Have you been following our #CatchTheBlossom story on Instagram?
Read this blog to learn where it all began.....
Design Choices
What fabric would you choose? What’s it for? What room will it go in?
Perhaps you would go for soft sheer drapes hung effortlessly from a corona over a cot bed or scatter the fun with cute animal-print cushions in the playroom. Children's interior design comes with a handful of choices - quite literally! Our designers can usually be seen with some colour swatches in one hand, fabrics in the other whilst referring to technical drawings. However, let’s take a step back, because whilst you may think interior design is a multitude of options, developing the fabric itself is an entirely different process.
Concept
On a normal day at Dragons our artists will be busy in our studio hand painting furniture. Last year we gave one of our artists a unique development project to create a fabric inspired by one of our popular artworks, the key component of a new range of soft furnishings.
The fabric process involved taking one element from the Linen Blossom collection of artwork, which out of, blossoms, branch, butterflies and fallen petals, we chose the simple and eloquent, petal. This collaboration between Dragons and our fabulous artist Barbara who also paints Designer Bunnies and Beatrix Potter, took motion after mind mapping a few design ideas. Her creative approach involved gathering a bunch of fuchsia petals, releasing them and wherever they naturally fell onto the area covered with sketch paper, she drew a delicate outline. This was the first step to creating our wind-swept-look and from this derived the name, Falling Petals. It was also the point of the process where it would be taken further on to step two of developing the pattern repeat and where our Dragons colour palette was key.
Colour Palette
Our colour range has taken years of listening to clients, studio research, trial artwork and colour seminars, but we have settled on the most popular and winning neutral tones of soft jute, parchment and antique white. Soft jute was the obvious background colour choice for this artwork ensuring we achieved that natural and ethereal soft look which we have come to appreciate is a popular choice for nurseries and little girl’s bedrooms. The petals are subtly made up of a pastel and dark rose pink, a hint of Grosvenor green and off white.
Fabric Details
After a lot of testing for colour matching and making notes on samples about the pattern repeat we loved it so much that we created a version in cotton and sheer. When up close you can appreciate the falling petals and how they have that life-like appeal.
Our clients have adored the Linen Blossom artwork and having the fabric to complement this has been wonderful for our interior designers to develop rooms that have a cohesive look.
New Concepts
That wind-swept look transcended to an idea our Managing Director, Lucinda Croft had in January 2018. Nine months later, we will be showcasing, Blossom Tree, our first mural wallpaper initially hand painted by Juliet Travers. Sold in two sets of four panels, the wallpaper stays true to the Linen Blossom artwork - you’ll notice a particular ‘swoooshh’ as the Falling Petals continue around the room. Great word, Juliet!