For years, decoration has been unfashionable in the mainstream. Neutral walls, restrained palettes and minimalist interiors became the language of good taste – don’t even talk to us about 'warm minimalism' and 'quiet luxury'. But lately, we've observed how painted decoration is joyously creeping back into interiors – not only on wallpaper and upholstery, but as hand-painted murals and motifs that climb across restaurant walls, ceilings and furniture, turning everyday surfaces into canvases for storytelling.
At the newly opened Casa Bonavita in Malta, owner Suzanne Sharp commissioned artists to paint walls and ceilings with fantastical botanical murals inspired by the island's flora and fauna, while local ceramicists hand-painted the hotel's lampshades. In London, Faye Toogood created a joyful mural for Holy Carrot in Spitalfields, inspired by the area's market history.
There's a precedent for this approach. At Charleston Farmhouse, where Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant began decorating in 1916, almost every surface became an opportunity for artistic expression. Doors, fireplaces, cupboards, lampshades and furniture all became canvases that broke down the barrier between art and everyday life. Most recently, Vogue writer Francesca Perry identified today's renewed interest in decorative painting as part of a broader folk revival – and it's easy to see the connection.
At Palefire, the richly decorated surfaces and painterly designs of Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts and Omega Workshops artists are a constant source of inspiration. Freehand-painted designs such as Serpent, Axis and Freize have become some of our most popular finishes, signalling an appetite among our customers for something more expressive.
"I love creating complex and painterly patterns – it's a chance to indulge my purely artistic sensibility," says Palefire founder Rowena Morgan Cox. "Serpent began with Hector Guimard's extraordinary Paris Métro entrances, but also Marion Dorn's elegant Art Deco textiles,” she explains. “Axis takes its palette and diagonal geometry from a beach ensemble Sonia Delaunay designed in the late 1920s. I just love her all-encompassing body of work.”
Perhaps it's just a reaction to years of restraint and the rise of AI, but we believe painted decoration speaks to something deeper: a yearning for irregularity, personality and the visible hand of the artist. It reminds us that every surface – even a lampshade – has the potential to become a work of art.