patti Boyd. Her fabrics deck the hallways of Claridges, and Lanesborough; adorn homes around the world; grace the catwalk and leave ladies fighting over the last dress in the shop, like hens pecking at the same worm. On top of that, she worked with some of the greatest artists of her generation, and became the muse of David Hockney.

Born in 1941 in Manchester, Celia studied textile design at Salford School of Art in 1956, where she met fresh-faced fashion design student, Ossie Clark. This was to be the beginning of a great partnership that would rocket them both into the realm of international notoriety.

Celia was greatly influenced by the fluid, colourful and bold art of Picasso and Matisse, creating a style that engenders notes of classicism and romanticism. In 1965, Ossie transferred her designs onto silks and a plethora of other fabrics, and gave them a home on the catwalk, where the unstoppable creations walked into the limelight. Between 1967 and 1973 the pair were in such high demand that they dressed everyone from the likes of The Rolling Stones, to Marianne Faithfull, and along the way they robed Talitha Getty, Eric Clapton, Britt Ekland, Kari-Ann Jagger, Amanda Lear, and scores more. The pair became the muse for David Hockney’s painting “Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy,” which is today one of the Tate Britain’s most viewed pieces, shortlisted for the BBC’s ‘Greatest British Painting Award’.

Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy - By David Hockney

After the fall of her marriage, Celia turned her hand from fashion to teaching for a few years, before deciding to open her own shop in Notting Hill, transferring her talents to the world of interiors. Her shop on Westbourne Park road is a showroom for the little world she has built over the years, creating the recognisable style that is so coveted today.

Celia’s recent collaborations, with names including Topshop, Millets, Express and John Lewis, are introducing new generations to her designs, winning her the 2007 Elle Decoration Style Award for ‘Fashion Contribution to Interiors’.

In recognition of the inspiration she has given to generations of design novices, the V&A Museum – an institution that inspired Celia herself - has collated and exhibited choice Birtwell pieces, making her a figure of cultural and historical importance. Celia’s original style is fresh, witty, and is constantly raising the bar for designers in all fields of the present and the future. And she seems to achieve it with the grace and effortlessness of the English rose.