JOHN BIDDELL NAT UR E S TUDY
91
Picture courtesy of Zoffany
I love my garden. And although I don’t seem to have enough time in it these days, we’re just about to undertake a pretty major revamp of the bottom part of it. While I was standing there the other day, planning the layout and having a mental arm-wrestle with my wife over the size of the new pond (I’d have it the size of a small swimming pool, she’d have it the size of a large cup) I got to thinking about the influence of nature, both historical and on-going, in the world of interior design.
From ear ly Tudor and Elizabethan times folks with money employed local craf tsmen to brightly decorate thei r homes with beauti ful hand painted designs. As well as religious themes, these wal lpaintings often depicted hunting scenes or lush pastoral landscapes. A few years ago Zof fany released thei r Arden col lection, designed and drawn for them by Melissa White, a mural ar tist specialising in Elizabethan painted decoration. Although some of the collection has now been discontinued, the crucial elements are still going strong. There is a fabulous design cal led Verdure, based on a late 17th century painted cloth, avai lable as a wide wallpaper and a linen fabric, which depicts a delightful woodland scene. But for me the crowning glory is the fabric af ter which the collection is named. I t’s a recreation of a mid-15th century forest design, discovered in a house in Halifax in 1901, depicting a forest f loor r ichly studded with clusters of small f lower s. In amongst the trees are stags, does, and var ious other creatures to be found in medieval tapestr ies. It’s available as a pr inted linen, and a real wow factor velvet. The r ichness of the reds, emeralds and sapphires has to be seen to be believed.
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HOMES & INTERIORS J O H N B I DDE L L -
I N T E R I OR S E X P E R T
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