Not Your Mother's Wallpaper

To call Tracy Kendall a wallpaper designer is almost a slight. Kendall's work is so intricate, painstaking and stunning that she is really more of an artist.

You've almost certainly seen Kendall's earlier work in countless design magazines and blogs (her 'Eat,' 'Feather' and 'Stacks' patterns are all well-loved by the design world). This past May, her recent work was shown at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), where it won the Editor's Award for wall coverings.

Kendall's new line is entirely hand-sewn and custom made for each client. She affixes things like sequins and puzzle pieces onto paper panels, redefining the idea of what wallpaper is in the first place. Since her work is such an inspiration to many of us, I wanted to find out what inspires her.


How did your work evolve from your earlier graphic wallpapers to the intricate, bespoke papers you're doing today?
I started with the graphic work for myself. Then after two or three years, I started a Master's course at the Royal College of Art in London and was able to push the work further while studying. I remember planning to do stuff like a large kitchen recipe scene, with all the ingredients to make bread blown up large-scale, and it went on from there.

You first created the sequin dress motif in 2000, but it's still a theme in your work. How has that original design evolved?
It started as small, hand-sewn sequins and then started to get bigger and bigger. Then last year, a friend asked me to do a dress for her, so I went back to the original inspiration for the sequin wallpaper, which was
1920's flapper dresses hanging in a window.

Tell us more about your panels with puzzle pieces, what made you use them in your work?
I was trying to find other things to add to the 'Stack' range and had got lots of children's game boxes, which included the puzzles. The stack didn't work out and I was playing with how to use the puzzle pieces and it seems to have worked.

Can you tell us about some of ways that clients have used your bespoke panels?
I've done lots of powder rooms, hallways-all over the place really. Often I don't see where or how the work is used, as I work through an agent or interior designer, so I don't get to see the whole project. I know that the sequins have gone on doors and ceilings, which must look really good.

Do you have any suggestions for how to incorporate a smaller section of wallpaper into a home (as opposed to papering a whole room in a repeat pattern)?
You can try adding fake paneling to the room and then wallpapering inside the panels. Or try mounting it onto a board so it becomes artwork. I have some mounted on to 8' x 4' boards, which visually take up a lot of space, but I move these around if I want to. You could also try using a very narrow band across and around a whole room, almost like a more modern dado rail but higher up.

Budget-Friendly Bonus: If, like me, Kendall's incredible handiwork is out of your price range, you can still be bold with wallpaper in untraditional ways. For the budget-conscious, we whole-heartedly recommend Wallpaper Projects: 50 Craft and Design Ideas for Your Home, from Accents to Art by Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith.