Truly epic wallpaper can lift any indoor space in ways that are hard to believe until you see them in action, says Giles Kime.
It’s hard to imagine how 18th-century guests at houses such as Belton in Lincolnshire and Blickling and Felbrigg in Norfolk, would have responded to the exotic scenes and motifs that characterised the Chinese wallpaper that became such a popular feature of English country houses. Deep in the countryside, they couldn’t be further removed from the exuberant and colourful work of decorative painters of Guangzhou.
Country-house interiors that make a bold statement have a tendency to detract from their setting. That, surely, is the job of the townhouse interior, not only in Georgian England, but also in the 21st century, where the light, noise and clutter of city streets is so chaotic that it makes sense for them to look inward rather than outward.
In urban spaces, pattern and colour are brilliant decorating devices; for evidence, look no further than the Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House dominated by sweeping Scenes of North America block-printed in the early 19th century by a manufacturer in Rixheim, France, that has been making wallpaper since the French Revolution. More recently, it has been demonstrated by projects where hand-painted de Gournay wallpapers have been used to inject glorious, large-scale scenes. It’s an approach that the hotelier Kit Kemp employs brillliantly.
The Dining Room by Suzy Hoodless at WOW!house 2024. Credit: James McDonald
As have so many things, the production of panoramic wallpaper has been transformed by digital technology, perhaps most successfully by Adam Ellis. The Slade-trained artist employs a vast archive to create a dizzying array of designs that transport you to tropical rainforests, lakes crowded with flamingos, classical gardens and the ocean depths. Unlike conventional wallpapers, each design is bespoke, responding to the architecture of the space for which it is intended. His studio creates a remarkable range of stand-alone prints, too, some with the mood-laden Surrealist feel of Italian artist Piero Fornasetti, who made distinctive furniture and wallpapers.
Mr Ellis also created a design for Suzy Hoodless’s room at the 2024 WOW!house at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, London SW10. For inspiration, he looked to the garden of the interior designer’s house in Cornwall. It proves how panoramic wallpaper can add depth to space — in this case, one that didn’t exist only five days before the event.
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