A few months after Emily opened Couverture, Deirdre became a partner in a custom-design carpet company further down the King's Road, and recently took over the whole business. "Just as my friends' parents are starting to slow down, my parents seem to be doing the opposite ­ they are busier than ever," says Emily.

Youngest son Sam is the only one who hasn't gone into a related field, choosing instead to pursue a career in the music industry, and also working under a different surname.

"For us, work has always been about passion and enthusiasm and that is something that the children have inherited," says James. "It's not about being reckless, but it is about facing your fears. I almost enjoy failure; 90 per cent of what I do fails, but you learn from it."

Nina Campbell, son Max, and daughter Rita

Nina Campbell is not just an interior designer with an enviable client list, her name is a growing brand which covers wallpaper, fabrics, furniture, gift wrap and candles. She is also a prolific author and TV style guide. Of her three children, two have worked with her. The youngest, Alice Deen, chose a career in fashion PR.

Max Konig, 30, Nina's son, joined the family business in September 1999. "I fought against it all my life," he says. But, after ten years working in property development and for a furniture designer, he found himself at the Nina Campbell headquarters. "I loved my work, but realised that there was an opportunity within the firm. I said, ŒNina, you have a great brand and you need to exploit it,' and she replied, 'You exploit it'. So I did."

Since then, the business has grown "by osmosis", but Max was aware that he had to tread carefully. "It wasn't easy; the company had been established for 30 years with a solid client base. I couldn't walk in and do something radical. Nina was very supportive; when I came up with new ideas she'd always say, 'Go ahead, sod them'."

Nina had no problem when Max joined. "He made his own niche, it wasn't as though he ousted anyone or prevented a promotion. Having Max around makes things simpler for me, we can discuss something and then he'll just take the ball and run with it."

At the time Max joined, his sister Rita Konig, 33, was already working at the firm. Nina says, "When she was younger during school holidays Rita helped at the shop and eventually took over running it, so it was a natural progression for her to join the business."

Through the shop and her own design projects Rita gained a reputation for having a fun but practical approach to interiors, and was signed up to write a column on domestic life for Vogue. But Rita felt, "I had served my apprenticeship. I asked myself, do I have any credibility on my own? I had to find out." So in 2004 she moved to New York to develop her writing career. "

The dilemma was who to tell first ­ my mother or the boss." Rita now has her own interiors business there, and is a contributing editor to Domino magazine. Max is also comfortably established but says, "To some people there is the perception that the job was handed to me on a plate; it wasn't. I saw the opportunity and developed it. I also think that if I had joined Nina Campbell straight from school I wouldn't be here now. I needed to go off and do my own thing first."

Zeev Aram, son Daniel and daughter Ruth

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