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Just got in new installation pictures of this *beautiful* bathroom renovation. Cavalry is one of my favorite patterns, and I'm a huge proponent of wallpaper in bathrooms, and Cavalry is one of my favorite Cavern Patterns. A plus!! Thanks for the photos Nadia!
Dutch designer Thomas Voorn is simply incredible: his work is imaginative, boundary-blurring, bold, nuanced. His interest in fashion extends beyond textile and pattern design, but he clearly understands both very, very well. Enjoy these photos, and be sure to explore his website for more. This guy is pure inspiration.
For anyone truly interested in wallpaper history, you should know about Adlephi Paper Hangers, the premiere wallpaper house dedicated to historically accurate patterns and production. Emphasizing eighteenth and nineteenth century papers, their collection includes wallpapers from institutions such as the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and the Smithsonian Institute. Adelphi also researches and designs custom jobs for any individuals who have anydocuments or wallpaper scraps of an old design. Their wallpaper are made with the old fashioned wood block method. In fact, Adelphi operates the only bloc printing facility dedicated to producing vintage patterns in the United States! Very inspiring.
Kehinde Wiley is one of the most successful young artists on the scene today. His work shows a distinct interest in patterns, and serve as yet another example of the intersection of wallpaper and fine art. Wiley is known for portraying modern African American men in heroic portraits, often overtly referencing masterpieces of the Western cannon. I am struck by how he uses colorful, graphic patterns to balance the strongly portrayed figures. It's almost as if he uses wallpapers as backgrounds for his subjects, removing them from ordinary space and instead placing them with abstracted, fantastic backdrops that express their strong, vibrant, youthful personalities. Kehinde's color pallet is bold, his patterns engaging. Amazing, amazing work.
One of our fantastic new design interns -- the incredibly talented Karen Dana -- sent me this screen shot from Garden State. I'm surprised I haven't had a dream in which I become wallpaper; it seems bound to happen!
Installation shots from my friend Satya's bedroom. I love how the doorway is also covered. Very nice!
Wallpapers can serve as a background or foreground design element in a room. If it weren't obvious already, I am personally most excited about graphic patterns that stretch the limits of traditional wallpaper patterns. But the decision to hang pictures or other items on top of wallpaper is still a relevant one. What can you hang on a wallpapered wall? When should wallpaper stand alone? Inspired by my favorite design book, here is my simple overview.
It's all about balance. First, think color. If your wallpaper is extremely colorful (more than four colors), then anything you hang should be very very simple: a mirror, a simple photograph. On the other hand, if the wallpaper is simply one or two colors, you have more liberty to hang intricate, colorful objects. Whatever the objects, make sure their colors match not only the wallpaper but the rest of your room.
Next consider size. If the pattern is full of small elements, your hanging objects should be of medium to large size. You should not have too many hanging pieces either. If the wallpaper repeat is large-scale, you have much more freedom to hang smaller objects- and more of them.
Finally, choose your wall composition-- where to hang your objects. Each wall and room is different, but overall, you will need fewer objects than you normally would hang. Wallpaper attracts attention on its own; you don't want to over-do it with hanging objects.
The idea of nailing holes into your beautiful wallpaper is somewhat frightening -- but that's not a good reason to dismiss hanging objects! When successful, the combination of wallpaper and objects can make the most sophisticated, impressive design choice in a room.
Better Homes and Gardens, helping home makers fifty years later.
The pattern is quite busy and there is lots of it. This large scale picture (with only a few colors) works well. Nicely balanced.
With the small pattern repeat, these medium/large sized objects look great. Photo from Domino (RIP!)
With its large scale and dynamic composition, "Blackbird" is usually best on its own.
Political themes emerge in wallpaper's recently history. First, Andy Warhol's most famous wallpaper depicted Chairman Mao with a purple face, simply repeated. Like his cow wallpaper, the pattern challenged traditional notions of wall coverings with strong color and bold composition. It also created a strange discord between the poppy colors and the unlikeable political figure.
Then we have the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, known for his bright colors and fanciful, absurd renderings. With mushroom, eyeballs, and happy flower characters, Murakami evokes political themes associated with the atomic bombs that dropped on his home country. Like Warhol, he creates an intriguing (even disturbing) effect by matching such serious political themes with such an optimistic, energetic color palate.
Nick Peters picks up where Murakami and Warhol left off. Several of his images mix World War II bomb imagery with innocent, even childish, fruit renderings. He also uses wallpaper to investigate the current political situation in Russia. After meeting Putin for the first time, George W. Bush said, "I looked the man in the eye. I was able to get a sense of his soul." Peters patterned those eyes, adding hammers and sickles.
olitical wallpapers certainly do not appeal to mainstream taste, but they do provide an interesting outlet for activism. They also serve as yet another example of the thin line between wallpaper and fine art.
As a pattern enthusiast, I love graphic designs on the floor as much as on the wall. Here are some rugs that caught my attention recently, from Loloi Rugs and from my personal design hero, Jonathan Adler.
Rugs not only increase the cozy-factor of a room but also accent any colors and patterns you already have. Rugs can bring rooms together or they separate areas of a larger space. They provide a great outlet to express your design sensibility, and they are one more opportunity to add patterns to a space.
While many people are familiar with silk screening as an abstract concept, the process of turning a digital image into silk screened wallpaper is admittedly mysterious- and amazing. Here's an overview of the process.
First, we e-mail our digital files to the printing facilities. The image is printed on special plastic paper, called film. Then this crazy machine uses light to burn the film onto silk.
The silk screen allows paint to seep through to paper below only where the pattern should be. For a pattern such as our "Blackbird," there may be two screens.
Paint is poured and distributed evenly...
And finally, the screen is washed with high powered hoses.
And voila!
The more I keep my eye out for patterns, the more I am struck by the enormous variety of ways in which they appear. From wallpaper to fabric, rugs to book covers, posters to building facades, patterns differ in style but always create a distinct, highly energetic style.
Here's a table at a coffee shop, which not only has a pattern carved into its surface but also shows a mirrored image (in shadow) on the floor. I took the photo with my new iPhone- many more of these to come...
The Whitworth Art Gallery at the University of Manchester is hosting what looks like a fantastic wallpaper exhibition. If you're in the area, check it out, and if not, here are a few highlights. Thank you Tom Slaughter for alerting me!
Whenever I want inspiration, I open my "Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book," published in 1961. Boasting over 300 color illustrations, the guide mixes amazing photos of mid-century modern spaces with practical advice that still holds true almost fifty years later.
Today I'll point your attention to the idea of patterning ceilings. As Better Homes & Gardens points out, wallpaper on ceilings is smart when you want to lower a too-high ceiling or call attention to an unusual shape. I would also add that wallpapering a ceiling adds an unexpected twist to any room and asserts a confident design aesthetic. Depending on the style paper, the effect can range from edgy/cool to traditional/formal. But no matter the aesthetic, ceiling wallpaper declares that you care about your space and demonstrates that you will make sassy choices to enliven it. Remember: no risk no reward!
We just sold some rolls of wallpaper to our first client in the Netherlands. Arnhem to be exact. Once again, loving that global village.
Today Arnhem, tomorrow....
Enjoy the long weekend!
New York Magazine recently covered patterns in their Fall Fashion Preview.
Whether its wallpaper, fabric, or any other medium, we support the pattern revival!
A restaurant's choice to wallpaper can be its single most effective design decision for two reasons. First, restaurants and stores must quickly establish a design identity that is felt and understood the instant anyone walks in the door. Especially for street-side establishments (such as this one), wallpaper effectively separates the interior space from its surroundings by presenting large swaths of color and pattern.
Secondly, restaurant wallpaper gives patrons a comforting sense of establishment, permanence. People like regular destinations- places to return to and share with friends. Like a menu that changes by the season but always maintains its trademark dishes, wallpapered walls suggest a long-term commitment, as if to say, "this place is here to stay. Get comfortable. Enjoy yourself."
I'm kicking this week off with Warhol's famous 1966 "Cow" wallpaper. More than any other wallpaper artist, Warhol proved that wallcoverings can be fun, young, dramatic, hilarious, absurd, irreverant, insane. Warhol also blurred the distinction between fine art and wallpaper -- one of my ongoing interests.
In my ongoing exploration of alternative uses for wallpaper (and what to do with wallpaper scraps, if you have them), I will suggest framing a section of the paper on its own. Although the repeat effect will be lost, many wallpapers look great in smaller pieces -- especially if its colors are bold and the composition dynamic. (Cavern patterns are perfect.) Framing wallpaper also works well for renters.
Happy wallpapering!
Someone sent in this beautiful installation shot, and I didn't recognize the person's name. Turns out, this was a photo shot by Domino Magazine -- it never made it to print! RIP Domino. I still miss it.
I just discovered the Courtauld Gallery is currently running an exhibit on the Omega Workshops, one of the most intriguing groups of artists in the 20th Century -- or at least one of the most memorable from art history classes.
The Omega Workshop was a for-profit art collective founded in London in 1913 to connect avaunt-guard artists with a design-savvy market. The artists and mediums they worked in differed, but the products all shared a distinct bold style defined by vivid colors, graphic compositions, and a hand-made quality. Critics now consider the movement a defining development in modern art. I am particularly inspired by the way the workshop blurred the distinction between interior design, architecture, and fine art.
In several weeks Cavern will launch our new collection. We stand on the shoulders of (crazy, bad-ass, artistic) giants!
