KIM COOK
Associated Press
In the Emmy-nominated opening credits of HBO\u2019s \u201cWhite Lotus,\u201d wallpaper-like images told a story: The tropical prints started off innocuously enough, but then turned ominous. Fruit started rotting, fish got tangled in seaweed, and a sense of foreboding set the whole premise of an exotic paradise on its edge.
The artist, Lezio Lopes, has said he was trying to evoke the design and themes of the show\u2019s resort suites.
It\u2019s a surreal example of a current trend in decor \u2014 wallpapers that combine art and narrative qualities to set the mood of a room. Some take us to wild places in nature, others to wild worlds born in artists\u2019 imaginations. They go way beyond your nice stripe or simple floral.
They tell a story.
Wallpaper in general is back in a big way, decor experts say, and often makes a statement through images or texture (many papers incorporate fabric or fibers). Chicago-based design writer Elaine Markoutsas, who attended two of the year\u2019s biggest design expositions, Maison et Objet and Deco Off, in Paris, said new wallcoverings were among the most exciting things she saw.
She cited intriguing patterns, and digital and 3D printing techniques. One theme stuck out.
\u201cWe heard the term \u2018revenge travel,\u2019 referring to a post-pandemic urge to get away for real, or virtually,\u201d she says. \u201cTravel often triggers designers, who mine details from architecture, landscape and destination culture.\u201d
Some of the new papers feature contemplative renditions of forests and seascapes. Others reference places, people or creatures as fun, imaginative, maximalist marvels.
For a mashup of both, there\u2019s the baroque \u201cNovafrica Sunset\u201d created by Christian Lacroix\u2019s creative director, Sacha Walchoff.
He\u2019s envisioned a kind of fever dream jungle with a tangerine sky, foliage clouds, glimpses of fauna, hyper-colored blooms and silk-ribbon-wrapped tree trunks. Put this on your walls and let the conversation begin.
At Pierre Frey, artist Veronique Villaret cut out simple paper sprigs of Pacific Island vegetation to create a joyful, colorful pattern she calls \u201cRangiroa.\u201d It\u2019s available as a wallpaper or fabric.
Dutch studio Moooi\u2019s \u201cMemento Moooi Medley ” wallcovering collection was inspired by the accounts of early explorers and the creatures they encountered. The \u201cGolden Tiger\u201d roams among cubs and other jungle animals on a wood veneer background. \u201cMimic Moths,\u201d now extinct, take on the coloring of their favorite plants. Other moths, moon orchids and lilies-of-dusk tumble across an embossed, suede-like wallcovering.
Partnering with textile giant Romo, Alice Temperley\u2019s eponymous London-based fashion and design house drew inspiration from their archive of richly detailed gowns. They came up with a wallcovering collection full of leopard prints, swirling sea agate patterns, and golden Victorian keys and dressmaking scissors.
Stories for Walls has a cheeky one called \u201cSafari Gangsta,\u201d featuring fierce and funny wild animals dressed in hip-hop gear; there\u2019ll be some cool kids who\u2019ll want it in their bedrooms, and probably some adults too.
Katie Deedy has found a way to artfully mix her intellectual curiosity and love of history. Her Brooklyn-based Grow House Grow studio produces some of the most imaginative wallpapers and tile. One pattern, \u201cOde to the Unhasty,\u201d includes pictures of sloths, snails, manatees and slow-growing bristlecone pines.
\u201cThe pattern\u2019s narrative inspiration is more of a gentle lesson,\u201d she laughs.
Between running her business and parenting, Deedy says she began to feel like life was going too fast.
\u201cSo I created this wallpaper as a visual ode to taking it easy. When I look at this collection of our Earth\u2019s slowest moving flora and fauna, it\u2019s a reminder to mosey more and sprint less.\u201d
Another of her patterns, \u201cMary Ward,\u201d honors a forgotten female entomologist. In the mid-1800s, Ward spent her days with a magnifying glass, collecting and drawing insects.
\u201cAs a woman, she couldn\u2019t be formally trained at university,\u201d says Deedy. \u201cYet over the course of her young life, she became a renowned expert in microscopy, writing the go-to texts used in the same schools that wouldn\u2019t admit her.\u201d
The wallpaper playfully intermingles late-Georgian-style silhouettes of Ward and her beloved oversize insects.
At this year\u2019s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, Emma Hayes showed a couple of ethereal and dreamy wallcoverings based on her New Zealand home. \u201cWillow\u201d depicts willow wisps caught by a breeze, against a midnight background. \u201cSediment\u201d shows a gently rolling shoreline of tonal watery hues.
Alexis Audette of New York-based studio Mazy Path showed nature-inspired papers in the styles of Arts & Crafts textiles, Delft tiles and 16th century French wallpapers. Audette sees a commonality between plants and people.
\u201cJust as family heirlooms remind us of our history and identity, heirloom plants do too,\u201d she says.
She developed wallpapers that tell stories about plants. One collection, \u201cHeirloom,\u201d features patterns depicting wild ramps, Virginia strawberries and winter wheat \u2013 all part of America\u2019s food history. Her \u201cTreasure Tree\u201d collection pays homage to trees that provide food, medicine or protection; the paper is printed with imagery of guava, elderberry, nickel trees and mangroves.
Studio Heimat recently worked with clients in Mission Dolores, California, to incorporate their interests in geology and zoology into their home\u2019s interior design.
\u201cThe clients LOVE bugs,\u201d says the studio\u2019s Eva Bradley. So local artist Rafael Arana was commissioned to hand-paint some crawling up a stairwell\u2019s wall.
\u201cThe homeowners asked that the bugs be black and white and oversize, so visitors wouldn\u2019t be scared,\u201d says the studio\u2019s Alicia Cheung.
Another way designers tell artful stories is by mixing materials, Markoutsas says. She cites a new wallpaper from French design house deGournay \u201cmade of embroidered silk, embellished with shells. Elitis has a vinyl wallcovering that simulates beautiful embroidery.\u201d
And Arte introduced \u201cLe Foret,\u201d with wallcoverings made from wood, raffia and banana leaf.
\u2014-
New York-based writer Kim Cook covers design and decor topics regularly for The AP. Follow her on Instagram at @kimcookhome.<\/p>\n\n\n\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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