The brand idea, Gyri Design, was born in the Norwegian mountains, where the designer and founder, Gyri S. Susrud, grew up spending holidays with her family in their ancestral home in Telemark. It is traditional in this region for ceilings, furniture, and decorative objects to be painted using 'Rosemaling', a decorative art form originating from the Rococo period. The cabin’s walls were also decorated with beautiful wall-hanging textiles that had been hand-woven by the Gyri’s great-grand mother and grandmother. The designs take inspiration from Scandinavian rural areas and also from patterns found in Norwegian historical city houses dating back to the 18th-19th century. 

Gyri has always been fascinated by design, colour, form, architecture, art and history. But she took this extraordinary cultural heritage for granted until she returned to the cabin as an adult, having lived abroad for many years. Having completed her MA in Fine and Decorative Arts at the Sotheby’s Institute, and working in art galleries in London, she now saw these objects and techniques with a new eye for appreciating cultural history, tradition, and craftsmanship, and determined to revive these traditions in a way that would harmonise with modern living.