The Designs
Cardoon
This was designed for a large North London house with a black carpeted staircase. The pattern has a slow rhythm to reflect the big trees out in Regents Park. It was made the stairwell sinuous and leafy due to the extended design of a half drop repeat.
This contemporary classic wallpaper is also ideal for high walls and hallways, and can look stunning in a modern setting. This design is romantic in the tradition of Rachmaninov, or the love ballads of the Beatles.
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Chevron
Chevron is a deceptively simple tile design, giving a heraldic feel to its elegant symmetry. Designed originally for a seventeenth century country kitchen, it creates an air of gentle order when wrapped around a busy room, in the manner of Bach or Keith Jarrett.
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Rousseau
The recent Tate exhibition of the Douanier Rousseau gave rise to this playful design. This painter never left France, deriving his images of the savage jungle from visits to the Jardin des Plantes, and the zoo in Paris.
The designer has lived for some time in Brazil, in Tahiti and by the Ganges in India. The leaf forms in this design are fanciful interpretations of tropical foliage, and might encourage you to wear a sun hat in the room - even when it is wet outside. Find some Brazilian music and turn the lights down - but not too low, let the jungle glow around you.
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Shoebaloo
This design suggested itself as a witty reminder after exhibiting a successful series of paintings of colourful women's footwear. The vintage clothes stalls in the Portobello Road provided the models, which should not only be relegated to a dressing room. Try this wallpaper in a bedroom or in that hall - it might inspire you to go out for a walk, or maybe you might kick off your shoes and dance.
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Tallysticks
Talleysticks was made in answer to a long enclosed corridor. The vertical stripes counteracted the passage effect, and opened up the space, bringing texture and detail to this decorating problem.
The design has been used successfully in rooms that need a simple stripe, but unregimented, on account of the irregular touch of the printer's hand. The designer may be the son of an army officer, but as an uncle once said, it was as if his father planted an onion - and up came a daffodil. This design would be dead if it were mechanically reproduced.
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Tree of Life
This is taken from many life forms in my Dorset garden. It is my biggest block and a devil to handle. There is no wastage as it does not need to be aligned in repetition. It can also be used as a single band of pattern, rather as a solo musician might briefly improvise.
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Tudor Roll
This was inspired by an Elizabethan stumpwork box passed down in the designer's family. This pattern is based on drawings of plants found in the designer's garden. The use of some strong colour ways can belie the formality of the design, giving an ironic twist to the restrained romance it suggests.
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