Contemporary trends in wallcoverings

Textured wallcoverings are an ever-expanding category including a wide range of natural fibres such as grasscloth, seagrass, bamboo, cork, silk, and linen alongside luxurious imitation suedes. Whilst the appearance of each is unique, they share the beautiful imperfections found in natural fibres and the obvious joins between drops and inconsistency in colour must be embraced and celebrated like the creases and puddling of natural linen curtains.

House of Hackney’s highly decorative designs champion the contemporary reinterpretation of traditional design and speak to our Reconstructed Legacy macrotrend. In this case, the Arts & Crafts movement and works of designers like William Morris and de Gournay are reimagined in confident contrasting colourways and deep layers of naturalistic patterns.

Large scale geometric designs are evolving beyond the clean motifs of the Art Deco movement to depict angular, gestural forms. Wallcoverings Vol. 1 by Kirkby Design pairs the knots and imperfections found in natural fibre wallcoverings with gestural geometric designs in a comforting colour palette of blush, terracotta, and gold; a combination which brings warmth into spaces alongside textural interest.

While lush biophilia remains ever-popular in interiors, designs are incorporating increasingly adventurous elements such as a wider range of creatures – think spiders, frogs, and birdlife of all shapes, sizes, and colours. Super-wide wallpapers from Timorous Beasties and wallpanels from Casamance provide these surreal scenes on a grand scale.

Designers are moving away from the feature wall in favour of going all in with bold wallcovering choices. Due to the invention of ‘dry strippable’ and ‘paste the wall’ wallcoverings which are easy to install and remove, there is no need to fear committing to bold choices. Installing large patterns in small spaces such as the bathroom or laundry, or small patterns in large spaces can bring your interior to life in unexpected ways. Australian interior designer’s YSG Studio are creative wallpapering experts – utilizing smaller drops as floor-to-ceiling artworks or to create a modern take on a decorative frieze.