Painterly Interiors

Following last week's blog about the inspirational work of Etel Adnan currently on display at London’s Serpentine Sackler Gallery and her painterly tapestries, we sought out some bright designers who are creating painterly furnishings and objects for the home. These items are perfect pieces to add artistic charm to your home and lovely additions to an art-lovers room! We'll often take inspiration from works of art for our interior design projects and love the idea of introducing painted ceramics, rug designs based on paintings and art-inspired furnishings.

First up … Aino-Maija Metsola is an illustrator and print designer from Finland. She works as an in-house designer for print powerhouse Marimekko, designing prints for clothing and interior textiles. Metsola also created the ‘Weather Diary’ prints for their plates, tea bowls and cups. We love this collection as it was inspired by natural elements; the Finnish weather and shoreline. Metsola drew the designs in watercolour and ink, focussing on rain, clouds and grass fields. These bowls and cups would look lovely set against crisp, white linen and fresh cut white flowers, to create an elegant and charming table.

The collection is available to buy from a number of UK stores including Heal’s.

Kelly Wearstler’s collection for The Rug Company is another beautiful collaboration. Her hand-painted designs have been crafted into a series of rugs, each handmade by skilful specialist weavers in the Kathmandu area. ‘Wake’ shown below left draws inspiration from the free and fluid movements of water, creating an elegant and subtle design which would look lovely in a contemporary setting with a subtle colour scheme. Wearstler’s ‘Graffito’ design on the right is inspired by her love of graffiti and street art. The combination of a painterly, raw brush stroke design and pale blue colouring create a beautiful balance.

Wearstler's design below, named 'Flaunt' also draws on the fluid movements of water and includes bursts of sheeny blue to enliven the rug's surface.

London based, Australian designer Amy Sia creates beautiful hand-painted designs for textiles and clothing. For Amy, accessories act as a canvas, and and each design is an artwork. Her passion for colour is evident in her bright textiles, their boldness is offset with her sensitively drawn designs - Sia's floral-like patterns particularly caught our eye. Like Metsola, Amy Sia’s designs are first drawn in watercolour and then transferred digitally onto handmade cushions, seen below.

Visit Amy Sia's website to see more.

Inspired by Chelsea in Bloom!

Last week Chelsea was in full bloom! Alongside the RHS Chelsea Flower Show were the annual local displays of floral creations from Chelsea retailers who compete for a winning display.

We loved these displayed by Hackett and Links below. This year’s theme was ‘Carnival’ inspired by the Rio de Janeiro Carnival and Hackett embraced tropical flowers and colours, while Links opted to fly the British flag.

The White Company's window was our favourite, it's elephant creation was made by Larry Walshe.

Fancy a beautiful flower display without the hassle of watering? We also love these faux flowers from Oka which look remarkably realistic, they also mean you aren't guided by the season and can chose exotic displays all year round. Oka recommend starting each arrangement with three flowers, building up by three each time until your display looks full enough. For a more realistic display chose a variety of sizes and shapes; include full flowers with an abundance of petals as well as greenery and branches like the display below on the right.

We've said it before, but we stand by the simple fact that changing cushions, linen, throws and small accessories is the easiest way to quickly transform a room. If you're looking for some temporary colour and pattern we love these floral-inspired cushions from bluebellgray. We love their signature painterly style and each cushion is painted and sewn by hand in bluebellgray's Glasgow studio, making them truly unique.

Weaving in a New Direction

Since we work with textiles, we’re always excited to see how artists push textiles to new limits and create contemporary artworks from textile traditions.

Ptolemy Mann creates colourful and painterly work. Her handwoven wall pieces are all made using hand-dyed thread, she builds chromatic bands which buzz and blend beautifully. 

Mann is passionate about colour theory which she says underpins her work - she says "Recently I've got bolder and more experimental with colour, allowing something unconsciously emotional to take place. I'm a fan of abstract expressionism. Mark Rothko is my favourite artist".

Mann says she also has a Bauhaus philosophy of product and art making; an idea of uniting creativity and manufacture which the Bauhaus movement hoped would rejuvenate design for everyday life. As well as her large scale pieces, Mann produces commercial furnishings including a range of fabrics, rugs, bed linen and cushions and we love that her work remains functional in this way.

We were also intrigued by Cecilie Bendixen's 'Draped Nimbostratus' which represents a hybrid form of design - blending textiles, sculpture and architecture. It is made from wool and polyester and designed to absorb sound so that it disappears, creating a beautifully poetic, cloud-like piece.

Flower Power

For this week’s blog we were inspired by a recent article about contemporary art and floristry. This floral art sees artists working with flowers to create incredible, blossoming structures that blur the boundary between floristry and sculpture. Often vast in form, utilising this natural, delicate material creates a truly poetic balance.

Daniel Ost is perhaps the best known floral artist. He has been creating floral art for over forty years and continues to mould his craft to suit contemporary trends. His current work integrates elements of contemporary design, with custom built structures that allow flowers to be weaved, hung or displayed around.

We were struck by this orchid canopy structure, pictured below, which integrates both contemporary design and natural orchids.

Another inspiring floral artist is East London based Rebecca Louise Law. She trained in Fine Art but her interests in nature preservation led to create floral installations. Speaking about her work she says that the ‘physicality and sensuality of the site specific work plays with the relationship between man and nature’. She transforms public spaces bringing in her floral creations to create a stunning display of dazzling natural beauty.

Fabric Inspiration

For this week’s blog we want to focus on fabrics.

When we work on an interior design project, we often make use of beautifully printed or painted fabrics. Whether you are choosing fabrics for furniture and small furnishings or larger wall coverings, it is crucial that the colour and design tie in with the look and feel of your interior - if you’re completely drawn to a fabric it can even inspire your overall colour scheme.

Elizabeth Eakins set up her rug and textile business in 1978, with a focus on making by hand. All of her fabrics are made from natural fibers and include linen, hemp and wool blends. We were particularly drawn to this natural hemp linen fabric, ‘Esther Young’ in azure and rose.

We also loved this fabric from Harlequin’s collection. The fabric has been digitally printed for accuracy with botanical-style representations of hummingbirds in beautiful and crisp colours. The detail is exquisite and would add both a splash of colour and a real sense character to either a classic or contemporary interior.

Turnell and Gigon distribute beautiful fabrics which range from both classic and contemporary designs. We loved these deigns in cream and blue colours, the coloured detail looks beautiful over these subtle backgrounds.