Wallpaper Designs You Should Know Today

Wallpaper Designs
3 Masters You Should Know Today

As an interior designer, I feel it is important to learning wallpaper designs and the three masters and also exploring techniques and collections. I pursued my passion in historical wallpaper by taking a master class within the New York Institute of Art and Design. I travelled this year to North America to explore the design trends. this time was my think tank for my design workshops, learning more about some of the masters' wallpaper designs have been inspirational. 

William Morris was a famous wallpaper designer who was born in London. He was one of the Arts and Crafts movement founders. Not only a textile designer, he was also a poet, novelist, calligrapher and socialist activist. His vision was to link fine arts into the commercial design industry. In 1861, he founded his decorative arts company and produced his first wood block design called Trellis, inspired by the rose-trellis in his garden at Red House, London. Trellis was the first design of his wallpaper range, Morris designed over 50 wallpapers for his collection. His love of nature inspired most of his work.
 
He believed that a designer should have a working knowledge of any media. He spent time learning a range of techniques. He also founded the Kelmscott Press, which published high quality hand bound books and was very influential in the revival of the private press.
 
However, the road was not always smooth for Morris. In 1940, he went bankrupt and sold the company to Sanderson & Sons which included all art works, wallpapers and his blocks.
 
Today after over hundred years, designers are still utilizing his works, such as, Willow Boughs ~ Strawberry Thief ~ Golden Lily, Brer Rabbit ~ Acorn and Honeysukcle just to name a few. Morris’ “purest” have utilized his collections in different ways, such as an online game based on strawberry thief including digital installation using his designs. How ironic, this was exactly what Morris dreamt when he founded his company, decorative arts available for the masses.

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​In 1891, Achille Brunschwig founded his company in Aubusoon and Bohain, France.  After WWI, Achille's son Roger visited America for treatment and he saw the potential within the America market, a great market but had limited access to French fabrics. Archille discussed a plan for his son Roger Brunschwig to gain USA citizenship, this enable them to open the first New York showroom in 1925.
 
In 1941, Roger went to World War II and his wife, Zelina known as Mrs. B took over the company. During this time, the company arranged the shipment of their French collections from France to America to store for safekeeping. Some of the classic collections remain in the Brunschwig and Fils range; Les Touches ~ Matin D’ete ~ Ihasa Paper Red ~ Palmette Coral ~ Mandarin Rose and Locklin Plantation just to name few.
 
Mrs. B was well known for her own documentation of American textile designs. She was a woman of great style, sophistication and inventiveness. She implemented ‘good design is forever’ that still holds until today. In 1980 a year before her death, Mrs. B wished to celebrate Brunschwig and Fils’ 100th anniversary. Mrs. B may had known she didn’t have much time left and just wanted to have a celebration. There was no historical evidence that the company was founded in 1880. But no one was about to argue with Mrs. B and the celebration was held. 
 
In 2011, the Kravet company took over the Brunschwig and Fils’ collections. the Brunschwig and Fils’ collection remains today, which is French inspired full of boldness and color. 

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Pierre Frey started his company in 1935. The company was sharp in purchasing other fabric houses which has lead them to have around 25.000 archive fabrics from the 16th century to present. The company is a merger of Braquenie, Fadini Borghi and Boussac, which are the significant contributors to the decorative fabrics’ evolution. These decorative fabrics were inspired by the silk road, trades people who drew and translated the exotic fruits and vegetables into decorative arts.
 
One of Pierre Frey’s classic collections are from Christopher-Philippe Oberkampf, who started the ‘Toile de Jouy = printed cotton' fabrics. In the 1700’s there were no photographs to document life, but when you look at a toile, such as the work of the factory collection, which depict A TOTAL OF 14 different scenes from that period in time. One of the popular archived collections within the collection is Les Travaus De La manufacture, which was designed by Jean- Baptiste Huet, who was commissioned by Oberkampf to do this work.
 
After this period the fabric patterns became more symmetrical and organised. Today, after decades they are still within the Pierre Frey’s collection.

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​THERE ARE SO MUCH MORE TO EXPLORE ABOUT THE MASTERS’ WORKS AND HOW THEY INFLUENCE CURRENT DESIGNERS.

JOIN BELSON DESIGN TO BE INSPIRED IN A FUN FILLED DAY AT OUR TEXTILES AND HISTORICAL WALLPAPER WORKSHOP. DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM THE MASTERS, WE WILL EXPLORE HOW THEIR WORKS CONTINUE TO AFFECT CURRENT DESIGNERS. ANALYSING AND IDENTIFYING THEIR DESIGN TECHNIQUES THROUGH SAMPLE BOOKS ~ FABRIC REMNANTS ~ HISTORICAL REFERENCE MATERIALS ~ PHOTOS AND VIDEOS. YOU WILL TAKE AWAY NEW POSSIBILITIES TO INCORPORATE THE MOST DELIGHTFUL DECORATIVE MATERIAL EVER INVENTED TO CREATE A MODERN LOOK WITHIN YOUR DESIGN WORK.

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