Art & Design

Painting the Scene

You don’t so much as admire de Gournay’s wallpapers, as fall into their story telling magic

Whether it is 18th century chinoiserie reinvented for Belvoir castle, or a singular 4 metre hang of voluptuous wisteria, de Gournay hand painted wallpapers and fabrics are a delight for the senses and the soul. Yet for all their unique historical, botanical, and decorative depth, it is often surprising to learn that the company was established by Claud Cecil Gurney and his nephew Dominic Evans Freke in 1986. 

“Our philosophy is a heritage company and we came at this not as expert marketers but by being fascinated by making something that we wanted to use ourselves and that in turn, made us good manufacturers. The papers have a look and feel of the past, but the skill is giving them a contemporaneity,” says Dominic Evans-Freke, co-director and founder of de Gournay which has become a world leader in this niche, unique form of hand painted décor.

Bespoke Chinoiserie Wallpaper

@degournay // Instagram

Bespoke Wallpaper for Marta Ferri

@degournay // Instagram

The exact provenance of wallpaper is not known but exquisite panels of decorative paper were likely to have been exported from China to Europe in the 18th century creating a vogue for scenic décor in stately homes including Belvoir Castle and Houghton Hall that would have boasted of the owner’s worldly knowledge, and cultural smarts. “In that era, the tendency was to hang tapestries and hangings on walls and even continuous colour was rare. To be surrounded by one continuous scene would have been mind-blowing,” says Evans–Freke.

"Our philosophy is a heritage company and we came at this not as expert marketers but by being fascinated by making something that we wanted to use ourselves and that in turn, made us good manufacturers."

Dominic Evans-Freke

Bespoke Chinoiserie Wallpaper

@degournay // Instagram

Mahal Garden Wallpaper

@degournay by @horwoodphoto // Instagram

That taste for immersive décor is compelling once more as we seek to balance our frenetic lives with gorgeous, reverie inducing interiors in grand castles and urban apartments alike. Sonam Kapoor gave each room in her Notting Hill home a distinct identity with a curation of de Gournay papers that range from a Mughal paper in the sitting room to giant plum blossom fronds on a tarnished silvery blue background from the Japanese and Korean collection in a bedroom. The de Gournay expertise is in creating almost 3-D illusions with thousands of hours of handiwork invested into the depiction of flora, fauna, and the background colourways. The company employs specialist teams of animal and flower painters in China to realise these scenes that are bespoke made to suit the particulars of a client’s room. 

The Mughal collection is a tribute to the Mughal Dynasty and takes in influences from the Western fascination with the East through poets and artists including Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Edgar Allen Poe as well as the Mewari school of bright, emotive painting that dominated in the 17th and 18th centuries. Motifs including elephants, tigers, love scenes, palaces, lakes, and manicured gardens lure the viewer through a humid haze. The secret artistry is also in the way the papers are hung. “It is planned so carefully that it fits like a glove but does not reveal itself as planned,” says Evans-Freke of these elegant interventions.

Nara Handpainted Wallpaper

@degournay // Instagram

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