Nature, history and imagination infuse new wallpapers that help a room tell a story
In the Emmy-nominated opening credits of HBO’S “White Lotus,” wallpaper-like images told a story: The tropical prints started off innocuously enough, but then turned ominous. Fruit started rotting, fish got tangled in seaweed, and a sense of foreboding set the whole premise of an exotic paradise on its edge.
The artist, Lezio Lopes, has said he was trying to evoke the design and themes of the show’s resort suites.
It’s a surreal example of a current trend in decor — wallpapers that combine art and narrative qualities to set the mood of a room. Some take us to wild places in nature, others to wild worlds born in artists’ imaginations. They go way beyond your nice stripe or simple floral.
They tell a story. Wallpaper in general is back in a big way, decor experts say, and often makes a statement through images or texture (many papers incorporate fabric or fibers). Chicago-based design writer Elaine Markoutsas, who attended two of the year’s biggest design expositions, Maison et Objet and Deco Off, in Paris, said new wallcoverings were among the most exciting things she saw.
She cited intriguing patterns, and digital and 3D printing techniques. One theme stuck out.
“We heard the term ‘revenge travel,’ referring to a post-pandemic urge to get away for real, or virtually,” she says. “Travel often triggers designers, who mine details from architecture, landscape and destination culture.”
Some of the new papers feature contemplative renditions of forests and seascapes. Others reference places, people or creatures as fun, imaginative, maximalist marvels.
For a mashup of both, there’s the baroque “Novafrica Sunset” created by Christian Lacroix’s creative director, Sacha Walchoff.
He’s envisioned a kind of fever dream jungle with a tangerine sky, foliage clouds, glimpses of fauna, hyper-colored blooms and silk-ribbon-wrapped tree trunks. Put this on your walls and let the conversation begin.
At Pierre Frey, artist Veronique Villaret cut out simple paper sprigs of Pacific Island vegetation to create a joyful, colorful pattern she calls “Rangiroa.” It’s available as a wallpaper or fabric.
Dutch studio Moooi’s “Memento Moooi Medley ” wallcovering collection was inspired by the accounts of early explorers and the creatures they encountered. The “Golden Tiger” roams among cubs and other jungle animals on a wood veneer background. “Mimic Moths,” now extinct, take on the coloring of their favorite plants. Other moths, moon orchids and lilies-of-dusk tumble across an embossed, suede-like wallcovering.
Partnering with textile giant Romo, Alice Temperley’s eponymous London-based fashion and design house drew inspiration from their archive of richly detailed gowns. They came up with a wallcovering collection full of leopard prints, swirling sea agate patterns, and golden Victorian keys and dressmaking scissors.
Stories for Walls has a cheeky one called “Safari Gangsta,” featuring fierce and funny wild animals dressed in hip-hop gear; there’ll be some cool kids who’ll want it in their bedrooms, and probably some adults too.
Katie Deedy has found a way to artfully mix her intellectual curiosity and love of history. Her Brooklyn-based Grow House Grow studio produces some of the most imaginative wallpapers and tile. One pattern, “Ode to the Unhasty,” includes pictures of sloths, snails, manatees and slow-growing bristlecone pines.