The 力／強力にする behind the pillowcases: 排除的 interview with The White Company's Chrissie Rucker

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She turned the simplest of ideas ? white cotton bedlinen ? into a multimillion-続けざまに猛撃する 商売／仕事. Margarette Driscoll 会合，会うs White Company 創立者, mother-of-four and charity 選挙運動者 CHRISSIE RUCKER

'Cosy throws, family photos, a candle 燃やすing… It’s all about a good life and memories,' says Chrissie of her White Company ethos

Chrissie Rucker is the woman whose 注目する，もくろむ for beautiful linens and 慰安ing 着せる／賦与するs has brought a little taste of 高級な into our lives. If it’s Sunday morning, you might be snuggled in one of her soft 式服s or have slept between her crisp, hotel-grade sheets.?

You might be sipping coffee from one of her artisan 襲う，襲って強奪するs. Everyone seems to own something, however small, from The White Company, and that ubiquity has brought Chrissie riches beyond imagination ? even though she’s an ありそうもない entrepreneur w 売春婦 捨てるd a grade C in maths O-level, and is ‘hopeless’ with spreadsheets.

Walk into any of The White Company’s high-street 蓄える／店s and you’re すぐに enveloped in Chrissie’s luxurious ‘cashmere 泡’. Flick through its 目録 and you’ll wonder how you’ve lived without silver-rimmed eggcups or a heart-形態／調整d ramekin.?

Chrissie with her husband Nick

What started out as bedlinen and towels has morphed into a gift-wrapped glimpse of a life most of us can only dream about. A life that looks a lot like Chrissie’s own.

At 47, she looks as fabulous as she did in her 20s, having 精製するd a 署名 平易な-chic style of a floaty white 最高の，を越す and わずかな／ほっそりした ジーンズs, chunky silver jewellery and toenails in the same shade of taupe as her strappy sandals.?

She has four children, three dogs, ‘too many’ horses, a £12.5 million country 広い地所 ? the gardens 工場／植物d only with white flowers ??and a £4 million townhouse 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the corner from the Beckhams in London’s Holland Park. Then there’s an uber-swish ski chalet in Klosters, so gr and it rents at £30,000 a week.

It all 叫び声をあげるs 支配（する）／統制する freak, but Chrissie is surprisingly 負かす／撃墜する to earth: having it all is one thing, running it all, やめる another. ‘I can 保証する you my home does not look like one of our room 始める，決めるs,’ she laughs. ‘There are 着せる／賦与するs everywhere. We live in the country, so we have the mess and 大混乱 that comes with horses and dogs ? and, I’m sorry to say, the dogs are frequently to be 設立する sleeping on my bed.’

In her West London office ? painted a 静めるing white, with a でっちあげる，人を罪に陥れるd 黒人／ボイコット and white photograph of her husband Nick and youngest daughter Bea ? Chrissie is anxiously scanning a computer 審査する.?

Today she is 調印 off the autumn 目録 ? the usual 望ましい mix of linens, homeware and 着せる／賦与するs in 冷静な／正味の, 中立の colours ? while 同時に searching for a dress that her eldest daughter Ella can wear to her 18th birthday party. ‘She has turned 負かす／撃墜する every 選び出す／独身 one,’ Chrissie says, 主要な me through?to a quieter area in her office. ‘I thought I might be able to help…’

Chrissie and Nick’s 高級な ski chalet in Klosters

It’s this mix of 商業の 圧力 and 国内の 演劇 ? ‘a million little things every day’ ? that is intriguing about Chrissie as the 長，率いる of a 商売／仕事 with an 年次の (and 急速な／放蕩な-growing) turnover of more than £180 million. But part of The White Company’s success is that it has 発展させるd と一緒に Chrissie’s home life.?

Dreamed up 21 years ago while she decorated her then boyfriend Nick’s house (in the hope that he might 提案する), the company was 開始する，打ち上げるd すぐに after the birth of their first child Tom, now 19. The company’s 範囲 反映するs ‘my 旅行 from young mum struggling with no sleep to now, when the children are older and I can think about having more dinner parties’.

The company’s unique selling point is the idea of home as a 静める, 平和的な 港／避難所, a 避難 from the frantic world outside. It’s not about perfection but practicality, she says: ‘We try to give lots of quick, 平易な and achievable ideas. I’m a 広大な／多数の／重要な one for having a lovely bowl and putting a quick salad in it. It’s more about having good, 質 time with?family and friends than cooking a 複雑にするd meal ? a lot of cheating goes on in our house.’

Chrissie's ‘brilliant’ team (from left): PA Lizzie, nanny Nicky, 長，指導者 creative officer 示す and 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある officer Will

Chrissie’s shortcuts are ones we could all borrow, whether it’s a quick way to give the kitchen a more upmarket look ? ‘if you want to make a bowl look beautiful put only one type of fruit in it’ ? or organising the daily diary. In hers, the children’s dates are put in first and everything else 作品 一連の会議、交渉／完成する them.?

簡素化するing her life has become something of an obsession since she reached a 危機 point five years ago ? more of which later ? but, she says, you don’t have to be running a multimillion-続けざまに猛撃する 商売／仕事 to reach overload: ‘We all have so much to do, all the time, it can just be 圧倒的な.’

いつかs she must pinch herself to believe her success is real: anyone who knew her as a 十代の少年少女 would probably have 予報するd a 未来 as an 豊富な home 郡s housewife. She is the granddaughter of Sir Harold Pyman, 指揮官?in 長，指導者 of 連合した 軍隊s, Northern Europe during the 1944-45 前進する into Germany, and was brought up by her mother Rosie, who bred horses. Though they seem dissimilar ? Rosie in riding boots, the stables immaculate, the house a tip ? Chrissie says much of her life 知恵 has been 相続するd from her mum.

‘My mother didn’t work but she 棒 competitively so she was always busy,’ she says. ‘Home was pretty relaxed. Mum would rather you sat 負かす／撃墜する with a cup of coffee and had a good 雑談（する） than be slaving over the stove. Supper would be a chicken pie out of the freezer, but occasionally she’d give a dinner party and make the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する look beautiful. There was always a bit of 魔法.’

At 16, Chrissie (指名するd Christian after her 広大な／多数の／重要な-grandmother) left school with six O-levels. She moved to London, where she 熟考する／考慮するd fashion at the Lucie Clayton finishing school, then landed a 職業 as a receptionist at magazine publisher 反対／詐欺d? Nast, which was ‘brilliant, because you got to know everyone’. She was given a 発射 as a fashion assistant on GQ?and worked 簡潔に at Brides and Harper’s Bazaar before moving to?the PR department at Clarins.

She （機の）カム out as a debutante in the 1987 season. ‘I didn’t know anybody when I moved to London and the friends I made then have become some of my closest,’ she says.

She met Old Etonian Nick Wheeler at a cousin’s dinner party. It’s a standing joke that it was a?slow-燃やす romance. It took him six months to kiss her, but perhaps he was preoccupied as he was starting the (also) phenomenally successful Charles Tyrwhitt shirt company?? the couple’s 連合させるd 価値（がある） was 概算の at £400 million last year.

Four years into their 関係, Nick bought a house and Chrissie 申し込む／申し出d to decorate. Her 予算 was 限られた／立憲的な and her instinct to keep things simple ? white linen, towels and crockery ? but turning her 見通し into reality wasn’t 平易な.?

She was made to feel unwelcome in a snooty shop and her only other 選択 seemed to be trashy, Chinese-made linen which invariably （機の）カム in garish colours. There was no middle-market 申し込む／申し出ing good-質, reasonably 定価つきの items in simple white.

A conversation with Nick’s sister about how 広大な／多数の／重要な it would be if there was a shop that sold only white things 始める，決める her thinking. Her lightbulb moment （機の）カム when she 設立する the 製造業者 of a beautiful bedspread sold by a designer label for £250 and realised she could sell the same thing for £85 ? and still make a 利益（をあげる）.?

Starting with mail order, she used a £6,000 遺産／遺物 from her grandmother, printed the first White Company 目録 ? at that time, just a few pages of towels and sheets ? and was up at 5am packing orders and 列ing at the 地位，任命する office.

Chrissie’s recipe for the perfect home 始める，決める the template for the 商売／仕事: ‘層ing cosy throws?over furniture and lots of family photos; a candle 燃やすing. It’s all about a good life and memories.’

The brand now has more than?50 high-street 蓄える／店s and the first in America is 予定 to open next spring (利益（をあげる）s rose by 38 per cent when the US website 開始する，打ち上げるd two years ago). But there have been rocky patches.?

In 2001 Chrissie ran out of money but managed to keep going without outside 財政／金融ing when she won a small 商売／仕事 award of £5,000. It was a ‘godsend’ she says: ‘Today everyone wants to 拡大する quickly with 私的な 公正，普通株主権 but both Nick and I have kept our 商売／仕事s 私的な, which is really special.’

The experience taught her the value of getting a helping 手渡す at the 権利 moment ? the guiding 原則 of her charity The White Heart 創立／基礎, which helps young people get a start in 商売／仕事 through The Prince’s 信用 (The White Company is taking on its first （製品，工事材料の）一回分 of 従業員s trained through a 共同の 計画／陰謀), and supports women and children through 避難, which （選挙などの）運動をするs against 国内の 暴力／激しさ.

The charity also 作品 with Place2Be, which supports children’s emotional and mental health, and has?誘発するd an 年次の ‘brand of the 未来’ 競争 in which a young entrepreneur will be 申し込む／申し出d advice from The White Company.

非，不，無 of her children has shown 利益／興味 in working in the 商売／仕事. After a gap year, Tom, an aspiring film-製造者, has just gone to university, where he is 熟考する／考慮するing film. Ella, who ‘thinks she might like to do event organising’, is also going to uni.?

Having dropped out of school 早期に herself, Chrissie is ambivalent about the 圧力 on young people to go into その上の education. ‘Indie [16] is more creative; she might take a different 大勝する. I’ll be happy as long as they do what’s 権利 for them. Nick went to uni and loved it; I’ve never regretted leaving school at 16. University is not for every child.’

Bea, 12, is still at school and, like all the others, a keen rider. Chrissie believes her childhood on horseback was 重要な to her 商売／仕事 success: ‘You train, train, train, then 落ちる off; train, train, train, then 勝利，勝つ; train, train, train, then 落ちる off ? so when things go wrong, it’s 承認する, you just?try again’ ? but the children riding competitively has meant years of 5am starts and 運動ing all over the country on 最高の，を越す of everything else.

Five years ago, it all became too much. The company was 拡大するing, she was searching for a new CEO, the children had exams, one was changing schools and the house was 十分な of 建設業者s. She was up at the 割れ目 of 夜明け every 週末: ‘Horses are a 抱擁する 量 of work.?I was going through a 段階 where you think you can say yes to everything, but you can’t.’

She 設立する herself unable to sleep and, as a result, became more 強調する／ストレスd ? so much so that she sought help from a psychologist at London’s Mitchell Practice, which specialises in 取引，協定ing with 強調する／ストレス. ‘He said, “I’m not surprised you’re exhausted; nobody can を取り引きする all that.” It was such a 救済,’ she says. ‘I was so busy, I was forgetting to breathe. He gave me simple but transformative 対処するing 機械装置s. He said, “When you are in a taxi, don’t sit there on your phone ? look out of the window. Stay in the moment.”

‘He 強調する／ストレスd how important it?is to 勝利，勝つd 負かす／撃墜する and make time at the end of the day ? unplug, switch off the 動きやすい, have a bath. Now I always have a bath and then climb into bed and read. If I read a magazine or the paper, something that’s 平易な to 下落する in and out of, my mind can switch off.’

These days, she’s strict about her diary. Her PA Lizzie Burdge 取引，協定s with the emails that stream in and sends her a 要約 at the end of the day. ‘I 辞退する to be a slave to emails,’ she says. ‘I prefer talking to people rather than communicating electronically; if I can, I’ll always 雑談（する）.’

Chrissie at a Prince's 信用 event in September

Every so often, if the juggling gets too much, she ruthlessly （疑いを）晴らすs her diary for a few days. ‘One thing I have really worked on is surrounding myself with people who are much better than me in every area, so I can let them get on with it. I’m very lucky now to have a brilliant team.’

The 商売／仕事 team is led by Will Kernan, CEO, and 示す Winstanley, 長，指導者 creative officer. ‘Anything I am worried about I talk through with Will; 示す and I have a わずかに different but complementary taste, which is helpful when choosing new 製品s,’ she says. ‘I’m Mrs White and he’s Mr （土地などの）細長い一片s.’

Lizzie is the 決定的な link between work and home: ‘I couldn’t organise the working week without her. If the children have a problem and I’m in?a 会合, she has often sorted it before I’m out.’

Nicky Henderson has been the children’s nanny for eight years: ‘She’s nanny to all of us. She runs?the house and does everything from?the school run with Bea to looking after a new puppy. She’s always got a smile on her 直面する and a gr eat 見通し, she’s a ray of 日光.’

Chrissie looks after herself by having a facial every six weeks, 補欠／交替の／交替するing Yvonne ツバメ, who specialises in massage, with

Sarah Chapman ‘who does the 科学技術の 茎・取り除く-独房 things’. Working at Clarins left her with a fascination for beauty 製品s ??The White Company is planning a 範囲 next year. 一方／合間, ‘I love Charlotte Tilbury’s 高級な Palette. 色合いd moisturiser is 必須の at my age because you don’t get 創立／基礎 and 砕く stuck in the lines.’

She tries to keep a balance in her life. ‘I drink too much coffee but I try to eat 井戸／弁護士席, いつかs too 井戸／弁護士席,’ she laughs, pinching a (tiny) bit of flesh by her waist. ‘I remember my mum 説 47 was one of the happiest times of her life, and I feel the same now; maybe it’s because the children are growing up and you feel comfortable in yourself.

‘Every so often I think, “You know what? I’m with friends and I’m going to have that glass of ワイン, enjoy myself and not worry about that bit around the middle.”’ In other words, she is finally learning to relax.

■ Chrissie is a patron of The Prince’s 信用, princes-信用.org.uk?

Hair and make-up: Lindsey Poole?

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