Many of the high end fabric & wallpaper manufacturer’s rely on old homes & estates in Europe for inspiration. In many cases the designs are painstakingly reproduced in their original scale and color…these are called Documentary Designs. In the same collection there may be newer colorways added but these designs would not be considered a Document. A few of the documentary fabrics and wallpapers are reproduced by the same manufacturers using the same looms or screens as the original…Amazing. Homes in the US are rarely used for documents. They are not old enough!!!
The featured wallpaper is from Watts of Westminster. This is a terrific example of a Documentary Design. “Provenance: Document ñ wallpaper: design has been drawn from a fragment found in an elegant town house, Camberwell, South London. Attributed to C F A Voysey, the pattern is a fine example of the tulip detail so typical of the late nineteenth century. Contrary to the Watts normal practise of recreating a design true to its original interpretation, in the Camberwell the subtle characteristic blemishes of age evident on the fragment have been carefully retained. “
Ornamental Elements 