With ample floral motifs, from hand-painted to digitized, exhibitors at Frankfurt’s giant textile fair bring the outdoors in.
In contrast to the sharp geometrics and psychedelic computer-generated graphics seen in many wall coverings on offer, Heimtextil also tapped into the natural world. Rock faces, feathers, faux-eel skin and shimmering minerals were in full force, as were florals. The latter was often presented in washed out painterly strokes or in plump, fantastical detail. The studios and manufacturers that put a contemporary twist on the perennially favourite patterns stood out the most. Here are our top five picks:
This motif is part of the 2013 collection of Dutch design studio Eijffinger, whose portfolio features countless floral patterns. Resembling a painting in progress, it features black-and-white bunches of blooms, seemingly hand drawn and sparsely filled in with tropical colours.
Exhibiting in Design Live, a platform for independent textile design studios, this German textile artist presented a select batch of wallpapers. The beauty of this elegant floral (second from the left) is its flat, yet vividly hued organic forms against a simple tonal background.
Japanese design studio Light Cube is new to the scene and its inaugural collection is rich with surprising patterns, including this irreverent take on the floral trend. A seemingly random pattern of large blue dots both obscures and exaggerates the bubble flower’s squiggly red lines.
4 Lutèce
The most intriguing romantic patterns forced passersby to do a double take: passionate rendezvous barely concealed within Victorian pastoral picnics, tree branches supporting animals instead of birds, and, in this pattern by Lutèce, fish swimming among roses.
This Swedish brand magnifies its bouquet image, recalling the moody still-life paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries, to produce a pixel effect – rendering the wall covering instantly contemporary.
