Design
Diptyque launches wallpaper collection
Excentrique, designed by two of Diptyque’s founders, Christiane Gautrot and Desmond Knox-Leet. The design was painted in gouache and is representative of the geometric-abstraction movement that was popular with avant-garde artists at the beginning of the 20th-century.
Image courtesy of: Design-Milk
Most of us are familiar with Diptyque because of their candles; however now there is a new reason to adore the beloved Parisian brand. Last year, in celebration of the company’s 60th-anniversary, Diptyque Home Décor was launched. The new homewares and wallpaper available is an artist-inspired and homeware collection titled, “Artist’s Palette.”
Jardin Clos Panoramic is a reproduction of Desmond Knox-Lett’s original works in watercolor and felt pen. As one of the company’s original three founders, the artwork is of an enclosed garden in Castle Rea Park, a part of the family’s Ireland castle. This is the beloved location where Desmond spent many summer breaks, and where he found a “secret garden” that served as a source of comfort to him.
Image courtesy of: Wallpaper
The collection features ten designs that were discovered in the brand’s archives. When Diptyque was originally founded, the company produced a broad collection of textiles for upholstery. As such, the new wallpaper collection pays tribute to the three founders: Christiane Montadre-Gautrot, Desmond Knox-Leet, and Yves Coueslant.
The new home décor offshoot draws on the company’s rich heritage of artistry. The maison’s archive of designs and drawings goes back to the 1960’s where the original location at 34 Boulevard St Germain was (courtesy of Wallpaper), “a bazaar of treasures that functioned as a kind of creative salon and welcomed and inspired a diverse clientele from the literary and artistic world.”
The Pretorien Wallpaper design makes use of Diptyque’s famous ovals and the (courtesy of the brand’s web site) “harmony between pattern and shape.”
Image courtesy of: Wallpaper
The wallpaper collection is a wonderful celebration of the company’s (courtesy of Design Milk), “well-known visuals, such as the oval motif, transcendent travel-inspired patterns, and art deco-era designs.” Studying the archives, the designs of the working art studio included preliminary sketches, rough drafts, and final versions… some only slightly retouched or recolored.
Coincidently, Diptyque’s iconic candle logo is the inspiration behind the Praetorian design; originally designed by Knox-Leet, the design was inspired by the shields of Ancient Rome’s Praetorian Guard. Interestingly, some of the designs are listed in the collections of Paris’ Museum of Decorative Arts.
Landscape Panoramic design, a beautiful reproduction of Desmond Knox-Lett’s Chinese ink artwork. A lover of escapes to the Mediterranean, Knox-Lett never travels anywhere without his sketchbook, pencils, and pens.
Image courtesy of: Diptyqye Paris
Diptyque hopes that the designs will allow imaginations to flow and wander. There is no doubt that nature plays a huge part in each design. In particular, those sketches from Knox-Leet’s travels that were discovered in the archives “act as the panoramic designs intended to cover larger stretches of wall.” Similar to candles, the company hopes that the wallpaper will serve as a natural source of self-care.
Basile Frieze. A timeless Art Deco design, this pattern was originally designed in 1963 by Christians Gautrot, one of the brand’s three creators.
This stunning, monochromatic pattern was initially printed on furniture fabric that had been sold at Diptyque’s flagship boutique at 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain. An iconic design, it visible on ceiling moldings and cornices of some of Paris’ traditional Haussmann-style brownstones.
Image courtesy of: Diptyque Paris
With keeping sustainability in mind, the maison decided to employ a digital printing technique on non-woven wallpaper rather than fabric. In such, cutting-edge contemporary techniques are necessary to allow for a high level of precision during the printing process. A wide ranging palette of patterns and tones account for twenty colors.
Diptyque’s Cécile Figuette & Bien Fait are at the helm of the wallpaper craftsmanship. Specifically, Figuette, with a degree in fabric design, focused all her expertise into creating unique wallpaper patterns via “Bien Fait,” her own brand. Figuette plays with perspectives and scale to achieve a “dream-like university that flirts with the frontiers of surrealism.” It is precisely Figuette’s perfectionism that allowed her to capture the true beauty within the brand’s archives and transcribe them into wallcoverings that are overflowing with beauty and uninhibited inspiration.
