Is Wallpaper Better When an Artist Draws the Pattern First?
Last updated: 1 November 2026
In short: Often, yes. Dedar's new textile wall coverings, shown in Dezeen Showroom partnership content, include two designs from the illustration duo Icinori, screen-printed colour by colour onto linen. House of Hackney's Choe Vince told Country & Town House that after years of earth tones, “now is the time for optimism and energy.” A pattern that begins as one artist's drawing carries a hand into the repeat, and that is the quality designers are starting to ask for.
Why are wall coverings beginning with an artist's drawing?
Dedar, the Italian textile house, presents a new textile wall-covering collection in Dezeen Showroom partnership content, which is sponsored material and not editorial coverage. Two of its designs come from the illustration duo Icinori and are screen-printed colour by colour onto pure linen: “This Must Be the Place,” a paradise-bird motif, and “Altronde,” a magical cityscape. Two of the plain weaves, “Mandolino” and “Toile Bâche,” recall the texture of raw painter's canvas. Artistic director Raffaele Fabrizio describes the collection as offering “an ambiance infused with texture, a perceptible sense of warmth, and an atmosphere of comfort.”
The piece prints no date. What it shows is a textile house reaching for the drawn mark, and reaching for the look of a painter's canvas.
Are bold colour and pattern really coming back?
Choe Vince, senior decorating consultant at House of Hackney, told Country & Town House (Charlie Colville, 30 January 2026): “For the past few years, earth tones have dominated interior trends. But now is the time for optimism and energy – expect to see bold uses of colour and maximalist play.”
That is one consultant's expectation from one pattern-forward house, and trends swing back and forth, so it is a direction to test in a room and not a rule. A sample on the actual wall is a better judge than a forecast.
What does a pattern keep when it begins as a painting?
Each of my wallpaper patterns begins as a passage of mark-making in one of my original paintings, so the wall carries the evidence of a single hand, evocative, rich and deep. I will be plain about the next step: the wallcovering is printed by a manufacturer onto 20 oz Type II commercial-grade vinyl, with an embossed face and a slight strié shimmer over a laminated fabric backing. The source was painted. The product is printed, and I do not call it hand-painted. What carries across is the irregularity of a real gesture: the way a mark thickens, thins and turns.
How does a designer specify an artist-drawn wallcovering?
The vinyl comes in 24-inch pre-trimmed, unpasted rolls, and in a 52-inch width for commercial projects. Orders are printed on demand, in about two weeks. Designers can ask for a custom colorway or scale, and up to five free samples are available to the trade. Start with the master collection, order a sample, and judge the color against the wall in the light it actually gets.
Browse the artist-designed wallpaper collection, see how the Trade Program works for designers, and learn about the painter behind the patterns.
Frequently asked questions
What is artist-designed wallpaper?
Artist-designed wallpaper is a wallcovering whose pattern begins as an artist's own work, a drawing or a painting, and not as a repeat drafted for the purpose. The studio's patterns each begin as mark-making in one of Angela Simeone's original paintings and are printed onto commercial-grade vinyl.
Is the wallpaper hand-painted?
No. The pattern originates in a hand-painted original, and the wallcovering itself is printed by a manufacturer onto 20 oz Type II commercial-grade vinyl. The source is painted; the product is printed.
Is bold color coming back to wallpaper?
Choe Vince of House of Hackney told Country & Town House in January 2026 that after years of earth tones, now is the time for optimism and energy, with bold uses of colour and maximalist play. It is one consultant's forecast, so test a sample on your own wall.
What size and material is the wallpaper?
It is a 20 oz Type II commercial-grade vinyl with an embossed face and a slight strié shimmer over a laminated fabric backing, in 24-inch pre-trimmed, unpasted rolls, with a 52-inch width for commercial projects. Orders are printed on demand in about two weeks.