How to get through the "Brambles", an illustrative wallpaper.

View this email in your Browser We have just returned from a week in Charleston during which we met with Becky LaRoche, the showroom manager at Fritz Porter. In addition to southern charm and history, Charleston has our favorite showroom & the best people. I showed Becky a new pattern I had been working on containing some birds, painted by Lena, flying through Gorse bushes. Becky immediately saw the potential that was right in front of me. She said, "remove the birds and you have a playfully whimsical pattern." Once we returned to the studio, I worked on the pattern, removing the birds and rotating it 90°. The result was a vast improvement. Sometimes it just takes a fresh eye. Pattern completed, What is left but color variations and samples! Give us a call or drop a line if you want us to create something original, just for you. We love the creative process. Thanks for reading & Happy Spring to all. #Vintage #OldFashioned #wallpaper Showrooms: Charleston, SC - Fritz Porter Boston, MA - Eric Hadel Design New York, NY - Dessin Fournir Facebook Twitter Website Instagram Copyright © 2019 Zoe Design, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Zoe Design 57 Dodges Row Boston, MA 01984

Sky ~ Trompe-l'oeil

With the clever use of curtains, delicate bamboo shades and a trompe l'oeil sky, by Zoë Design, Lucie Beauchemin succeeds in making this breakfast room into a English conservatory.

@beauchemingrassiinteriors 
#PaintedSky 
#trompLoeil
#interiorDesign

Color Adjustments

We were recently contacted by a project designer at Champalimaud, an interior design firm in New York. They were seeking a wall covering with the color and look of verdigris, for a hospitality project. Of the samples requested, one had the style but did not have the blue / green color.

Original Color Way

No problem. I adjusted the color to reflect a copper oxidation and then a brass or bronze patina finish.

Copper Patina Color Way

Bronze Verdigris

If you find a pattern you love but the color is not right for your taste, just ask about color transformation. We can adjust the size and color of any pattern in our collection.

Happy 2019

Water Lilies Mural Paper

Wilson Kelsey Design asked us to create a homage to Monet for a bath they were designing for the 2018 DXV Design Panel. Their design is based on the room housing Monet’s "Water Lilies" in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. Lena and Brooke used photos of Giverny, Monet's home, for reference but used the modern color pallet of Bonard. 

Zoë Design’s Water Lilies mural takes on a life of it’s own, emphasizing almost brash juxtapositions. It is, at times, bright and dynamic and at others calm and deep. Their aim was to wed the classical elegance of John and Sally’s design with the room’s equally important contemporary flair.

The Nymphéas [Water Lilies] cycle occupied Claude Monet for three decades, from the late 1890s until his death in 1926. He referred to this cycle as his "great decoration”, taking it’s final form in the l’Orangerie: a panoramic frieze laid out almost seamlessly enveloping the viewer. Two types of composition were defined by Monet. While the first includes the edge of the pond and its dense vegetation, Lena and Brooke chose to concentrate on the second, which plays on emptiness and includes only the surface of the water with flowers and reflections interspersed.

Water Lilies mural paper is available from select showrooms or directly from Zoë Design. Repeat: 261.5”W. at 114”H. (Customizable to your specifications). Zoë Design is a Boston based, husband and wife team of artists producing murals, wallpapers and decorative finishes, since 1984, for projects in UK, Jamaica, Tokyo, Sweden, France and all over the US. When you call us, you are speaking directly with the artist who can bring your ideas to life.

Water Lilies Mural - Lena Fransioli & Brooke Sheldon

Mural Paper - Doug Garrabrants

Oval Bathroom Design - Wilson Kelsey Design

Mosaic Lily & Water Floor Desgin - Artaic

Fixtures - DXV

Finished Mural

Preparing Mural Paper Panels

DXV Installation

And finally, a quick time lapse of the painting process.

Italian Renaissance Mural

Areen Design, in London, recently asked for a mural paper leaning toward the Italian Renaissance period and it made me think of a mural we did in 2009. Since a photo is worth more than my words, here is the whole story.

Preliminary Sketch

These murals represent almost two months of work for 5 people. The air, sky, angels, putti and landscape are anchored by the trompe l'oeil fabric, flute, sheet music and faux marble. The artists involved were Lena Fransioli, Brooke Sheldon, Doug Garrabrants, Natalie Gardner and Kasia Mirowska.

Ideas from the Waste Basket

As some of you may have already seen on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, I had a piece of damaged mural paper and decided to crumple it up & see how it looked with strafing light. We loved the look and the response from social media was great, so, I took it a step further.

I crumpled a piece of white paper and photographed it in high resolution, creating a pattern which repeats seamlessly at 65.5"w x 85”h. This is large enough that you don’t detect the repeat.

Then I started experimenting with the "Crumpled Paper" pattern as an overlay, creating the look without the crossing light. We are thrilled with the result and hope you are as enthusiastic too. Samples are available through our showrooms or directly from us.

Now any pattern in our collection can look like you just pulled it from the waste paper basket . 😄 You can have any color & I can fade, enlarge or reduce the size of the hills & valleys. Below, shows the same pattern, with and without the overlay. 

******  Happy Fall to All  ******

Showrooms:

Charleston, SC - Fritz Porter

Boston, MA - Webster & Co. 

New York, NY - Dessin Fournir

Washington, DC - J Lambeth

Hand Painted Skies

It's a day of scattered clouds in the studio as Lena and Brooke finish painting a sky on canvas. 

Sasha, our new dog, presides over the proceedings.

We now have roughly 20' x 30' of sky available for your walls or ceiling in archival mural paper. I can also add it as a "ground" behind our Chinoiserie (MU2011).

You can have this Chinoiserie with literally any color or texture in the background. Customize your project with a paint color or fabric swatch as reference.

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!

Thanks for reading / viewing & happy spring. Time to get a puppy.