MAXINE HALL
Blackpop’s founder talks about the creative process behind her elegantly eccentric wallpaper designs
Tell us how Blackpop began
I’ve worked with digital artwork throughout my career and I’d been wanting to put my designs onto other surfaces for some time. In 2012, I discovered a UK-based wallpaper company that had started printing digitally. They produced some trial samples, which came out beautifully.
What’s the story behind your first collection, Vintage Inspired?
The ideas came from visits to stately homes, such as Chatsworth and Haddon Hall. The walls of these houses are so opulent – decorated with wallpaper, fabrics and tapestries – and I wanted to capture the air of faded grandeur and that magical feeling when you step into the rooms.
Do you think about how the finished wallpaper will look in situ?
At !rst I was like a kid: designing freely and not thinking about how the wallpapers would be used. But as we’ve evolved, I’ve become more aware of the context. Now I tend to think in terms of what a particular person’s living room might look like; Jimi Hendrix’s perhaps.
Can you describe the design process?
I work in layers, so the process involves placing images on top of each other until I get the look I’m after. Our Homage collection came about because I was interested in the New York abstract expressionists. The designs, such as Vanguard, are named after the Jazz clubs the artists frequented. I began by dripping paint onto A4 sheets of paper then I scanned these and merged them with other artworks in Photoshop. Sometimes it comes easily but other times it’s like pulling teeth – I work and rework, and it can take weeks before I’m happy with it.
Can you tell us about your collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery?
We were invited to work with the NPG in 2014. I chose the Tudor portraits as the starting point for the collection. The challenge was how to deconstruct something figurative and transform it into something abstract. I was also looking at Kandinsky and Miró at the time, so I ended up drawing Kandinsky-like shapes and !lling the spaces with brushstrokes from the paintings.
What are your current projects?
We’re working on a collaboration with Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. We are launching three wallpapers, three fabrics and two rugs at Decorex during London Design Week, which this year runs from 16th to 19th September.
Blackpop.co.uk For more wallpaper inspiration see p92