SPRING AWAKENING New fabrics and wallpapers from the latest collections

awakeningSPRING Reinvigorate interiors with bright and beautiful new fabrics and wallpapers from the latest collections

Bountiful botanicals

The ever-popular allure of botanical designs sees florals abound in new collections. The organic forms of trailing leaves and florals is captured in a number of designs that celebrate the natural beauty of the shapes and colours of plants, often in painterly detail or fine embroidery.

Sanderson’s recoloured archive for Brewers has bold brights for a modern approach and softer, romantic choices too. Manuel Canovas has signature brights alongside embroideries in pretty watercolour hues, creating a dreamy choice for bedrooms. Delicate, classic approaches can be found in Flora Robert’s sublime artwork for Hamilton Weston, and in Etamine’s watercolour-style botanical designs.

Designers Guild can be relied upon for contemporary twists on big blowsy blooms and larger-scale designs in soft hues as well as more intense tones. Whether on walls or textiles, these flowery, leafy patterns will bring a joyous boost of colour and connection to the natural world.

OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Court Embroidery wallpaper, £130 a roll; Library Frieze, £125 a roll, both Cole & Son Blind, Rose de Mai, £109 a metre, Maison-Jardin collection, Etamine Chair, Nancy, £96 a metre, Vogue Living x Schumacher Trim, Plaza Medallion, £47 a metre; fringe, Swanson, £39 a metre, both Travers ABOVE & RIGHT Selection of wallpapers, from £69 a roll, Sanderson Brewers Edit, Wallpaperdirect.com SWATCHES RIGHT, FROM TOP Jolie Fleurs wallpaper, £197 a roll, Pierre Frey Floral Stripe wallpaper, £175 a roll, Flora Roberts at Hamilton Weston Pahari fabric, £95 a metre, Designers Guild STYLE NOTES

• Bolder, vibrant colours in flowery patterns will have a modern feel when paired with block colours on walls or woodwork.

• Create a romantic, delicate feel with intricate embroideries or prints with a watercolour quality - perfect for a timeless uplift to neutral schemes.

• Botanicals with a flowing organic design will always work well with a stripe or check to bring a subtle, structured element to the ensemble of patterns.

ABOVE Curtains, Carsina, £159 a metre; chair, Delgado, £75 a metre, Colefax and Fowler BELOW Verdure Tapestry wallpaper, £500 a roll (210cm x 3.5m). Silk version £2,750 a roll (210cm x 3.5m), Cole & Son SWATCHES ABOVE, FROM LEFT Folklore fabric, £35.76 a metre; Elliot fabric, £32.40 a metre, both Prestigious Textiles SWATCHES RIGHT, FROM TOP Theodore wallpaper, £40 a roll; Fougere wallpaper, £40 a roll, both John Lewis & Partners OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Cardaillac Black Rhapsody Linen fabric, £270 a metre, Watts of Westminster Sofa and curtain, Holkar, £72 a metre, Nina Campbell at Osborne & Little Curtain, Folklore, £35.76 a metre; upholstery, Dickens, £35.76 a metre, and cushions, all Prestigious Textiles Henriette wallpaper, £40 a roll, John Lewis & Partners

Rich heritage

New collections created with longevity in mind always appeal to our desire for timeless and evolved interiors. Colefax and Fowler’s new collection perfectly encapsulates this ethos with designs that showcase expert craftsmanship and techniques, and both antique and Eastern influences. Embroideries, tapestry styles, crewel work and kilim-inspired designs feature and combine for a co-ordinated yet charmingly diverse look in rich, comforting colours of rust oranges and reds, teal, navy and browns – a palette also seen in Prestigious Textiles’ Arts and Crafts-influenced collection.

Nina Campbell, too, is influenced by the East with indiennestyle prints, embroideries and weaves evoking the textiles of the ancient Silk Route. Holka emulates a Persian rug in luxurious chenille, and Patudi references traditional ikat designs.

Look also to Cole & Son’s Grand Masters collection of wallpapers, created in collaboration with Historic Royal Palaces. The spectacular designs are inspired by the interiors and gardens of six palaces. We particularly like Verdure Tapestry. Taken from a work displayed at Kensington Palace, and also available as a silk wallcovering, it works as well juxtaposed with contemporary furniture as with traditional pieces.

These heritage designs will add gravitas and a sense of history to schemes and bring an extra level of evolution to a wellestablished room.

STYLE NOTES

• Mix different pieces from collections, combining weaves and embroideries for a layered and textured look that is full of pattern and character.

• Give heritage pieces a modern twist with boldly coloured woodwork and combine with contemporary furniture.

• For a more classic style, these collections will work splendidly with antiques, as well as adding further interest to an exisiting eclectic scheme.

STYLE NOTES

• A blue-and-white palette allows experimenting with layers of different patterns without the end-result feeling overpowering.

• Botanical designs look fresh and interesting in blue as it is not a natural colourway for leaves and flowers.

• Strong geomterics are striking in blue and white.

Try a Greek-key trim to elevate a plain curtain or footstool, or simply add a bold stripe to cushions for a contemporary lift.

Singing the blues

This year there is a noticeable palette of blues that are neither deeply navy nor pale and powdery. Instead, a rich yet fresh, bold but not vibrant mid-indigo blue seems to pervade many collections. A perfect partner to white, this blue works well in traditional and contemporary settings. It is bold without being overpowering, and allows for a confident approach to pattern, whether a large damask, strong geometric, abstract print, delicate block print, intricate design, or mixing some or all together.

Antique blue-and-white china often is an inspiration for fabrics and papers to set a classical look in toile designs, as we have seen on page 71 in Manuel Canovas’s pretty design. For a truly modern look, Rapture & Wright new Albaicin fabric and wallpaper has a striking hand-printed pattern. Featuring a strong white-line design that is at once abstract and ordered, it looks particularly handsome in the Indigo colourway.

LEFT ABOVE Selection of trimmings, from £39 to £151 a metre, all Style Moderne collection, Travers LEFT BELOW Brush fabric, £196 a metre, Clay McLaurin Studio at George Spencer Designs BELOW Albaicin wallpaper, £23 a metre, Rapture & Wright at The Fabric Collective SWATCHES BELOW RIGHT, FROM TOP Zanzibar fabric, £282 a metre, Peter Dunham at Tissus d’Hélène Rialto wallpaper, £130 a metre, Paolo Moschino for Nicholas Haslam Bettina fabric, £222 a metre, Lake August at The Fabric Collective

STYLE NOTES

• Let bold artistic designs take centre stage as a statement piece on walls.

• Do not be afraid of large-scale designs as often they feel less overwhelming once used on a large expanse of wall than when seen as a swatch.

• Allow a striking pattern to shine by limiting other pattern choices or pairing with plains in interesting textures.

• Considering colour and form, use such designs as a painterly backdrop to display a collection of objects.

Artistic inspiration

All designs are works of art, often created from beautiful original artworks by talented artists and designers. Many, too, are inspired by antique designs – whether on textiles, plates or other artworks. This season sees a very clear celebration of artistry with fabrics and wallpapers showcasing artistic style – whether from movements such as cubism, expressionism or fauvism – as well as wonderful contemporary updates of designs found on antique pieces.

At the more contemporary end, Abbot + Boyd have a Rothkoinspired wallcovering with bold colour-blocking, whilst Rubelli’s ‘Burano’ features an almost fauvist depiction of the Venetian island it is named after. Pierre Frey has also taken a bold, colourful approach for its Joie de Vivre textile and Eternal Été wallpaper collections, celebrating artistic traditions of the 1950s, as well as the spirit of the French Riviera. Ceramic designs are the inspiration behind Jim Thompson’s designs, along with cubist and jazz-age artworks.

For a softer approach, Villa Nova’s Still Life collection translates artworks of everyday objects into beautiful, delicate designs – from a continuous line drawing of a tabletop scene of vases, fruit bowls and coffee cups, to a large-scale patchwork of watercolour brushstrokes that, though bold in scale, is surprisingly calming used as a wallcovering in soft green-greys or blues.

ABOVE LEFT Calanques wallpaper, £178 a metre, Caspari in collaboration with Pierre Frey ABOVE Outside The Box wallcovering, £POA, Elitis at Abbot + Boyd SWATCHES ABOVE, FROM TOP Catteau fabric, £150 a metre, Jim Thompson Still Life wallpaper £67.50 a roll, Villa Nova Burano, £113 a metre, Rubelli

Pinks & greens

This combination is a somewhat modern classic – a perfect marriage of fresh and pretty, unexpected yet reassuringly calming. As red and green are contrasting or complementary colours, sitting opposite each other on the colour wheel, using softer shades of green with gentle pink, which has a main base tone of red, makes for a dynamic pairing.

Pink and green are frequently seen together in nature, and in interiors the effect is similarly appealing, with botanical patterns having a natural affinity with these colours. Susie Hetherington’s charming new designs perfectly encapsulate the natural world in a pretty palette that combines greens and pinks perfectly – though shades of duck egg and blue are available too. Named after her new home, Hillslie, and inspired by everyday life there, Hetherington’s new collection is inspired by chickens pecking under runner beans, walks in the woods and a first crop of blueberries. Birdie Fortescue’s new textiles are also inspired by nature, but with a seventeenth-century Persian influence, combining geometrics with greenery and florals.

To successfully combine this palette, green often works best as the more dominant colour, with accents of pink, and a few soft earthy neutrals or fresh whites for balance. n

RIGHT Personal Landscapes collection, from £70 a metre, all Zimmer + Rohde BELOW Striped velvet & linen/ cotton cushion cover, £65; Embroidered velvet cushion cover, £70; limited-edition hand-block-printed Green Throw, £350; Half Drop Floral blockprinted cushion cover, £55; Hexagon cushion cover, £55, all Birdie Fortescue SWATCHES RIGHT, FROM TOP Zinnia fabric, £196 a metre, Clay McLaurin at George Spencer Designs Reverse Doshi fabric, Schuyler Samperton at Tissus d’Hélène Blueberry fabric, £56 a metre, Susie Hetherington

STYLE NOTES

• Set a pretty and romantic mood with gentle shades of greens and pinks. Botanical designs naturally suit these hues, not only in chintzes, but simpler block-print styles too.

• Green works best as the dominant colour in this palette, with large accents of pink. Consider a 60/30 per cent balance, with 10 per cent in a neutral.

• Cut neutrals with crisp whites for added freshness, or set an earthy, mellow mood with some soft tones of brown and greys.