From Miami cool to Deco Palm, Cole & Son’s new Geometric II collection, available in Australia from Radford Furnishings, pays homage to the brand’s long history of wallpaper design, while also responding to a eclectic range of contemporary cultural influences.
Jess Burnett, head of PR and Marketing at Cole & Son points out one the collection’s more arresting designs, Deco Palm, inspired by the exotic foliage found in Miami. Deco Palm combines a traditional geometric print with a jungle palm print – the latter one of Cole & Son’s most iconic designs, conceived by their screen print studio in 1949.
Reinterpreting the original palm leaves, Deco Palm brings new life to the print through a series of colourways that take it from a subtle back-drop to a cinematic-style feature.
From the ethnic beat of blues and burnished browns, to the electrifying acid yellow and charcoal, Cole & Son’s carefully curated colourations bring a whole spectrum of possibility to a single design.
Yet the Cole & Son design studio does not follow trend – in fact they purposefully avoid trends, opting instead for exhibitions, art shows and an eclectic array of cultural influences that keep their creative IP fresh, sharp and just a little bit unexpected.
Jess highlights the recent David Bowie exhibition at ACMI as a perfect example – if the team were based in Australia. The recent Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs exhibition at the Tate Modern left a strong impression on Cole & Son’s design team, the threads of this present in the DNA of their creative output.
“This [approach] helps our collections maintain longevity,” says Jess, highlighting some of Cole & Son’s best selling designs. “The palms being a great example of this. If you look at trends, they narrow you too much. It’s about creating things that will be loved for generations.”
Certain designs within the collection, like the Escher-esque Miami, have so many facets, they can carry a diversity of colours.Other designs, such as Puzzle, host colour with a strength and simplicity that others might not. And each has its place within the collection as a whole.
“The colour inspiration for this product came from a box of Ladurée macaroons.” The French treats are renowned for their beautiful sorbet colours, which alone look tasty but together… “it is something beautiful”, says Jess.
A more delectable collection you will not find. Now available in Australia through Radford Furnishings.
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