Timothy Corrigan for Fromental Wallpapers

Drapery Waves by Timothy Corrigan for Fromental

Fabulous Fromental... the new hand-painted wallpaper by Los Angeles designer Timothy Corrigan for Fromental reminds me of a fantastic opera stage set. Massive panels from his hand-painted Les Folies collection can be hung as works of art or to cover entire walls. For Corrigan, who is redoing an 18th-century chateau in France where he lives part time, murals painted centuries ago in Europe are a big influence on his own designs. “Murals were the art,” he told me on a visit to Dallas recently. “They don’t just recede into the background, they celebrate the walls. Frankly a lot of wallpapers today tend to be about receding and not being the star.”

Drapery Waves by Timothy Corrigan for Fromental

Corrigan’s papers grab center attention with large-scale, hand-painted designs and special printing techniques that often incorporate silver and gold leafing. But there’s substance behind the show. Corrigan researched all of his designs for historic background before putting his own spin on the collection’s four patterns. 

For Broadlands, a classical damask pattern was blown up and reproduced on silk and hand-brushed and gilded linen. The vibrant colors were taken from damask water color sketches used when planning the original jacquards, which Corrigan found in archives at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The inspiration for Drapery Wave came from 17th century Gobelins tapestries commissioned by Louis XIV, and is based on paintings by Peter Paul Rubens. 

Jardin Français is a reinterpretation of André Le Nôtre’s famous orangery parterre gardens at Versailles, and is rendered in silk and hand-brushed linen. Oceanic is traced to a 19th century Japanese wood block print, with stylized birds and organic swirling waves enlarged to a super-scale graphic, and hand-painted on textured silk.

Timothy Corrigan in front of his chateau in France

Indigo Sea wallpaper by Timothy Corrigan for Fromental

Teaming with London-based Fromental for the collection was natural. “I’ve used Fromental for years in grand Beverly Hills estates because they are almost like abstract paintings,” he says. “I’m using it in several parts of my chateau in the Loire Valley. There’s a playfulness about the papers, and I wanted the rooms to feel like a mix of the past and the present.”

Broadlands wallpaper by Timothy Corrigan for Fromental

Broadlands wallpaper by Timothy Corrigan for Fromental

Fromental was founded in London in 2005 by Tim Butcher and Lizzie Deshayes, who have fashion and interiors backgrounds. The design house is known for elaborate custom wallpapers, fabrics, and furnishings, made by artisans in England and in China. Unusual collage techniques incorporate luxurious fabrics such as silk and velvet, and hand-painting, embroidery, and screen-printing. In addition to glamorous homes around the world, their designs are found in historic properties including The Dorchester, London; George V, Paris; The Fairmont, San Francisco; and The Jefferson, Washington DC. Les Folies, The Timothy Corrigan Collection for Fromental, at George Cameron Nash, georgecameronnash.com, and fromental.co.uk. 

Timothy Corrigan at Grand-Lucé, his chateau in France

De Gournay and Aquazzura Collaboration

Aquazzura's new spring loafer in Amazonia design from de Gournay

Legendary British heritage wallpaper brand de Gournay is everywhere these days — and not just on the walls of the world’s most fashionable manors and manses. The masterfully hand-painted Chinoiserie wallpaper designs are now gracing charming Italian footwear. Edgardo Osorio, co-founder and designer of the footwear label Aquazzura, collaborated with de Gournay last year on a collection of embroidered flats, slides, pumps, mules, and loafers. Now, just out for spring 2018, Osorio and de Gournay have introduced a new blue color way along with a smart tennis shoe and adorable mini-shoes for children (see below!) The Italian shoe designer was inspired to create the custom tropical Chinoiserie collection, Amazonia, after de Gournay installed wallpaper in his Florence apartment, he says.  

De Gournay's Amazonia Wallpaper Panels

The Amazonia motif, a hand-painted depiction of a rainforest within the heart of the city, was influenced by 19th-century botanical illustrations and the florid work of artist Juan Gatti. Set against a pink background, toucans, parrots, lovebirds, and macaws alight on palm trees, surrounded by flowers, butterflies, monkeys, and serpents. The shoes, sold through Aquazzura and other stores, start at $550. The stunning Amazonia designs for de Gournay are also available as panels, starting at $1,936 through Culp Associates. (Osorio loved them so much, he installed the panels in the Florentine palazzo, which serves as his offices.) 

Aquazzura's new embroidered tennis shoe in Amazonia by de Gournay

Osorio isn’t the only fashion guru captivated by de Gournay. When luxury online retailer Moda Operandi, which opened its first by appointment showroom in New York earlier this year, decorated its new space with de Gournay’s Earlham and Plum Blossom panels, it decided to make something wearable to match: Silk dressing gowns in those same de Gournay motifs. First intended to be worn by Moda’s elite clientele between changes while trying on clothing at the showroom, the robes are now for sale in a limited edition of custom colors for $1,995, through Moda Operandi’s New York and London showrooms, and online at modaoperandi.com.

De Gournay artisan at work on an Amazonia panel

De Gournay Love Tassel Flat $735

De Gournay Amazonia Wallpaper

De Gournay Amazonia Wall Panels

De Gournay's new Salon Vert Wall Paper is based on Pauline de Rothschild's antique papers

Despite all the new, nothing speaks to de Gournay’s iconic look more than the antique-green Chinoiserie wallpaper found in Baroness Pauline de Rothschild’s Paris apartment, as photographed in 1969 by Horst P. Horst for Vogue. De Rothschild died in 1988 and the original panels have been lost since 1990, when they were last seen for sale at an antiques store in Paris. As part of de Gournay’s extensive research into its historic wallpaper installations, those rare-air panels have been recreated. Enter: The newest addition to the de Gournay library, Salon Vert, which references the dreamy, faded gardens depicted on the 18th-century wallpaper panels found in de Rothschild’s grand, private abode on Rue Méchain. Pheasants, sparrows, parakeets, magpies, and butterflies flutter amid foliage and flowers, set against a muted-green background. It’s Eden in the grandest sense.

De Gournay Ballet Baby $275

Tricia Guild's New Paint Box Book

No one does color better than interior designer Tricia Guild. Every season I pester my friends at ID Collection to send over images from the latest fabrics and wallpapers from her line, Designers Guild, because I know they'll be sumptuous and dreamy. I think most of us stick with bland palettes at home because we're afraid of using color. Tricia has a new book, Paint Box, that makes it so much easier to pull a color scheme together yourself, with 45 different palettes that include color, texture, and pattern. Every room in her book is accompanied by design tips and a directory of Designers Guild paint colors, fabrics, and wallpapers. I pulled some of Tricia's highly useful tips from the book, below...

Tip #1 Mixing a color with a neutral such as black, white, or gray, reduces the colorfulness. A neutral is the color that underpins your scheme. White is often the default option, but why not consider gray, ecru, chocolate, or a shade of blue or green, or even pale plaster pink. Tricia often uses a shade of slate blue or olive green as a neutral, especially with bright colors.

Tricia Guild

Tip #2   Tricia Guild's Faded Frescoes palette is inspired by Italy's ancient frescoed walls and looks great against a natural linen shade. She suggests keeping your neutral soft to echo fresh paint or wet plaster.

Tip #3   Olive and emerald colors liven up a mid-century palette, with charcoal acting as the perfect neutral. For this look, you'll want to keep the walls white, and mix wood furniture with upholstered pieces in wool and tweeds.

Tip #4   The glamour of 18th-century French royalty is evoked here with fresh blooms in plum and eggplant and bottle greens. Balance the look with a neutral wall, or you could paint the walls in plum or eggplant. This look is magical in rooms with little natural light.

Tip #5   If you love the look of vintage roses, make it more approachable with casual linens. Think about toughening up the look a bit with an off-beat colors such as warm denim blue.

Tip #6   The many shades of white can clash. Decorating an all-white room is one of the most difficult schemes to pull off. First, determine which white are you? Blue-toned white works well in sunny, light-filled rooms. Creamy, yellow-toned white feels more classical and is suited for north-facing spaces. A gray-toned white gives you a clear, crisp architectural finish. Whichever white you pick, make sure they all work together -- drapes, shades, furniture, accessories — and are united in their tones of white.

Trove Wallpapers at Holly Hunt

Trove's Rinceau was inspired by Baroque architectural moldings .

A bare, naked wall is a baaad idea . . . especially when there's such clever new papers to wrap them up in. Trove wall coverings—which at first glance seem quite classical—are actually the result of high tech engineering and old fashioned artistic talent. Produced by husband-and-wife team of Randall Buck, who specializes in multi-media, and Lee Levin, a fine arts painter and still life photographer, Trove's concepts draw influences from architecture, film, art history, travel and nature. Using unexpected scale, unconventional colors—and a dash of poetic license—their wallpapers make the entire wall a work of art. In many of her newest designs, Levin replaces the standard graphic wallpaper repeat with organic imagery that incorporates depth and perspective. Buck's approach is architectural and technological at once—employing a variety of media and materials that challenge conventional manufacturing methods. All of Trove's wall coverings are sustainable, and meet the criteria and regulations for commercial use.

Priced upon request at Holly Hunt.

Randall Buck, Lee Levin

Grotte by Trove was inspired by European cave paintings, merging a primitive painting technique from the Paleo period with graffiti. In lieu of blowing powdered pigment through a tube—as would have been done by cave painters at Lascaux and Chauvet—Trove's designers blew powdered sugar.

Suichuka by Trove. Suichukas are artificial flowers that bloom when immersed in water. Multi-media artist Randall Buck applied use of motion to compose an underwater scene of blooming flowers. 
Koi fish—the symbol for good luck in Japan—swim amongst the suichukas.

Trove's Allee is reflective of  a dreamscape inspired by Alain Resnais'
1961 film, "Last Year at Marienbad," which is set in a formal garden.