Upholstered in Arden velvet

HAPPY 2013!

...bit of a slow blogging start to the year but I've been hibernating at my chilly studio through January, working on secret designs for the autumn.

Just to prove I'm still here I thought I'd share these photos sent by the lovely ladies at Östermalms Textilateljé a fabulous interiors showroom in Stockholm.

This is the eponymous Arden design from our Arden Collection which we launched with great success in 2012 with Zoffany (and pretty much all I blogged about last year too!)

The Stockholm team have upholstered this retro sofa for their showroom using the Venetian Red colourway of this luxurious velvet.

ABOUT THE DESIGN:

We adapted this enchanting forest scene from a mid 15^th century wall painting that was discovered in a house in Halifax in 1901. The house fell into ruin shortly afterwards and the painting was lost forever. The scene depicts a forest floor richly studded with clusters of small flowers, possibly wood anemones. In amongst the trees are rabbits, hedgehogs, horned sheep, squirrels, wild fowl, moles, deer and a handsome unicorn. The creatures were probably modeled on those found in popular medieval bestiaries. This style of wall painting, known as imitation tapestry, was fashionable all over Britain.

The Arden design is available printed on luxurious velvet and on linen.

Images from www.fabricsandpapers.com

It's nice to see a large sofa upholstered in Arden. The one we featured on the cover of the Arden brochure was a stylish 2 seater called Snooze by Ochre.

Arden brochure front cover

Snooze sofa by Ochre

Curiously the red background colour on the Swedish sofa and the brochure sofa looks very different but the Swedish sofa is much closer to the actual fabric - it is more burnt orange than deep red - weird that!

Thanks to the enthusiastic Stockholm team at Östermalms Textilateljé for keeping me updated.

You can read more about my visit to Stockholm in this post: ARDEN ON TOUR - Stockholm

Vote for Verdure! Elle Decor British Design Awards

We've been nominated!

The nominated VERDURE wallpaper is one of the designs from our Arden Collection created with Zoffany. For full details about the awards check out this month's Elle Decoration (out now) or see the Elle Decor website 

If you like this design and our collection please:

 

 (Voting ends September 24th)

Verdure wallpaper in tapestry green

The design comes digitally printed in two colourways on 140 cms wide, non-woven wallpaper (above). It is also available digitally printed on 100% linen (below in lead blue colourway)

Verdure upholstered chair 

About the Verdure Design

Verdure (from an old French word for greenery) is a design based on a late 17^th century English painted cloth. At the peak of their popularity these “stayned” linen cloths were nailed floor to ceiling around entire rooms. Shakespeare mentions painted cloths in several plays and Henry VIII lists them in his inventories proving that they were not "poor men's tapestries". 

Very few survive due to their fragile nature. The subject matter included religious themes, hunting scenes or pictorial subjects such as our lush pastoral landscape with a church and waterfall (better seen in this close up of the wallpaper).

Verdure with Verner Panton chair

The best surviving example of a verdure painted cloth can be found in its original setting at the magnificent  Owlpen Manor  in the Cotswolds. 

painted cloths at Owlpen Manor 

The wonderful Owlpen cloths tell the story of Joseph and his technicolour coat. A few years ago David and I were commissioned to reproduce them for a re-display project at Blakesley Hall museum in Birmingham:

our Blakesley Hall painted cloths

David and me installing the cloths

These Verdure designs are definitely my favourite of the period. The scenes are a joy to paint as they have such lovely painterly motifs and harmonious colours. I know David was very fond of these designs too.

It was an interesting challenge to put fragments of an original verdure into repeat. We then painted it on unbleached linen canvas with watery paints so that the weave would show through as in the "stayned" originals. 

Painting the original artwork for Verdure

With Zoffany we tried various colourways including a very odd purple one but it really worked best in its original emerald and earthy greens ("tapestry green") and in a faded, somewhat scandinavian "lead blue".

Verdure strikeoffs at Zoffany headquarters with other Arden designs

For a 350 year old design it is remarkably on trend today with its folksy, fairytale narrative.

A bucolic snapshot of Old England

Definitely one of my favourites....remember to vote if you like it too :)