Animals, Charcoal on Bone

Overview
51 animals running together from all walks of life, from the Pacific giant octopus to the farmyard hen. Hand-drawn in pencil over a twelve month period in near-photographic detail by John’s fair and ageing hand (he didn’t know he still had it in him).

Measurements
• Each roll is 20.5″ wide x 11 yards long
• Repeat: 25″

Additional Notes
• 7-10 business day lead time. 
• Gravure printed to non-woven paper
• Made in England

Color Description
Charcoal illustration on bone background

Additional Info
Father and daughter John and Louise Wakefield created the brand inadvertently in 2008, with the express intention of releasing a one-off velvet Skull wallpaper and leaving it at that. But ideas quickly snowballed into an entire pattern book of designs, print houses were far too accommodating and before you could say ‘financial crash’ a whole brand was born.  John has over 50 years’ design experience in wallpaper and illustration [and holds the Guinness World Record for building and flying the world’s smallest remote-controlled airplane] and Louise was a location photographer with a sideline in property renovation which continues to this day. They share a history of obscure interests from atomic energy, lucite guitars and microlights to sharks, perfumery and herbal medicine. In the 1980’s they were residents of the rolling Pendle Moors – cradle of the modern wallpaper trade – and Beware the Moon still print just down the hill today. The company’s roots are in time-honored craftsmanship, keeping the wallpaper trade with its feet firmly on the ground…but its head in the clouds.

Everything begins with a traditional approach in the studio – hand-drawings, intricate cut-outs, pencils, rubbers and airbrushes. Prototypes go to the print house where specialists are squeezed and cajoled until delicious wallpaper emerges. We hand printed heavy glitters for the first time in the industry (a process that took months to perfect); blended iridescent pigments that change color as you walk by; drew detail so relentless that a single design took a year to complete; and we pioneered the holographic undercoats and 3-Dimensional foils now commonplace across the industry. We won’t mention the endless hair-brained experiments that have yielded nothing but an anti-climax and empty pocket.