Picture courtesy of Morris & Co
This time last year, G P & J Baker launched their beauti- ful collaborative collection with Kit Kemp, in which the fabric Knight’s Tale explores a similar theme.
background of Hawthorn leaves. Woodland Tree Embroidery is a delightfully organic fabric, compr ising hand-k notted trees embroidered onto a plain l inen cloth, while Woodland Animal has a slightly tongue in cheek feel to i t, being a charming monochromatic embroidery depicting boxing hares, squir rels and deer.
Latterly the Pure Mor ris collections of wallpapers, prints and exquisi te weaves continue to re-interpret the nature theme beauti fully in sof t neutral hues. Last spr ing, the Sanderson Design Group launched the Mor ris Bedford Park Collection, in which, as well as several new designs, some old favour ites like Golden Lilly have been given the “William Mor ris on acid” treatment.
Another histor ical style greatly inf luenced by nature is that of Toile de Jouy. Jouy-en-Josas is a little town near Ver sailles, southwest of Par is. Toile simply means canvas or l inen cloth,
and Jouy represents the 92
abbreviated name of the town. Typical toile motifs tell a story, usually about rural life or histor ic events, of ten depicting pastoral scenes. The main character istic of a toile fabric or wallpaper is its use of only one colour – often a r ich raspber ry or f rench blue, on a whi te or off -whi te back ground.
These designs were
manufactured in France f rom 1760 by a man called Oberk ampf, who opened the first factory in the town of Jouy-en-Josas, which he chose for the quality of its water. Toile de Jouy enjoyed a great resurgence around the millennium, and is still sometimes used today.
William Mor r is, perhaps the greatest champion, and cer tainly the best known of the proponents of the ar ts and crafts movement, was massively inspired by nature. Indeed, his f i r st three repeating wal lpaper designs, created in the late 1860s, were Trellis, Daisy and Fruit, all of which are teeming wi th f lowers and, well, f rui t. Many of Mor r is & Company’s most popular designs since have incorporated not only f lora but fauna too. Strawber ry thief, which f i r st appeared in 1883 and depicts bi rds pillaging a strawber ry patch, was apparently inspired
by a real life problem for
gardeners. In fact it’s the same problem I solved at home last summer, but however hard I look at the fabric, I can’t see the plastic netting over the strawberr ies.
In 2011 Sander son launched a ser ies of archive collections of fabrics and wallpapers to mark the 150th anniver sary of the founding of Mor r is & Company in 1861.
These were an absolute delight, not only for
dedicated Mor r is fans, but for nature lovers in general. The Woodland Embroideries collection,
released in
2015, builds on the theme of nature wi th a most sumptuous fabric called Jasmine Embroidery, featuring a meander ing Jasmine trail embroidered over a pr inted
Today nature’s inf luence on inter ior design is as strong as ever, widely reflected in the ever-growing movement back towards maximalism – one of my favour ite look s. As with everything associated with inter ior fashion of cour se, ideas get recycled, re-interpreted, and re-presented in a way more relevant to current trends and moods. When f lock paper f i r st enjoyed i ts resurgence in the noughties, many of the designs were based on f lowers. We were then treated to a selection of beaded f loral paper s a few years back , fol lowed by a plethora of f resh f lorals returning to a more painter ly feel . Designs became less formal , with relaxed brush strokes and vivid tones that gently bleed into one another. For the last few seasons major design houses l ike Osborne and Li ttle and Designers Gui ld have delighted us with collections of full-on pictorial flowers, many of which are in the form of magnificent whole-wall panel wallcoverings.
And it’s not only f lowers. Trees have been huge over the last few year s, wi th designs ranging f rom delicate branches
covered wi th or iental blossom, to stark
silhouettes of bare trunks and boughs, reminiscent of something from the film The Blair Witch Project.
And then of course there’s bi rds and animals. We’ve al ready touched on farmyard and country l i fe scenes, but bel ieve me it doesn’t stop there. I can of fer you papers and / or fabrics with birds big and small ranging from swallows to flamingos (Mulberry Home’s famous f lying duck s are back in new colours and textures), and more or less any animal you can think of – horses, f ish, cats, dogs, butter f l ies,
elephants, tigers, lions,
unicorns . . . In fact I can even of fer you a blushing sloth in Moooi’s fabulous and fantastical Extinct Animals collection.
While influences tend to come and go in line with fashions and trends, the perennial, almost boundless source of inspiration that is nature will always be a major factor in the world of interior design.
T. 0121 420 3977
www.jo hncha r le s in te r io r s .co .u k J O H N B ID D E LL - J O H N C H A R LE S IN T E R IO R S
349 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B17 8DL
LIVE24-SEVEN.COM
HOMES & INTERIORS J O H N B I DDE L L
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132
