Our Founders

Fermoie was founded in 2010 and launched in 2012 by Tom Helme and Martin Ephson, bringing together a shared approach to colour, design and making developed over decades of work in interiors.

In the 1980s, Tom worked as a Decorations Advisor to the National Trust, recreating historic colours for restoration projects across Britain. It was here that a central idea took shape: that great colours are timeless, and that their value lies in how they are used within an interior.

This thinking has continued through Tom and Martin’s long collaboration. In 1992, they acquired F&B (Southern) Ltd, renaming it Farrow & Ball, where they established a more considered approach to decorative colour and helped define what became the designer paint category.

From the outset, their work has combined design with manufacture, with a consistent emphasis on in-house production in England.

Fermoie builds on this foundation, extending the same thinking into fabric and beyond. From the outset, the studio has approached design through the relationship between colour, pattern and material, creating collections intended to work together rather than in isolation.

Colour remains central to the way Fermoie works. Designs are developed within structured colour families: red, yellow, green, blue and neutrals, allowing for cohesion across collections and flexibility within interiors. Over time, this has resulted in a library of thousands of colours, refined through use, material and light.

Alongside this, Fermoie has maintained a commitment to making. All products are designed, printed and produced in-house in Marlborough, England, allowing close control over colour, quality and consistency.

Today, Fermoie spans fabrics, wallpaper, lampshades and accessories, each part of a broader language of colour and pattern. The same principles that informed its beginnings continue to guide its development, an understanding that colour, used well, shapes how a space feels.