We’ve recently discovered (and are thoroughly obsessing over) CommonRoom – do y’all know this company yet?! Founded in 2014 by Kate Hawkins, CommonRoom is a designer wallpaper studio and shop brimming with inspiration from the vast world of art and interiors. In addition to their contemporary collection of commissioned designs, CommonRoom creates an annual archival line, giving nod to the great designs of the past. Since its start, CommonRoom has grown to house a great collection of wallpaper, cushions, and art—all boasting a rich complexity of history, symbolism, and creativity.
In 2016, CommonRoom launched its first archival design, inspired by a 1918 watercolor drawing by C.F.A. Voysey, an English architect, furniture, and textile designer. Entitled “Lioness & Palms,” this design comes in two colorways, “Midday” and “Midnight,” telling the story of time as it exists in nature. Voysey’s drawing was found in the archives of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and was quickly transformed into one of CommonRoom’s bestsellers. Pictured below is the original drawing from Voysey, alongside CommonRoom’s “Midday” colorway.
Another archival design, “Love Leaves,” was inspired by a small-scale 1800 watercolor found in a sketchbook of illustrator William Kilburn’s descendent, Gabriel Sempill. Kilburn was known for his lead botanical illustrations in Flora Londinensis, a book that describes the flora of 18th century London. Similar to “Lioness and Palms,” “Love Leaves” is yet another stunning reminder of nature’s beauty and its influence over the history of design. In the words of CommonRoom, “Love Leaves grounds us in the knowledge that the seasons will spring again, the sun will shine another day, the leaves will shoot once more.” Even the creation of this design gives ode to the original methods of its day—the technique of woodblock printing is used to give the wallpaper a lovely, handcrafted feel.
CommonRoom’s contemporary designs are filled with just as much substance as their archival pieces. Founding artist Kate Hawkin’s pattern, “Dressing and Undressing,” references the Bloomsbury group, a collection of 20th century intellectuals who were famously quoted to have “lived in squares, painted in circles, and loved in triangles.” These writers and philosophers, notably Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Clive Bell, Desmond MacCarthy, and E. M. Forster, greatly influenced present-day views on feminism, sexuality, aesthetics, and criticism. The nude portraits in this pattern simultaneously ‘dress’ and ‘undress’ each room that they enter.