Child’s PLAY
Aureum teamed up with Maison Wallcoverings for a kids’ range that will appeal to all ages
Design aimed at children often underestimates its audience — defaulting to bright colours or saccharine, oversimplified themes. Seldom does it offer a sophisticated sense of whimsy and wonder. Local design studio Aureum’s latest collaboration with Maison
Wallcoverings sought to fill this gap in the market. Nicole Levenberg got together with Kim Frankental to create a series of new designs for Maison’s child-focused wallpaper collection.
“I’d always been a fan of Aureum and after approaching Nicole about the concept, we realised it would be a fun and interesting project,” says Frankental.
A natural and organic process, the partnership worked well thanks to the cohesion of the two brands. “Our ideas for the collection were aligned from day one and the process just flowed so beautifully from there,” says Frankental. The duo’s complementary skills and approaches laid the foundations for a successful design journey.
“Kim has an amazing eye and understanding for what parents are looking to fill their children’s spaces with,” says Levenberg.
And while Frankental had a clear vision of the designs she wanted, she allowed Levenberg the freedom to design these stories in her own typical hand-drawn style.
“Nicole’s hand-drawn artworks are magical in their detail, the perfect base on which to create wallpapers for children’s spaces,” she says.
The project also allowed Levenberg to explore a slightly different area from her norm. “As opposed to the often quite complex layouts and colourways I work on, the Maison x Aureum collection embraces simplicity and the largescale, mural-like compositions have the power to transport one into another world.”
The two designers saw the trend for increasingly elevated children’s interior products as an opportunity to offer something whimsical and cliché-free. “We wanted to create something magical and inspiring while at the same time not playing into the stereotype of what children’s design ‘should’ be,” says Levenberg.
The idea was that while they’re primarily creating beautiful spaces for kids, that these don’t date quickly. “We wanted to create sophisticated, hand-drawn worlds that kids would not grow out of too quickly,” says Levenberg. “We decided to embrace designs that, although could be used in any type of space, would look incredible in children’s rooms,” agrees Frankental. “I think people are moving away from the idea that design for children has to adhere to a very prescribed aesthetic,” she adds.
The Secret Garden Collection is available at thinkcompany.co.za