Trends in Architectural Wallpapers

Whilst the trend for Architectural wallpapers is undergoing a modern revival with an increasing assortment of papers to choose from it is actually a very old style with some of the earliest architectural wallpapers being traced back to late 17^th century England. The first architectural wallpapers were designed as an alternative to stucco and decorative plaster, examples of some of these very early designs can be seen in the Victoria & Albert Museum's fantastic wallpaper collection, with a later fashion for depicting sculptural and architectural features, and later still masonry, marble, brickwork, tiling and woodgrain.

 

These same trends can still be found in modern wallpaper collections with architectural wallpaper designs tending to fall into the same three sub-categories:

• decorative plasterwork
• architectural details and sculptures
• masonry, marble, brickwork, tiling and woodgrain

 

Decorative Plasterwork Wallpaper

Wallpapers which imitate decorative plasterwork or stucco plasterwork remain popular today. The patterns available range from the ornate, typical of 17 ^th century designs, through to more modern styles and plaster finishes.

 

Ornate Plasterwork Wallpaper

 

The intricate plasterwork designs found on ceilings provide inspiration for many decorative plasterwork wallpapers including the Ornelia wallpaper below from Nina Campbell which details an interlocking pattern of moulded plasterwork interspersed with simple ceiling roses. 

Decorative cornice wallpaper borders are also a popular architectural wallpaper style. The whimsical Paddy & Louis decorative border from Cole & Son offers a witty take on this with two mischievous cats and an elusive mouse hiding atop a regency style block moulding. This decorative border comes in a single true to life colourway of stone and tabby.

The influence of ornate plasterwork in wallpaper design goes beyond attempts to only depict plasterwork, designs may take inspiration from a carving, such as the arabesque design in the Grenard wallpaper from Designers Guild. Architectural wallpaper's influence can also be seen in trellis, damask and other decorative wallpapers. 

 

 

Wood Carving Wallpaper

Architectural carvings and detailing is not just limited to plasterwork, the stunning Gibbons Carving wallpaper from Cole & Son shown below is taken from a 17th Century wooden carving by master craftsman Grinling Gibbons. Gibbons Carving wallpaper is part of the Great Masters collection which is a fantastic collection of wallpapers full of architectural detail, the collection pays tribute to the master craftsman and artisans with a series of wallpapers inspired by the architectural, design and artwork from six iconic royal residences.

 

 

Architectural & Sculptural Detail Wallpaper

The fondness for capturing architectural details and sculptures in wallpaper form has never been out of trend, with inspiration still being drawn from the sculptures and architectural details found in many stately homes and public buildings. Architectural detail wallpaper can be broadly split into three subcategories:

• wallpaper highlighting sculptural details often found within the design of a building
• wallpaper highlighting a particular architectural feature
• wallpaper depicting the architecture of buildings 

 

Sculptural Detail Wallpaper

 

A fine example of sculptural detail wallpaper is Pierre Frey's Colisee wallpaper with its trompe l'oeil of marble and stucco inspired by the marble carvings in and around the Colosseum in Rome. The design follows in the tradition of grisaille painted designs in wallpaper being used to depict carved marble, such as the much earlier Jeffrey & Co. wallpaper frieze depicting the Elgin Marbles which was displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851, a copy of which can be found at the V&A Museum.

 

 

Other fantastic recent examples of sculptural wallpaper include:

• Rare Artifacts from Mind the Gap, which includes both architectural elements and sculptures from ancient Rome in a design printed over 3 panels.
• Montacute from Zoffany, part of their Palladio Volume I collection, which depicts a neat row of classical statues in arcaded niches was inspired by the statues found on the exterior facade of Somerset's Montacute House
• Statuary Chamber from Mind the Gap, with its design full of faces from the roman era standing statuesque over the room
• Statues Antique also from Mind the Gap, this impressive wallpaper design features various sculptures found in the Musee Royale, the French royal museum, with its large scale pattern spread over three panels

 

 

 

 

Architectural Detail Wallpaper

 

Architectural detail wallpaper can be found in many styles, including sketches, stylised black and white photographic, to photo-realistic images. A wonderful example of artistic sketches being used in architectural wallpaper is Andrew Martin's Augustus Storm, which was inspired by 16th Century architectural drawings.

Cole & Son's Bahia wallpaper depicts a decorative doorway from the palace and the Durbar Room of Osborne House, which can stand alone as a single panel or be paired with the elegant fretwork design in their Jali Trellis wallpaper, which continues the lace-like masonry and decorative motives, to create a continuous design as shown in the image below.

 

 

Architecture in Wallpaper

 

The third subcategory of architectural style wallpaper picks up on the overall architecture of a building, two fabulous examples of this are the Royal Exchange wallpaper by Zoffany and Wren Architecture by Cole & Son. Both wallpapers depict line drawings of the facade of different buildings, the Royal Exchange, and the East Front and Fountain Court facade of Hampton Court Palace. 

 

 

Wall & Construction Materials Wallpapers

The final architectural style wallpaper category is a mixture of wallpapers which are designed to either alter the appearance of the wall, commonly showing a distressed wall to hint at a former use, or to point towards a different interior construction. This style of architectural wallpaper first became popular in the UK in the 18th and 19th centuries and developed as photography and technologies progressed.

 

Distressed Walls Wallpaper

 

The classic distressed wall wallpaper is distressed plasterwork, giving the impression of faded plaster walls with hints of paint or detailing. Inspiration is taken from distressed plasterwork found in European stately homes and Italian Palazzos. Two great examples of these wallpapers from Designers Guild are Impasto, which gives a textural background effect is reminiscent of aged, distressed walls with paint, and Chiazzo, with its all-over distressed plasterwork design reminiscent of an Italian Palazzo. A more contemporary update to distressed wall wallpaper feature distressed walls which hint at former commercial or industrial uses, such as Andrew Martin's Crackle wallpaper (shown below).  

 

 

Wood & Wood Effect Wallcoverings

Wood and timber remain popular wallpaper designs, with designs capturing each stage of the processing, with wallpapers depicting bark, cut logs, sawn timber, and panelling. Architectural design wallpaper either hints at a wall constructed from wood, or imitates wooden panelling on top of the walls.

 

 

Parquet and Cut Timber Wallpaper

There is wide variety of different cut and treated wood effect wallpapers, and if you search around you should be able to find a wallpaper which recreates both the styling and wood finish you are looking for. Three nice examples are Parquet from Osborne & little, which features tessellating rectangles which resemble the patterning of a parquet floor, Tom from Pierre Frey, with its wooden board trompe-l'oeil design, and Timber from Andrew Martin, which features a distressed wood timber design which can be run vertically or horizontally. 

 

 

Wood Panelling Wallpaper

Wood panelling wallpaper can be traced back to the 18th Century but remains popular today. three recent examples of wooden panel wallpaper are: Louis by Cole & Son, which has panelling in the style of the French Royal palaces, Library Frieze which features a simple panelling design, and Jacobean wallpaper from Andrew Martin which shows a heavier panelling design more typical of the Jacobean style.

 

 

Wood Veneer Wallpaper

A more recent alternative is for wallcoverings to be cut from real wood, wood veneers are mounted on a backing paper and can be applied as a wallpaper directly onto walls. Adding warmth and a real sense of luxury to any room, this is the modern equivalent to traditional wooden panelling. With many of the premium wallpaper brands offering wood veneer wallpapers there is a great choice of designs and woods to choose from. 

Lucky O's wallpaper from Arte, part of their 2021 Moooi collection, is a wood veneer inlay wallpaper with a design which resembles the rolling waves of the ocean as depicted in traditional Japanese design.

 

 

Palazzo from Philip Jeffries, shown below, picks up on a traditional wooden floor design typical of a grand entryway. The wooden veneers are hand laid to create the stylish geometric design. Sycamore wallpaper from Omexco is another intricate geometric wooden veneer wallpaper. Whilst Burled Chevron from Philip Jeffries offers a parquet veneer wallpaper, also hand laid, which is given added glamour in the form of a scattering of metallic grounds.

 

 

Brick and Stone Wallpapers

 

Brick and stone feature heavily in architectural wallpapers. The textures of the various bricks and stones give added interest to the wallcoverings.

Sandstone Brick Wallpaper from Clarke & Clarke offers a sandstone design made up of various brick sizes. Whilst Camelot Plaster from Andrew Martin is a simpler stone effect wallpaper available in sand, limestone and cement. Whereas Borastapeter's Original Brick is a brick wall offering available in three colourways. Modern building materials like cement and concrete can also be found replicated in wallpapers, such as the Washi I and Washi II collections from Phillip Jeffries. 

 

 

 

Tiled Wallpapers

 

Another popular architectural wallpaper is one which imitates tiles, with almost every type of tile being reproduced in wallpaper form. Ceramic tiles, particularly traditional European ceramics, with their vibrant colours make for a fantastic wallpaper. 

Azure Mural from Mind the Gap (shown in the larger image below) features an exotic mural full of vibrant details showing a scenic view of the French Mediterranean coast. Summer Villas from Mind the Gap offers a vibrant Italian inspired tile design wallpaper in three colourways each featuring traditional blue, yellow, orange and white colours. Whilst Triana wallpaper from Cole and Son offers a Spanish inspired tile, the wallpaper is named after the Triana neighbourhood which is home to Seville's famous ceramic workshops and potteries, and the hand-painted design depicts a traditional mix of flowers, leaves, and geometric shapes common to Spanish style. Cervo wallpaper from Osborne & Little offers another Italian style tiled wallpaper, the paper is named after an ancient hill town in Liguira and features ornate Italian style tile motifs printed with metallic highlights. 

 

 

Mirrored and Metallic Tiles Wallpaper

 

Metallic, mirrored and glass tiles are also popular designs for architectural wallpapers, with designs often enhanced by the use of metallic foils and metallic finishes. The designs are often designed to look like salvaged or aged tiles, like the three examples below.

Villars from Zinc is a simple square tile design with an imperfect, industrial feel printed in a palette of burnished metal. Antique Mirror from Cole & Son is designed to look like a reclaimed tile with a vintage foxed mirror. Lustre Tile from Zoffany also features a square-tile, printed on metallic foil with layers of translucent inks which distress and crackle glaze the surface.

 

 

Metal Effect Wallpaper

Architectural wallpapers which hint at an underlying metal construction can also be found, ranging from corrugated steel to cast iron, as shown in the Isambard Platinum wallpaper from Andrew Martin below. The design is of a wall of cast iron with rivets, creating a solid industrial vintage style. 

Further below is a xcorrugated metal wallpaper, Palmer Steel, also from Andrew Martin which can be contrasted with the corrugated precious metals of the Ponti wallpaper from Osborne & Little (also shown). Both designs combine a clever use of colour and shade to produce a realistic corrugated metal effect. The holographic surface of the Ponti wallpaper also gives a reflective quality to the paper. Whilst the metallic and burnished tones of the Bazaar wallpaper from Cole & Son retain the feel embossed tiles common in Persian design

 

 

Raw Material Wallpapers

 

As well as tiles, bricks and panelling another tradition with architectural wallpaper is depicting raw materials, both traditional and modern, including, marble, granite and other mineral rocks as well as man made surfaces like terazzo. The below images are of:

• Kershaw Plain from Osborne & Little which offers a marble design. 
• Terrazzo from Phillip Jeffries which depicts granite and glass mosaic detailing of terazzo
• Quartz from Philip Jeffries which captures the look and feel of quartz

 

 

International Architectural Design Wallpaper 

Architectural design wallpaper is not limited to European architectural styles, with influences being drawn from across the globe. With trellis and tile designs from Morocco and the Middle East, Shoji and Sansui screens from the Far East, and traditional Chinese tearoom all providing inspiration for recent architectural style wallpapers.

Shoji Blossom wallpaper from Arte was inspired by the panelling and designs on Shoji screens common in Japanese architecture. The wallpaper is a wonderfully tactile three-dimensional wallpaper.  

 

Sultan's Palace wallpaper (shown above) from Cole & Son is a tiled wallpaper design inspired by the facade of the Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, with its highly decorative archways and intricate botanical tiles. The complimentary Zellige wallpaper, also from Cole & Son, was designed to retain the feel of ceramic glazed Moroccan tiles. Whilst the Chaguan wallpaper from Pierre Frey (also shown above) is a square tiled design inspired by the architecture of Chinese roofs and tea houses.

 

Modern Architectural Design Wallpaper

Contemporary interpretation of architectural design takes inspiration from modern architecture or plays with the traditional design, such as in the Fornasetti Riflesso wallpaper which shows an atmospheric reflected depiction of Baroque Rome as seen through Fornasetti's surrealistic eye circa 1955. 

 

What Next for Architectural Wallpaper?

We may already be amidst the final evolution of architectural wallpaper has arisen courtesy of the revolution in wallpaper design which allows anyone to print custom-made wallpaper from their own design or photograph, with such freedom there is scope for any architectural design or detailing to be brought to life in wallpaper form.