Bloomsbury legacy lives on in Cressida Bell’s colourful London home

Born into a family at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group, talented textiles artist Cressida Bell is a non-stop dynamo of creativity.

Cressida in her living room: with hand-painted furniture and lamp shade. Photographs: Charles Hosea

Philippa Stockley17 February 2016

Having Bloomsbury Group painter Vanessa Bell as your grandmother could be daunting. But for textile and pattern designer Cressida Bell, her link to the heroine of Life in Squares — BBC2’s new drama about the bohemian elite who triggered a cultural revolution — is a spur.

Cressida thinks in patterns and designs - and lives among them too (left); Bell's Mexican Tulips silk design (right) will be made into a dress for the next series of ITV drama Mr Selfridge (dress and styling by Philippa Stockley)

Turquoise walls: inspired by Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar

Echoes of Charleston: three plates (right) by Quentin Bell, Cressida’s potter father

Cressida in her kitchen: where she likes to entertain

Bold: Cressida's home is full of colour and pattern

The bathroom: with tiled mermaid and merman mural by her father

What it cost