Whitby wallpaper collection: coastal cool.
To mark a decade of coastal cool (not to mention nautical-but-nice puns), Mini Moderns has added two exciting new colourways to its Whitby wallpaper range – a hero print of the 2011 Day-tripper Collection.
The Midnight and Copper option adds a whole new dimension to Whitby’s sea-faring charm. Its inky dark background, combined with a vintage copper metallic print, lends the familiar design the atmosphere of moonlit fishing boats out at sea by night. Perfect for a cosy nook or a dramatic living space.
By contrast, the High Tide colourway is a soft sea-surf tone with a subtle freshness that will bring instant beach calm to the most land-locked of homes.
Mini Moderns designers Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire explain how the design originally came about: “Coincidentally, we both spent all our childhood holidays on the North Yorkshire coastline. Keith grew up 20 miles from Whitby, and Mark’s aunty ran a boarding house in near-by Filey. So when we think of the seaside, it’s not beach huts and yachts, but the vibrancy of a working fishing harbour that comes to mind. The linocut style offered the perfect way of expressing the movement of the waves and the ruggedness of the coastline we know so well.”
Over the past ten years the print, featuring a pair of brave fishing boats circled by a flock of hungry seagulls, has featured on a host of homewares, from digital radios to enamelware but, like all Mini Moderns designs, it all started with wallpaper.
Festival
Mini Moderns designed their Festival wallpaper in 2011 as a personal celebration of one of the biggest influences on their design work - the 1951 Festival of Britain. The exciting post-war exhibition of British design and industry was then celebrating its 60th Anniversary, and the wallpaper was conceived to coincide with this important cultural landmark.
Fast forward 10 years: the Festival of Britain celebrates its 70th Anniversary this year. Mini Moderns has marked the occasion by launching two new colourways of the now classic design, each fittingly embellished with a ‘platinum’ metallic highlight.
The Mustard and Platinum version takes the colours of the original Concrete colourway and turns the volume up. Sunny mustard yellow is the hero, reflecting the optimism of the new wave of British designers in the 1950s. Meanwhile, High Tide is a fifties inspired greyed-off aqua tone that reflects the siting of the event on London’s South Bank of the river Thames.
Mini Moderns founders, Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire explain: “We’ve been collecting Festival of Britain memorabilia for over 30 years. The 70th anniversary offered us the perfect opportunity to revisit a very personal homage to a piece of Britain’s design history that has had such a strong creative influence on the Mini Moderns style”.
The design features highlights of the 1951 exhibition. Geometric shapes interplay with abstract representations of the iconic Skylon, the Dome of Discovery and the Royal Festival Hall. Its linear forms reflect the modernist architectural vision of structures specially commissioned for the festival including Mini Moderns favourites - the Transport Pavilion and The Lion and the Unicorn Pavilion.
Both wallpapers are printed in the UK using water-based inks on substrates sourced from FSC certified forests. The print process uses energy from renewable resources.
