Inspired by past designs preserved at the John Lewis Heritage Centre Archive, this season’s wallpapers and fabrics are unique originals reworked for contemporary homes
Behind the elaborate facade of the John Lewis Heritage Centre, based in a renovated pottery in Odney near Maidenhead, lies an impressive archive of over 35,000 examples of furnishing and fashion fabrics and wallpaper designs, some dating back to the early 1800s. ‘It’s a really fantastic testament to the legacy of British textile design history,’ enthuses Hannah Raeburn, Partner & Archivist.
The Heritage Centre holds John Lewis’ own archives, which have been curated since the mid-1960s and include such iconic designs as Pat Albeck’s Daisy Chain and prints by Lucienne Day who, along with husband Robin Day, helped unify the company’s branding in the early part of that decade.
The Centre also boasts thousands of furnishing fabric documents inherited through the Partnership’s past ownership of the Carlise-based textile printing factory Stead McAlpine, which was founded back in 1835.
Preserving the past to inspire the future is the archive’s credo. It is often used as a source of inspiration by the John Lewis design team and is open to the public. For this season’s archival wallpaper and fabrics collection, Naomi Barber, Partner & Textile Design, Home Design Studio, used watercolours, gouache paints and felt-tip pens to reimagine pieces into three new designs. ‘The archive is the starting point, but there is more to it than picking out a pattern and recolouring it,’ says Naomi. ‘We like to rework things, perhaps layering a bird from one print over tropical leaves from another. It becomes an entirely new design.’
Each pattern is completed by hand rather than on a computer. ‘It’s quite a laborious process but it creates something that’s more artisanal looking, with greater depth and authenticity.’
Meet the new-from-old designs
For the new Arvore palm print, Naomi chose the delicate fronds and stems of a pattern dating back to 1855. ‘We redrew them on a grand scale, with a longer repeat, so it’s almost like a mural.’ To create Pagoda, Naomi first lifted brids, flowers, trees, boats and, of course, pagodas from a rather ragged furnishing fabric sample from 1805, before repainting them in rich indigo ink using Chinese brushes. Selva, the third pattern, owes its tropical vibe to a 1970s fabric. ‘It had great animals – giraffes, a deer, zebra and a bird – as well as cool jungle leaves,’ Naomi says. Using gouache paints, she reworked the design, setting it againts a graphite background to bring the colours to life.
Her designs are then printed in a state-of-the-art factory in Loughborough that boasts a century’s worth of wallpaper manufacturing experience. Naomi spends days at the factory, experimenting with colour and drawing on the team's expertise. ‘They mix the dyes in little pots by eye and always get it just right,’ she says. ‘I love the idea that we are creating almost unique works of art for the wall.’
You’ll also see Naomi’s designs as fabric and cushions in the autumn/winter Modern Archive trend, which encourages the mixing of such gorgeous pieces to create an eclectic home that reflects a passion for pattern.
